Django Defies Sartana

Django (Tony Kendall) is in a search party hunting down the criminal Carlos. Meanwhile, Sartana (George Ardisson) arrives in his town, and the bank owner Philip Singer (Bernard Farber) asks his clerk Steve (John Alvar), who is Django's brother, to offer three thousand dollars to Sartana for him to leave the town. Sartana does not accept the offer and Steve leaves his hotel room and meets a prostitute to party with her. When Singer and his niece are kidnapped on the road and the bank's safe is found empty, the locals believe that Sartana and Steve robbed the bank. A group of vigilantes catch Steve, hang him and leave his corpse in the rain. Then Django returns, he meets his mute friend (José Torres) and finds the body of Steve. Django buries Steve and heads with Mute to seek out Sartana. They fight each other and Django learns that Sartana is innocent and has neither kidnapped Singer and his niece nor robbed the bank. Django, Sartana and Mute team-up and look for the real thief.

"Django sfida Sartana" is a spaghetti western with a simple storyline of revenge, but very entertaining. Like other Italian western from the 70's, the edition is poor, the acting is wooden and the weapons do not need to be recharged. But who cares, the film is not bad and amuses. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Django Desafia Sartana" ("Django Challenges Sartana")

I'm a fan of westerns, this was watchable, but very average. The story does keep you interested, the lead actors are reasonably convincing, and the camera work is different.

Djangos brother is accused of helping the gunman Sartana rob the bank. The townsfolk take the law into their own hands and hang him. Django blames Sartana for the incident, and goes out to track him down. However, there is a twist to the story and things don't turn out the way we're led to believe.

Worth watching if you've nothing better to do. The music at times leaves a lot to be desired.

¨Django dares Sartana¨ was well directed by Pasquale Squitieri as William Redford . Passable Western concerning about a bank robbing , then Steve (Alvar) is suspected to have committed the hold-up . After that , a bloody vengeance takes place , as Steve is hanged by the enraged townspeople . Meantime , Djanjo (Tony Kendall) takes the law on his own hands against the killers who murdered his brother , this one was a bank clerk and while making love with a prostitute (Tania Alvarado) , he is subsequently kidnapped , mistreated and hung to take a loot . Acceptable Spaghetti dealing with usual theme : a relentless revenge . It deals with Djanjo (Tony Kendall) who seeks vengeance when his sibling is lynched and hanged ; as he carries out a cruel slaughter , and he thinks of Sartana (Giorge Ardisson) is real culprit , then it occurs the predictable battle of wits . Shortly after , Djanjo find out the true executioner of the grisly killing is a nasty band , as he joins Sartana and both of whom kill anyone they meet for blind vendetta . As Djanjo pulls off his vengeance by means of a cruel manner . He is relentless in his vendetta , deadly in his violence . The conflict is simple , one between avenger Djanjo , helped by Sartana, against relentless murderers and never hesitating to kill.

It's an exciting Vengeance western with breathtaking showdown between the protagonists Tony Kendall/Ardisson against the ominous enemies . Both of them are fine, they ravage the screen , kill , betray , hit and run , and they execute massacre and atrocity , they proceed a single-handedly revenge , and kills each enemy involved on their way ; and ultimately takes places the final showdown . This thrilling western contains a story full of violence , good dramatic pace and slick direction though packs some flaws . Enjoyable Spaghetti Western ; it follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . The film packs action , shootouts , drama , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a moving western with attractive outdoors and breathtaking confrontation among heartless protagonists , and their nasty nemesis and slimy , menacing underlings . Decent action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts at the end . Charismatic performance for the whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actors , Tony Kendall and Giorgio Ardisson , are good in their usual tough as well as silent roles . There appears habitual secondaries in Italian Western , here in their ordinary roles as a villains and in cruelly baddies characters , such as : RickBoyd , Fortunato Arena and Tania Alvarado .



The musician Piero Umiliani composes an attractive soundtrack , well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie , as it's plenty of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background and with agreeable leitmotif , including catching songs and ballads stunningly sung . Nice cinematography , including good sets, filmed on locations in Rome, Lazio, Italy and Elios studios . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Pasquale Squitieri , under pseudonym William Redford , though contains some gaps and flaws. Pasquale was longtime companion of actress Claudia Cardinale , who usually played his films , and father of Claudia their daughter . He is a writer and director, especially known for Atto Di Dolore (1990), Russicum (1988) and Mussolini's lover (1984). He also made another Western titled ¨La vendetta è un Piatto Che Si serve Freddo" or "Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold" (USA title) (1971) . He wrote/ directed a lot of movies dealing with Italian Mafia such as 1988 Russicum , 1985 "Il Pentito" or "The Repenter , 1978 L'arma , 1978 Corleone , 1977 Il Prefetto di Ferro , 1975 El Ambicioso or "The Climber" , 1974 I Guappi , 1972 Camorra ; many of them starred by his wife Claudia Cardinale and notorious Spaghetti actor Giuliano Gemma

The most dangerous gunman Sartana is in town, everybody expects the worst after he spectacularly taught a young wannabe a lesson. And to nobody's surprise, within a few days the bank has been robbed, Sartana disappears and Django's younger brother Steve as suspected to have helped him. Steve is hanged by the enraged citizens, although he swore he was innocent. Django follows Sartana to avenge his brother and find out the truth about the bank robbery...

This is a rather good movie, not one of the best, but among the upper half of the countless Django flicks. Especially Ardisson impressed me as Sartana - a professional, cold as ice! Django is portrayed more emotional by Kendall. The wild, jazzy music by Umiliani is almost over the top sometimes. "They call him Django" is a rather traditional title song, though.

While Django is away, the town bank is cleaned out and the bank president killed. Django's brother is lynched by an angry mob, who believe he and Sartana responsible, sending Django on a mission of vengeance...against Sartana!

This has a few effective moments, like when Django discovers his brother's corpse and his first encounter with Sartana. Most of the time though, it's just plain slow, with forgettable title performances by Tony Kendall and George Ardisson. Things pick up in the final third of the movie, though not nearly enough for a recommendation.

If you ask me, Django doesn't get nearly enough revenge here. He should have made like Clint Eastwood in Hang 'Em High and High Plains Drifter, by violently killing the lynch mob and burning the whole crummy town to the ground!