Django Defies Sartana

The title of this movie is somewhat misleading, for while the eponymous duo do briefly clash ,for they most part they work together against their mutual enemies ,the bad guys.

Django (Tony Kendall) has a brother ,Steve ,who is employed by a frontier bank and has a reputation as a womaniser.He is set up on a false charge of bank robbery ,caught while entertaining a lady of the night and summarily hung without trial despite the best endeavours of the local Sheriff to save him from the lynch mob.His alleged partner in the crime was Sartana-who is equally guiltless of the deed .Django descends on the town but turns away without wreaking vengeance and sets out after Sartana .After a brief but intense fist fight they are made aware of the truth .The criminal was the banker himself(Jose Torres) ,and to compound his villainy he took his own niece captive as a hostage should the need arise .Django and Sartana combine forces to exact revenge and rescue the girl There are some touches of the well nigh obligatory sadism associated with the Spaghetti Western but for the most part this a traditional Western well enough executed without being outstanding .

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.

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.

¨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

Django (Tony Kendall) returns to his hometown of Tombstone to find his brother, local banker Steve, hanging from a noose. Steve has been executed following accusations that he had teamed up with Sartana (George Ardisson) to empty the safe of the bank, and had assisted his new colleague in the murder of bank manager Mr Singer (Bernard Faber). In reality, Singer had entrusted Steve with the task of confronting Sartana, and paying him to leave Tombstone rather than raiding the bank. A disgusted Sartana refuses this offer.

Believing his brother to be innocent, Django sets out in pursuit of Sartana to discover the truth. The two heavy-weight protagonists stand face to face in combat, before learning that all is not as it seems with Singer's murder, and team up on a quest for justice and revenge.

On locating a copy of "Django Against Sartana" I was immediately convinced that it would be a low budget, fairly average flick, name-checking the established characters in a vain effort to generate interest. But there is no denying that my squinting eyes display the threatening figures of Django and Sartana in front of me. It must be said however, a recent visit to the opticians had highlighted that I have clearly needed glasses for sometime (yet my vanity had prevented it). Reaching for said specs soon confirmed my original expectations - this Django is certainly no Nero (and not even a Hill or Steffen), and Sartana is no Garko. We are talking Z-list Django and Sartana here! Only the vague costume resemblance provides a hint to the identity of these feared gunfighters.

Despite my obvious mickey-taking, I must say that I did really enjoy this film - probably largely because it was such an unintentional parody of the genre to which it belongs (it certainly wasn't for the wooden character acting!). The story did provide some great entertainment though, even if it was fairly predictable. I did also enjoy the effect of the freeze-frame grand entrance of the main characters.

However...... I couldn't hold my hand to my heart and recommend it to anyone. And I guess, truth be told, I never thought I would be able to.