One Damned Day at Dawn... Django Meets Sartana!

The word 'Django' is really irrelevant in many westerns, as most have nothing to do with the original Franco Nero film "Django". It's NOT the same character and producers tossed the word into titles hoping to lure unsuspecting folks to the theaters looking for a Django film. Now, it's even more confusing with the recent release of the Quentin Tarantino film "Django Unchained"--yet another film that really is not about Django! As for "Django Meets Sartana", it's yet another non-Django film! Confusing, huh?!

The film begins with a new sheriff arriving in a town that hasn't seen the law in years. Not surprisingly, the place is overrun by bandits and Jack Ronson (aka 'Sartana'; Fabio Testi) has his hands full. When a bounty hunter named Django (Jack Betts) arrives soon after, Ronson has a new ally to help him get rid of the thugs.

So is this Django film worth seeing? Well, probably not unless you absolutely adore Italian westerns which are poorly written. The fight between Sartana and Django makes no sense at all--nor does their dialog in this scene. Plus, with the big shootout with the final group of baddies, one of the men has a clear shot at the Sheriff--but runs up some stairs in order to give the guy a chance to shoot him! The film also seems to have little in the way of unique plot--just one killing after another after another. Sure, there are some decent moments, but the film itself has little to differentiate it from several hundred other Italian westerns. Well, that isn't 100% true--it IS the only western I've ever seen where the Sheriff and the leader of the baddies arm wrestle to show who's the toughest hombre!!

By the way, although Jack Betts may not be a name you recognize, this handsome actor later became quite famous in soap operas. The reason you might not recognize him as the same guy is that in "Django Meets Sartana", he had brown hair--not his signature silver hair. Also, note the one battle where it's six against Django. Django's gun CLEARLY shoots more than six shots without reloading (he shoots one guy, the boss, twice)!! Not only is he cool, but he apparently has the ability to defy physics!!

Why I did not adore the original "Django", it's sure a lot better than this tripe. Not one of Italy's finer moments in the film world.

The idea of a spaghetti western uniting the genre icons of Django and Sartana could have been really great, but this movie screws it up in every way you can think of. While there is a character named "Django" in the movie, the other lead character is not named "Sartana". Needless to say, this Django does not carry a machine gun, and the other character does not have a box of tricks with him. I was prepared to still enjoy the western despite this deception, but boy, did I find it a long and hard slog. It's really boring, with scenes going by at a slow and endless pace. Even the sporadic action (gunfights, fisticuffs) doesn't manage to liven things up. In fairness, the movie is directed with a little atmosphere and a little grit, but this doesn't manage to make this worth watching, even if you are a spaghetti western fan.

As with most of the follow-ups to DJANGO this bears all the signs of having been tampered with in post-production in order to accommodate the most tenuous of links to that successful series. In this case, however, the makers have decided to double their money, or hedge their bets, depending on which way you look at it, by attempting to cash in on not one but two series. Not having seen any Sartana movies I cannot comment on how well this has been accomplished but in the case of Django I have to say it bears little resemblance to Fulci's DJANGO THE RUNNER let alone Corbucci's original. I spent most of the film under the impression that the man in black would turn out to be Sartana but in fact he was Django and the most spurious of reasons was given for making Sheriff Ronson that Sartana character.

That aside what was the film like in itself? Well there was almost nothing about it to mark it in any way unusual. All the customary genre cliches were in place, with a few added touches to put it down as a shoddy spaghetti western: leering close ups, sweaty villains, sporadic violence, rudimentary characterisation, and so on. Unfortunately there was none of the sub-genre's visual flair to take your mind off the banality of the plot.

This kind of western are too much accepted in Brazil, mainly because around the late sixties had a invasion from this Italian productions in ours theatres over the cheapest price allowed for fits in Brazilian pockets, another important thing to ad is about a strong violence available in those pictures a bit more than american productions, in this one a usual movie about endless Django against contless Sartana, nothing new just the same on bad image of course!!

Resume:

First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 4

Fabio Testi takes a job as the new sheriff in a lawless town besieged by two ruthless gangs. Meanwhile, tough mystery man Hunt Powers also arrives to take care of some unfinished business. Considering the title of the film, you can pretty much guess who these two strangers turn out to be!

A derivative, so-so spaghetti western, One Damned Day At Dawn...Django Meets Sartana! has good atmosphere, production values, and two decent actors in the title roles, just not a very good script.

As in all three films I've seen from director Miles Deem, it's just too rushed and sloppy for it's own good, though not as bad as the other two.

I would recommend this only for people who have already seen everything else.