Get a Coffin Ready ! / Viva Django! Review

In 1966 Franco Nero had signed a contract for three movies for Manolo Bolognini and BRC Produzione Film, Django being the first, Texas, Addio the second, and this one the third. But before shooting had started, Nero decided to go to Hollywood to play Camelot. Director Baldi proposed Terence Hill as the replacement killer, drawing attention to the fact that Hill very much looked like Nero's younger brother. Hill was still rather unknown and when Baldi showed him a photo of Hill dressed up as Django, Bolognini thought Baldi made a practical joke. In '67 Nero clearly was the star and Hill the lookalike. Half a decade later, after Trinity had made an international star out of Hill, he would be the real thing, while Nero would be cast repeatedly in comedy westerns as a Hill lookalike. One of life's little ironies ...

Called Preparati la Bara in Italy and Viva Django for the international market (Django had been more successful abroad than at home), the film is neither a real sequel nor a real prequel. Hill's wife is killed, but not while he is fighting for the Union (far, too far away). In this movie Django is a professional guard of money transports, who is betrayed by a former friend (Frank) who has turned to politics. Tired of his line of work, Django wants to settle down with his wife Lucy in California, but their convoy is attacked, and Lucy killed, by Lucas (Eastman) and his men, who work for Frank. Several years later, Django is preparing his revenge, working as a hangman who saves the lives of the people he is supposed to execute. In this way, he hopes to assemble a private militia of men faithful to him, in order to face his enemies and their numerous henchmen. But when he has turned his back, to save the woman of one of his men from being hanged, the very man double-crosses him ...

Black clad, with heavy make-up to give him a dirty look, Hill is very much the spitting image of Nero and you could easily forgot that he is Terence, not Franco. The idea of a western hero assembling a private army is of course not very original, but it works well, creating a possibility for screenwriters Rosetti and Baldi to season an otherwise trite revenge story with a few extra twists and double-crosses. Horst Frank (Baldi preferred him to Klaus Kinski, who was also in the running for the part!) is as mean as ever and Eastman does a particularly good job as his well-dressed but lethal right hand. Eastman, whose original name was Montefiore, was a very ambitious actor and writer (he wrote the original story for Keoma), always full of ideas, so most directors were happy to have him on the set, but few actors wanted to work beside him, because of his tall stature. While filming, Eastman fell in love with Barbara Simon, who plays the wife of José Torres in the movie. The score, by the Reverberi brothers is a special one. They used a theme written by Morricone for pistols don't argue (Le Pistole non discutono) and were forced to credit him for this. Nearly four decades later, in 2006, Gnarls Barkley used one of their themes for his smash hit Crazy (1). Reverberi himself said he had trouble to recognize his own music, others were more categorical.

Preparati la bara/Viva django is a modest, unpretentious spaghetti western, unlikely to crack many people's Top 20, but it's rather easy to enjoy. Both director Baldi and director of photography Barboni did a decent job, especially in the grand finale, set - of course - on a graveyard. With Barboni already planning his directional career, it turned out to be their last collaboration. A few years later Baldi was offered a project for a comedy western and refused it. Barboni accepted it and became world famous as the director of the Trinity movies.

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Note:

• (1) Reverberi: http://www.myspace.com/reverberi + Barkley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w

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Cast: Terence Hill, Horst Frank, George Eastman, José Torres, Barbara Simon, Guido Lollobrigida, Ivan Scratuglia, Spartaco Conversi, Pinuccio Ardia, Angela Minervini - Music: Gianfranco Reverberi - Director: Ferdinando Baldi

Review A | Review B View Database page

--By Scherpschutter

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