[yasr_overall_rating]
A gunfighter forms a gang of “deceased” execution victims to get revenge on the politician and outlaw who killed his wife.
A sequel to the 1966 film “Django,” “Django, Prepare a Coffin” is a western in the revenge genre. The film is treated more seriously than many other similarly situated westerns because it is both a semi-official sequel to “Django” and was originally meant to feature the first film’s star, Franco Nero. “Django, Prepare a Coffin” is not light on the violence either, with the violent crescendo occurring when Django uses a machine gun to mow down thirty bad guys. But, back in the day before Chuck Norris, the western genre was where people turned for extreme action sequences.
I’d compare the director, Ferdinando Baldi, to one of my all-time favorites, Sam Peckinpah. But, there’s a significant difference. Peckinpah made films that revealed a more heart world. Baldi directed films that had neater conclusions and where the good guy can ride off into the sunset with little to no moral complications after the gun show.
The story casts Django in the role of the tortured protagonist. Not only is Django wounded in the beginning of the film, his wife is also killed. Django begins work as a hangman. (How does one apply for that job?) Rather than kill people, though, Django saves the lives of the innocent and forms a small group to take revenge against the people that have sentenced them to the gallows. The emotional substance of this film, if there is any, lies in the camaraderie between Django (Terence Hill) and Garcia (Jose Torres). Garcia ultimately dies to defend his friend. Django returns the favor by giving Garcia’s widow a sackful of gold.
Some special note should be made of the film’s score “Last Man Standing,” which might be the best-remembered element from “Django, Prepare a Coffin.”
There’s not much to this movie other than a classic revenge structure depicted in a western setting. You might think that’s an insult to the film, but in director Baldi’s capable hands, that’s all this film needs to be. There’s a solitude and strength to Django as played by Terrence Hill that rivals Clint Eastwood in the Leone trilogy.
Now available on a 2-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray
