W Django (1972)

A young woman is attacked and killed in her home by a desperate gang. Her husband, Django, is on the trail of the gang, seeking revenge. Arriving in a small town he discovers that one of the gang members, Carranza, is about to be hung. He frees the man but doesn't kill him because he knows that Carranza was still in prison at the time of the attack. Instead Carranza leads Django to the other members of the gang and he gets his revenge...

From the outset, W Django is a cliché and predictable Spaghetti Western, that could have been cribbed from any number of earlier films. A man getting revenge for the murder of his wife is the story behind the majority of genre entries, the best of which manage to do something new and interesting with the concept, but sadly W Django is content just to go along in the normal way - Django is a perfect shot and thinks nothing of killing, a hint at a romance is completely wasted, there is some tiresome comic relief, and if the writer really expected the end 'twist' to be a surprise, he is surely mistaken - it is telegraphed from miles away. Fortunately the film is never particularly 'bad', the pacing is good and there are plenty of action scenes (although hardly any tension with these) with a suitably fitting ending. There are a couple of moments that are impressive - a very grim sequence with a peaceful man forced into a duel that he has no chance of winning, and a couple of clever tricks played by Django (although these would be rather more suited to a Sabata film).

Director Edoardo Mulargia doesn't do much to help lift proceedings, with some rather by-the-numbers direction, not helped by some very choppy editing. Experienced composer Piero Umiliani does the best job - combining elements of the music-box theme into the soundtrack at appropriate moments, which although not exactly original does work well.

Anthony Steffen was not one of the best Spaghetti Western leads, and he gives a rather typcial performance here - solid but uninspiring, although admittedly the script gives him little to do. A few of the other faces may be familiar (Spencer and Hill fans will doubtless recognise Riccardo Pizzuti), but there are no other well known names in the cast.

Ultimately W Django (1972) is a perfectly decent Spaghetti Western, but one that offers absolutely nothing new to the table - and so most genre fans will find many better films to watch first. Of interest really only to completists and those who have seen everything else the genre has to offer.

Anyone famous in it?	Anthony Steffen - one of the lesser known SW stars, who also appeared in several Gialli.
Directed by anyone interesting?	Edoardo Mulargia - a little known Euro-cult director who also helmed Don't Wait, Django... Shoot! (1967) and the Women-in-Prison flick Femmine infernali (1980).
Any gore/violence?	Various deaths, no blood or gore.
Any sex?	No
Who is it for?	Of interest to Spaghetti Western collectors, but certainly shouldn't be high on anyone's list.

Visuals	Original Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1. Anamorphically Enhanced. Colour The picture quality is strong, some noticable grain throughout with light print damage.
Audio	English, German and Italian mono - sounds fine. German stereo, some noticable hiss.
Subtitles	German.
Extras	The disc includes: Original German trailer, very low quality print. Trailers for the NEW releases of 'Banditos', 'Wanted' and 'Shogun's Ninja'. Lobby cards and stills - as a video file, with music from the film. (2 minutes) Text notes about the film, in German only, as a video file with music.
Availability	DVD Title: Ein Fressen Für Django
Region	Region 2 - PAL
Other regions?	Available in Italy and the US, very low quality bootlegs.
Cuts?	Believed to be fully uncut. Print is Italian.

The Film

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The DVD

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