Django, Prepare a Coffin (Template:Lang-it, “Prepare the Coffin!”), alternatively titled Viva Django, is a 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Ferdinando Baldi.[1] The film stars Terence Hill in the title role, which was previously played by Franco Nero in Sergio Corbucci's original film. Django, Prepare a Coffin is unique among the plethora of films which capitalized on Corbucci's in that it is not only a semi-official, legitimate follow-up, but was also originally intended to star Nero[2].
| Django, Prepare a Coffin | |
|---|---|
 Italian film poster | |
| Directed by | Ferdinando Baldi |
| Screenplay by | Franco Rossetti Ferdinando Baldi |
| Story by | Franco Rossetti |
| Produced by | Manolo Bolognini |
| Starring | Terence Hill Horst Frank George Eastman Pinuccio Ardia Lee Burton José Torrès |
| Cinematography | Enzo Barboni |
| Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso |
| Music by | Gianfranco Reverberi Giampiero Reverberi |
Production company | B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l. |
| Distributed by | Titanus Distribuzione |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 Minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
A piece from the film's score, "Last Man Standing," was sampled in the song "Crazy" by American soul duo Gnarls Barkley.[3] The film's title song, "You'd Better Smile," is performed by Nicola Di Bari.[3]
It was shown as part of a retrospective on Spaghetti Western at the 64th Venice International Film Festival.[4]
Cast
- Terence Hill as Django
- Horst Frank as David Barry
- George Eastman as Lucas
- José Torrès as Garcia Ibanez
- Bruna Simionato (as Barbara Simon) as Mercedes Ibanez
- Pinuccio Ardia as Orazio
- Guido Lollobrigida (as Lee Burton) as Jonathan Abbott
- Spartaco Conversi as Django Gang Member
- Luciano Rossi (as Edward G. Ross) as Yankee Jack
- Gianni Brezza as Alvarez
- Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia (as Ivan Scratuglia) as Pat O'Connor
- Andrea Scotti as Lucas Henchman
- Roberto Simmi as Wallace
- Franco Balducci as Sheriff Jack
- Adriana Giuffrè as Mrs. Yankee Jack
- Lucio De Santis as Django Gang Member
- Angela Minervini as Lucy
- Giovanni Di Benedetto (as Gianni De Benedetto) as Walcott
- Angelo Boscariol as Lucas Henchman (uncredited)
- Omero Capanna as Django Gang Member (uncredited)
- Remo De Angelis as Barry Henchman (uncredited)
- Franco Gulà as Deputy (uncredited)
- Paolo Magalotti as Lucas Henchman (uncredited)
- Eugene Walter as Spokesman (uncredited)
Premise
Django, Prepare a Coffin is presented as a spiritual prequel to Corbucci's film. The film depicts events alluded to in Corbbuci's film, such as the murder of Django's wife (the circumstances of which differ from those inferred in the original film), and Terence Hill stars as a younger Django, dressed in an approximation of Franco Nero's distinctive outfit. In the beginning of Django, Prepare a Coffin, Hill's Django works as an armed courier, delivering gold between depositories. Later, after the murder of his wife, he works as a hangman.
In the original film, Django infers that his wife was killed by the main antagonist, Major Jackson, but this was never shown on-screen. In Django, Prepare a Coffin, the main antagonist, would-be senator David Barry, orders the death of both Django and his wife in order to obtain gold Django was delivering for himself, gold being the subject of the original film as well. Django, Prepare a Coffin's final shootout takes place in a similar cemetery to that of the original film, although in a more extreme manner: Django - outnumbered him thirty to one - opens fire employing his signature machine gun against Barry's henchmen. In the original film's climax, Django is forced to wield his pistol using ruined and broken hands.
Plot
Django is wounded and his wife is killed when the gold transport that he guards is attacked by the men of his ”friend” David Barry, who wants the gold to finance a political career.
Django pretends to be dead and starts working as a hangman, who spares the lives of the condemned victims of David Barry’s conspiracies. He organises them in a band to ”haunt” the perjurers that sent them to the gallow. This is part of a plan to disclose Barry and bring him to justice. The ”hanged” are supposed to intercept an attack on a gold transport and capture Barry’s men to get evidence, but Garcia - who earlier has saved Django’s life during a fight within the group - convinces the rest of the men that instead they should take the gold for themselves. Garcia then kills the others.
Django saves Garcia’s wife from hanging, and she then saves Django after Barry has captured him. Garcia regrets his treachery, which he explains by the fact that he is poor, and helps Django lure Barry to the graveyard, where Django digs up his own grave coffin and then kills Barry and his gang with the machinegun kept in the coffin. Garcia dies in the fight. Django leaves a sack of gold to Garcia’s wife ”for you and the children” before he leaves.
Reception
In his investigation of narrative structures in Spaghetti Western films, Fridlund suggests that though Django, Prepare a Coffin is basically a story of vindication and retribution, the relationship between Django and Garcia shows some affinity with the Gringo specialist/social bandit pair in "political" spaghetti westerns like The Mercenary.[5]
Restoration
Django, Prepare a Coffin was restored at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna. The film was transferred at 2K resolution with Arriscan from a 35mm interpositive print. Django, Prepare a Coffin was digitally restored in high definition and then digitally colour corrected with Film Master by Nucoda. The sound was digitalised using the Chace Optical Sound Precessor from the original soundtrack negative. The restored high definition edition of Django, Prepare a Coffin made its Blu-ray debut in June 2013 from the United Kingdom's Arrow Video.
References
- ^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Mario Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese Editore, 1991.
- ^ "Get a Coffin Ready ! / Viva Django! Review - The Spaghetti Western Database". www.spaghetti-western.net. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ a b Marco Giusti. Dizionario del western all'italiana. Mondadori, 2007. pp. 391–992. ISBN 88-04-57277-9.
- ^ Paola Naldi (29 August 2007). "Il nuovo cinema cerca gloria". La Repubblica. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ Fridlund, Bert: The Spaghetti Western. A Thematic Analysis. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006 pp. 111,118,198.
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