Prolific Spaghetti western leading man Anthony Steffan, who imitates Clint Eastwood right down to slinging his serape over his shoulder before he whips out his six-shooter, stars as a mysterious gunslinger who rides into Desert City looking to kill three of the town's most prominent citizens. Thirteen years ago, it seems, during the American Civil War, three Confederate officers sold out their men and let the Union Army overrun their camp and massacre them. One of those dead men reappears to settle the score with these wicked villains. In director Sergio Garrone's atmospheric but often crudely helmed oater, Django (co-scripter Steffan) shows up in town and draws attention to himself when he sticks a graveyard cross in the dirt with his victim's name on it. Indeed, this is a rather distinctive way to garner attention and it suceeds for the most part. The chief heavy, Rod Murdok (Paolo Gozlino of "Son of Cleopatra"), has his gunmen run everybody out of town and then makes these trigger-happy gunmen hunt down the elusive Django. These hombres don't have much luck and most of them wind up biting the dust in this 107-minute western. Ironically, Murdok's younger brother, sickly-looking Jack (Luciano Rossi of "A Man Called Sledge"), manages to disarm Django by using a woman and money to lure him into a church.
Throughout "Stranger's Gundown," a.k.a. "Django the Bastard," the idea is that our protagonist is an apparition who returns to exact revenge on the elder Murdok and his two conspirators, Howard Ross (Jean Louis of "The Treasure of San Gennaro") and Williams (Teodoro Corrà of "Roy Colt and Winchester Jack"), for their treacherous act of betrayal. Jack proclaims that Django isn't a ghost because he makes him bleed. Mind you, we see our tortured hero bleed and nearly strangle from being hanged by Jack in a church. Nevertheless, throughout this oater, Django has a way of showing up with a minimum of fanfare and behaves like a specter. Occasionally, the dialogue refers to him as 'a devil out of hell,' but he relies on his long-barreled Colt's revolver to lay his adversaries to rest. "Stranger's Gundown" is pretty predictable as revenge westerns go. The villains are despicable, and they earn their comeuppance. Near the end, Django casts such a spooky spell on matters that some of Rod's hired gunmen turn against him, and they blast it out between each other on main street. Inevitably, after our hero dispatches Jack in the church, he faces off with Rod in main street with unsurprising results.
Although he acts like Clint Eastwood, Anthony Steffan makes a memorable hero and it is his uncanny ability to imitate Clint that lends so much power and authority to his character. He dispatches the villains much as Clint might, fanning his six-gun and sending them spinning. "Stranger's Gundown" boasts enough shoot-outs to assuage the appetite of any Spaghetti western aficionado. One of the more unusual scenes occurs early in the plot. Two men toss a sizzling stick of dynamite between each other while the spectators make wagers about who will win. This is probably of the more interesting scenes that has nothing to do with the revenge plot. The scenery isn't as stunning as in most Spaghettis, but the hardware looks authentic. Everybody sports either a Colt's revolver or a Winchester repeating rifle. One character brandishes a Derringer. The Civil War scenes are okay with the soldiers toting Springfield muskets with bayonets. Garrone isn't the most polished of directors, but "Blood at Sundown" lenser Gino Santini and he create some evocative shoots. The most memorable occurs at night as horsemen plunge out of nowhere with light behind them. Early in the action as Django saunters through a town, Santini places his camera inside a barrel and uses the curvature of the barrel to frame a shot of our hero's moving boots. During a shoot-out in a house, Santini and Garrone do a good job of thrusting us into the midst of the action, particularly when a gunfighter impales himself on a machete protruding through a door. Rada Rassimov appears as a money hungry woman who wants to hit the trail with our hero at fade out. When she tries to join him, Django vanishes into thin air.
"Stranger's Gundown" is neither the first supernatural western nor the best, but there is considerable reason to believe that it may have inspired the highly superior "High Plains Drifter." No, "Stranger's Gundown" doesn't surpass "High Plains Drifter." Produced on an obviously low-budget, this western isn't one of the best Spaghetti westerns. It qualifies more as an imaginative, but B-rated sagebrusher, not of the quality of the Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci westerns. It is also obvious that the filmmakers appropriated the name of the Corbucci hero. This Django is a rebel and he doesn't drag a coffin behind him with a machine gun in it. Altogether, "Stranger's Gun" looks like an exploitative hybrid of the two Sergios, but it is worth a look.
Throughout "Stranger's Gundown," a.k.a. "Django the Bastard," the idea is that our protagonist is an apparition who returns to exact revenge on the elder Murdok and his two conspirators, Howard Ross (Jean Louis of "The Treasure of San Gennaro") and Williams (Teodoro Corrà of "Roy Colt and Winchester Jack"), for their treacherous act of betrayal. Jack proclaims that Django isn't a ghost because he makes him bleed. Mind you, we see our tortured hero bleed and nearly strangle from being hanged by Jack in a church. Nevertheless, throughout this oater, Django has a way of showing up with a minimum of fanfare and behaves like a specter. Occasionally, the dialogue refers to him as 'a devil out of hell,' but he relies on his long-barreled Colt's revolver to lay his adversaries to rest. "Stranger's Gundown" is pretty predictable as revenge westerns go. The villains are despicable, and they earn their comeuppance. Near the end, Django casts such a spooky spell on matters that some of Rod's hired gunmen turn against him, and they blast it out between each other on main street. Inevitably, after our hero dispatches Jack in the church, he faces off with Rod in main street with unsurprising results.
Although he acts like Clint Eastwood, Anthony Steffan makes a memorable hero and it is his uncanny ability to imitate Clint that lends so much power and authority to his character. He dispatches the villains much as Clint might, fanning his six-gun and sending them spinning. "Stranger's Gundown" boasts enough shoot-outs to assuage the appetite of any Spaghetti western aficionado. One of the more unusual scenes occurs early in the plot. Two men toss a sizzling stick of dynamite between each other while the spectators make wagers about who will win. This is probably of the more interesting scenes that has nothing to do with the revenge plot. The scenery isn't as stunning as in most Spaghettis, but the hardware looks authentic. Everybody sports either a Colt's revolver or a Winchester repeating rifle. One character brandishes a Derringer. The Civil War scenes are okay with the soldiers toting Springfield muskets with bayonets. Garrone isn't the most polished of directors, but "Blood at Sundown" lenser Gino Santini and he create some evocative shoots. The most memorable occurs at night as horsemen plunge out of nowhere with light behind them. Early in the action as Django saunters through a town, Santini places his camera inside a barrel and uses the curvature of the barrel to frame a shot of our hero's moving boots. During a shoot-out in a house, Santini and Garrone do a good job of thrusting us into the midst of the action, particularly when a gunfighter impales himself on a machete protruding through a door. Rada Rassimov appears as a money hungry woman who wants to hit the trail with our hero at fade out. When she tries to join him, Django vanishes into thin air.
"Stranger's Gundown" is neither the first supernatural western nor the best, but there is considerable reason to believe that it may have inspired the highly superior "High Plains Drifter." No, "Stranger's Gundown" doesn't surpass "High Plains Drifter." Produced on an obviously low-budget, this western isn't one of the best Spaghetti westerns. It qualifies more as an imaginative, but B-rated sagebrusher, not of the quality of the Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci westerns. It is also obvious that the filmmakers appropriated the name of the Corbucci hero. This Django is a rebel and he doesn't drag a coffin behind him with a machine gun in it. Altogether, "Stranger's Gun" looks like an exploitative hybrid of the two Sergios, but it is worth a look.