The Atlantic Journal
By Terry Kay
October 30, 1972
Code Rating – R
Journal Guide – Sex, mildly suggested; Violence plenty;
Nudity, none; Language, relatively mild.
Theater – Martin’s Rialto
BY TERRY KAY
Atlanta Journal Amusement Editor
On television
the adds call it “Django.” In newspaper ads on the marquee of the Rialto, the
title is “Jango”.
And except for
the confusion, one letter’s difference in this motion picture doesn’t really
matter: it would be a so-so blood and bullet Western if it were titled “A
Movie”.
“Jango” is in
the tradition of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti Westerns, a split-off from
grade-B to John Ford that developed into its own entity.
“Jango” has
Franco Nero playing the Clint Eastwood character of stubby-faced gunslinger
with silent stare and fearless heart. Nero’s role is no less, , than anything
Eastwood, or any of the others, has played.
THESE
Westerns are really comic book scripts put to screen. Consequently, they are
multi-leveled: They may be considered shoot-‘em-ups to some, and pure camp to
others. Whatever the view they are all slightly unbelievable.
In “Jango,”
the opening scene shows us a group of Mexican bandits dragging a helpless girl
to a bridge, where she is tied and beaten, all to the great delight of the
bandits. High on a hill, Jango is watching, standing before a coffin he has
been dragging across the desert.
Suddenly, at
the critical moment, several shots sing across the hallow, and the Mexicans
fall down as though struck by divine anger. The camera pans to a group of
Americans, all wearing a bright red sash. Their guns are still smoking.
They approach
and the girl is even more frightened. They tease her and then start to make a
cross out of logs. She will burn at the stake, by golly. Except for Jango. He
appears and allows that women should not be treated so harshly. When one of the
men objects, Jango guns them all down. Fast as all that.
THE REST
of the film similar in tone and action. Jango takes on a rebel Army still
fighting the Civil War, and, to complicate the odds, a band of Mexican bandits
who are preparing to return to old Med-he-co, as they say it.
A gatlin gun
helps Jango in the rough spots, but he does a lot with his six-shooter. For
example, in one bar scene, he kills four varmits and shoots the gun out of the
leader’s hand before any of them can react. In fact, one of the varmits is in
back of Jango and gets it with an over-the-shoulder shot. In sports it would be
called the Hat Trick, or the Unassisted Triple Play.
If one insists
on credibility “Jango” is not the film to attend. And it isn’t merely Jango’s
gun play I am thinking of. For example, how in the name of heaven does he drag
a coffin with a gatlin gun and bullets with ease? Across, mud to boot.
But this is
the nature of the spaghetti Western, so named because it is usually filmed in
Spain with Italian actors playing both Mexicans and Americans. Dubbed of
course.
One does not
really perform in such movies as “Jango.” One play-acts, and that is exactly
what Nero does in his role. (There are those who thought he was play-acting in
“Camelot” when he portrayed Sir Lancelot.)
Thus, we have
“Jango” Another from the formual of the comic book in moving pictures. Bad.
Unless you enjoy comic books and nothing else.
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