Django Shoots First

232. DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST (c. 1974-Italy). COLOR. With GLENN SAXON, EVELYN STEWART, ALBERTO LUPO. He’s got to shoot first: almost everyone else is out to gun him down. This colorful spaghetti western has enough action and astonishing plot twists to fill several movies. Django, a charming gunslinger, claims the reward for bringing in the body of a wanted manÑhis own father! (After killing the bounty hunter who had shot down his old man, Django figured that he might as well get the reward). He soon learns that he’s inherited half of everything in town, including the saloon and the bank. The problem is that the other half is owned by a thoroughly rotten guy, who does everything possible-including framing Django for theft and recruiting all sorts of disreputable hired guns-to get rid of the young man. But neither the villain nor his even more deceptive wife have reckoned with Django’s lightning-fast draw, or his amazing ability to turn every situation around to his advantage. Aided by a comic sidekick-who hangs around just because he loves to watch a gunfighter who’s also a “concert artiste”Ñ and by a mysterious, black-caped stranger, Django outwits, outfights, and, naturally, outshoots his formidable opponents. Plenty of fistfights, gun battles, and hard-riding chases, climaxing in a saloon brawl to end all saloon brawls, a three-cornered showdown set in a graveyard, and more than one surprise ending. And where would an Italian western be without hauntingly beautiful music, and ominous close-ups so huge you wonder why the actors didn’t crash into the camera lens? When it comes to giving you a double barrel’s worth of western entertainment, “Django” shoots first! Dubbed in English. 96 minutes. Western