Django, Prepare a Coffin

Django, Prepare a Coffin (Italian: Preparati la bara!, “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 byFerdinando Baldi
Produced byManolo Bolognini
Screenplay byFranco Rossetti
Ferdinando Baldi
Story byFranco Rossetti
StarringTerence Hill
Horst Frank
George Eastman
Pinuccio Ardia
Lee Burton
José Torrès
Music byGianfranco Reverberi
Giampiero Reverberi
CinematographyEnzo Barboni
Edited byEugenio Alabiso
Production
company
B.R.C. Produzione
Distributed byTitanus Distribuzione
Release date
  • January 27, 1968 (1968-01-27)
Running time
92 Minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

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 Horace (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 Cassidy
  • 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)

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 organizes them in a band to ”haunt” the perjurers that sent them to the gallows. 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 coffin and then kills Barry and his gang with the machine gun 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.

Release

Django, Prepare a Coffin was released on January 27, 1968.[5]

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.[6]

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
  1. Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Mario Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese Editore, 1991.
  2. "Get a Coffin Ready ! / Viva Django! Review - The Spaghetti Western Database". www.spaghetti-western.net. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  3. Marco Giusti (2007). Dizionario del western all'italiana. Mondadori, 2007. pp. 391–992. ISBN 978-88-04-57277-0.
  4. Paola Naldi (29 August 2007). "Il nuovo cinema cerca gloria". La Repubblica. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  5. "Preparati la Bara!". AllMovie. 30 June 2012. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  6. Fridlund, Bert: The Spaghetti Western. A Thematic Analysis. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006 pp. 111,118,198.
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