We meet a group of passengers making a dangerous journey to Lordsburg on a stagecoach. Dallas (Trevor) is a beautiful prostitute escaping the conservative elements of the town. Peacock (Meek) is a mild-mannered liquor distributor which instantly endears him to Doc Boone (Mitchell), the town drunk. Lucy Mallory (Platt) is pregnant and looking for a fresh start. Hatfield (Carradine) is a slick, shifty-looking gambler. Driving the stagecoach is Buck (Devine), the comic relief complete with a voice that cracks, and Curley (Bancroft), the lawman who rides shotgun. Along for the ride is Gatewood, the unscrupulous banker, and the Ringo Kid (Wayne), an outlaw who has escaped jail in order to find the men responsible for the death of his father and brother. At the beginning of the trip they are warned of the increasing threat of Apaches and, at one point, even vote on whether to press on or turn around once they lose their U.S. Calvary support.

Ford does a nice job introducing all of the characters while Dudley Nichols’ screenplay, coupled with the talented cast, does just enough to flesh out the characters beyond their stereotypes. Shot in Monument Valley, Ford uses the vastness of this foreboding terrain to really open things up and provide the genre with one of its most iconic settings. However, the Apache are presented as a one-dimensional threat, fulfilling the genre convention as the anonymous enemy. One of the film’s highlights is the Apache raid on the stagecoach as our heroes fight for their lives and features an impressive stunt involving a man being dragged underneath the stagecoach that would be recreated in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) albeit with a truck. Stagecoach is one of the finest examples of the classic western as it presents all of the tried and true conventions of the genre and gives them a mythological status.

Special Features:

This special edition is jam-packed with goodies for fans of the film and of the western genre, starting off with an audio commentary on the first disc by film historian and western scholar Jim Kitses. He challenges the conventional view that Stagecoach lacks the depth and command of craft of Ford’s later films. Kitses does a fantastic job of explaining how Ford’s camerawork and the use of invisible editing set up differences in class and established genre conventions. When not offering expert analysis, he provides biographical information on various cast members in this eloquent and informative track.

Also included on this disc is a trailer.

Disc two starts off with “Bucking Broadway,” a 54-minute silent film from 1917 that stars John Ford favourite Harry Carey as a cowboy whose true love is taken away by a big city type. It features many of the themes and conventions that Ford would explore again and again in later films.

There is a 1968 interview with Ford by British journalist and television presenter Philip Jenkinson. Running over an hour, the filmmaker talks about his childhood, how he got his start as a director, working with John Wayne, and, of course, Stagecoach. Ford comes across as a no-nonsense man and plain-spoken, refusing to romanticize his past despite the interviewer’s best attempts.

Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich offers his thoughts on Stagecoach and praises the strong script and solid ensemble cast. He analyzes Wayne’s performance and how he reacts to the things that happen around him. Bogdanovich also offers his impressions of Ford and Wayne, having met both of them.

“Dreaming of Jeanie” is a video essay that examines Ford’s visual style in Stagecoach. It analyzes several of the film’s themes through clips and illustrates how Ford used camera movement, framing and background details to show the traits of the various characters.

“John Ford Home Movies” is an interview with the director’s grandson and biographer Dan Ford. He talks about his grandfather’s home movies that show the man at his most relaxed, complete with clips from the actual films. We see the likes of John Wayne and Henry Fonda lounging around with Ford on his boat.

“True West” is an unexpected treat featuring author Buzz Bissinger talking about the 1920s trading post operator Harry Goulding and his role in telling filmmakers like Ford about Monument Valley. The land belonged to the Navajos but he staked out a claim thanks to his friendship with them. Bissinger talks about how Goulding met Ford and persuaded him to make Stagecoach in Monument Valley.

Another outstanding extra is a featurette about legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt who performed many of the amazing stunts in the film. He went on to become an important figure in the stuntman industry. Fellow industry legend Vic Armstrong offers his thoughts and impressions of the man and talks about just how groundbreaking Canutt was back in the day.

Finally, there is “Screen Director’s Playhouse,” a radio adaptation of Stagecoach that aired on January 9, 1949 and starred John Wayne and Claire Trevor, reprising their film roles.

To the tune of the unforgettable title song a mysterious stranger trudges through a mud encrusted, rain soaked landscape dragging a coffin behind him. This is Django, the ultimate western anti-hero. After saving a young woman by effortlessly gunning down the bad guys Django accompanies her to a dirty border town. A ghost town with two factions using it as a battlefield, the corrupt racist Major Jackson & a gang of Mexican bandits led by General Rodriquez, both have a shared history with the enigmatic Django & what follows is a series of double-crosses, gold theft & violent gunplay from all concerned. The confrontations & Django’s true motives are brought to a head in the superb climax. It all ends in a glorious final showdown with the bruised & bloodied Django once again facing seemingly insurmountable odds in a desolate graveyard.

Along with Leone the master of the European western was Sergio Corbucci who created classics like The Big Silence, one of the most pessimistic westerns ever made. Although not seen much in the US Django was one of the most influential westerns in Europe, so popular that it spawned over 50 ‘sequels’ most of which had nothing in common with the original apart from the name, others were just retitled Franco Nero movies. Corbucci presents us with a gritty, sadistic remake of Yojimbo, but one that is arguably better than A Fistful Of Dollars – a stranger enters town with his own hidden agenda & plays the two warring gangs against each other. Django as portrayed by the excellent Franco Nero in this his career-defining role is a much darker, more ambiguous anti-hero than Eastwood’s Man With No Name. Cold & unemotional, undeterred on his chosen path & steadfast in his resolve to complete his hidden agenda. Clad in black, dragging his dirty coffin behind him his real motives are not fully revealed until the final real. You never truly know where his loyalties lie & what the outcome will be in this action packed western which was unofficially banned for over 20 years & is pretty violent by the standards of the day.

Co-written by Corbucci all his trademarks are here from the bizarre larger than life characters, desolate locations, over the top violence & physical mutilation. Corbucci’s west is far darker & more violent than anything seen by John Wayne & everything’s taken to excess, rather than a one on one shoot out Django tells Major Jackson to bring all his men to town & defeats them with a little help from the contents of his coffin, it also gives us mud-wrestling whores & a scene involving a priests ear that goes one step further than Reservoir Dogs!

This is a great introduction to the world of the Spaghetti outside of the Leone cannon & has some fun extras adding to the enjoyment. There are the standard trailers & each disc contains an interview with Franco Nero. Although short they are both very informative. Django also has a fun little interactive feature, a primitive version of console games like Time Cop – you are Django & to the sound of the films score must gun down bad guys with your DVD remote now a six shooter! Included in the package is a great booklet, which gives a brief background to Django & also details some of the ‘sequels’ including many thumbnail pictures of the movie posters.

Also included in this DVD package is the true official sequel with Nero slipping effortlessly back into the role that made him famous after a twenty year absence. Unfortunately the film itself is not so hot. Nero is good & the transformation of his character is well down. He is also ably supported by Donald Pleasance & there are a couple of bizarre scenes reminiscent of Corbucci’s style (a female slave master pouring water over herself allowing the thirsty slaves to drink what they can from her wet body) but on the whole it is a wasted effort, having more in common with Rambo or Commando than the wild west! For real fans though the sequel includes footage thought lost. A 5 minute prologue featuring Spaghetti Western regular William Berger. This is a great addition but on the whole Django Strikes Again is not a very good movie, more akin in style to eighties action movies than its own western heritage.

Overall Django is one of the finest films to come out of the short-lived Spaghetti Western genre, rivaling the work of the maestro Sergio Leone & has its own unique style & over the top violence. It has all the hallmarks of the genre with great characters, violent action, evocative direction & an irresistible score. This film is served well on a great DVD by cult faves Anchor Bay. For a movie of this age the picture quality is very good & anamorhpic, the mono sound is more than adequate. Alas the belated sequel is disappointing but is worth seeing for some additional lost footage & a good performance by Franco Nero. The DVD is rounded off by some short but good extras & is well worth a look by anyone interested in widening their viewing of Spaghetti Westerns.