| Navajo Joe | |
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| Directed by | Sergio Corbucci |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by | Ugo Pirro [2] |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Silvano Ippoliti [2] |
| Edited by | Alberto Gallitti [2] |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone [2] |
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Release date |
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| Countries |
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| Language | Italian |
Navajo Joe is a 1966 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci [3] and starring Burt Reynolds as the titular Navajo Indian who opposes a group of bandits responsible for killing his tribe. [4]
Having massacred an Indian village with his gang, scalp hunter Duncan rides to the nearest town to discover that he is now an outlaw, as scalp hunting is now illegal. Duncan murders the sheriff and begins burning the town. In the town, Duncan meets Lynne, the town doctor, who conspires with Duncan to steal a train full of the bank's money. Three female entertainers and their manager overhear talk of the plot and ride to the next town of Esperanza to warn people. Several of Duncan's gang attempt to kill them, but their scheme is thwarted by Navajo Joe.
Joe steals the train back from Duncan's gang. He asks the townspeople of Esperanza to pay him to protect them from Duncan, demanding, "I want a dollar a head from every man in this town for every bandit I kill." The townspeople reject him, as they "don't make bargains with Indians." Lynne's wife Hannah persuades them otherwise. Joe sets a trap for Duncan, but is caught and tortured, and Lynne and Hannah are killed. Rescued by the entertainers' manager, Joe again steals the train and wipes out Duncan's gang.
A showdown occurs in an Indian cemetery, where Joe reclaims the pendant that Duncan had stolen from his wife when he murdered her. As Joe turns, Duncan shoots him with a hidden gun. Injured, Joe grabs a tomahawk and throws it, hitting Duncan square in the forehead. With Duncan dead, Joe sends his horse back to town, carrying the bank's money. The townspeople are surprised that Joe has kept his word and are relieved that their money has been returned. Estella, disappointed in the attitudes of the townspeople and grateful for what Joe has done for them, sends the horse back to be reunited with him, leaving Joe's final fate ambiguous.
Producer Dino De Laurentiis approached director Sergio Corbucci with a script titled Un dollaro a testa (lit. 'A Dollar a Head'). [5] Corbucci claimed that Marlon Brando was promised to him for the lead role in the film. [5] De Laurentiis cast Reynolds for the role because he felt that Reynolds resembled Brando. [5]
Reynolds was a friend of Clint Eastwood, who had raved to Reynolds about a director named Sergio. [6] Eastwood introduced Reynolds to De Laurentiis, who was looking for an actor who could do his own stunts. [6] Reynolds went to Italy in April 1966. [6] He later spoke about his time in Europe, explaining that "... the only thing today for an American actor is to go to Europe for $350,000, crinkle up the film, jump up and down a couple of times and you've got it made." [7]
De Laurentiis announced that the film would be part of a six-picture deal that he had with United Artists, which included films titled Absurd Universe, Matchless , A River of Dollars (with Reynolds and Henry Silva, later filmed as The Hills Run Red with Thomas Hunter replacing Reynolds), The Bandit (with Clint Eastwood) and Waterloo . [8] De Laurentiis received many script re-writes from Piero Regnoli and Fernando di Leo; [6] [9] after the sixth draft, he approved the script. Reynolds was surprised that the cast was predominantly non-English-speaking and that the director was not Sergio Leone as he had thought, but Sergio Corbucci. [9] Reynolds would later state that the film had failed because he had worked with "the wrong Sergio." [10]
Reynolds has stated that the Italian crew did not know what "real Indians" looked like, saying his wig made him look like Natalie Wood. [11] [7] Reynolds added, "... of course when you play a half-breed you have to be stoic –and you can't get funky –and you have to have a deep voice. Apparently there are no Indians with high voices. And you have to shave your arms all the time. It's easy to get the left but just try and reach the right." [7] Commenting on his role in the film, Reynolds felt that the physical aspects did not worry him, but that his costumes did. [11]
Of his work, Corbucci declared that he made "... European Westerns the way they like them over here. Plenty of action. Little talk. And I have the privilege of changing at a moment's notice the costumes and geography." [12]
Navajo Joe was released in Italy in November 1966 [13] and in the United States in 1967. [13]
In a contemporary review, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times dismissed the film as "colorless" and another of the "... super-bloody 'Westerns' made by Italians and Spaniards in Spain with Italian, Spanish and American actors." [4] Variety noted that Regnoli and Di Leo's screenplay allowed for "... fast movement which Corbucci handles well enough", ultimately declaring the film to be "Lowercase western ... Okay for minor action market." [14]
In a retrospective review, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a D rating, calling it "a dubbed Italian botch", finding it inferior to another Western that he reviewed, Man of the West . [15]
Burt Reynolds described Navajo Joe as "so awful it was only shown in prisons and airplanes because nobody could leave. I killed ten thousand guys, wore a Japanese slingshot and a fright wig." [5] When Reynolds won an Emmy in 1991 for Evening Shade , he said during his acceptance speech, "All those pictures –Navajo Joe –they paid off, you know." [16]
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto and Joseph Egger. The film, an international co-production between Italy, West Germany and Spain, was filmed on a low budget, and Eastwood was paid $15,000 for his role.
For a Few Dollars More is a 1965 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters and Gian Maria Volonté as the primary villain. German actor Klaus Kinski plays a supporting role as a secondary villain. The film was an international co-production between Italy, West Germany, and Spain. The film was released in the United States in 1967, and is the second instalment of what is commonly known as the Dollars Trilogy.
The revisionist Western is a sub-genre of the Western film. Called a post-classical variation of the traditional Western, the revisionist subverts the myth and romance of the traditional by means of character development and realism to present a less simplistic view of life in the "Old West". While the traditional Western always embodies a clear boundary between good and evil, the revisionist Western does not.
The Great Silence is a 1968 revisionist spaghetti Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Corbucci. An Italian-French co-production, the film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Vonetta McGee and Frank Wolff, with Luigi Pistilli, Mario Brega, Marisa Merlini and Carlo D'Angelo in supporting roles.
Sergio Corbucci was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed both very violent Spaghetti Westerns and bloodless Bud Spencer and Terence Hill action comedies.
Django is a 1966 spaghetti Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Corbucci, starring Franco Nero as the title character alongside Loredana Nusciak, José Bódalo, Ángel Álvarez and Eduardo Fajardo. The film follows a Union soldier-turned-drifter and his companion, a mixed-race prostitute, who become embroiled in a bitter, destructive feud between a gang of Confederate Red Shirts and a band of Mexican revolutionaries. Intended to capitalize on and rival the success of Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, Corbucci's film is, like Leone's, considered to be a loose, unofficial adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo.
Tomas Milian was a Cuban-born actor and singer with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and humor he brought to starring roles in European genre films.
Minnesota Clay is a 1964 Spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Corbucci.
Sergio Sollima was an Italian film director and script writer.
Alfredo Sánchez Brell, known as Aldo Sambrell, was a Spanish actor, director, and producer who appeared in over 150 films between 1961 and 1996.
Texas, Adios is a 1966 Italian/Spanish international co-production Spaghetti Western film directed by Ferdinando Baldi and starring Franco Nero. It is often referenced in connection with Django, also starring Nero, and although was referred to as Django 2 in some countries, it is not considered a sequel. The film is mostly remembered as a lesser known Spaghetti Western.
The Savage Guns is a 1961 Eurowestern film, an international co-production by British and Spanish producers. Based on a specially commissioned screenplay, The San Siado Killings, written by Peter R. Newman and directed by Michael Carreras, the film is credited as the first traditional Spaghetti Western.
Keoma is a 1976 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Franco Nero. It is frequently regarded as one of the better 'twilight' Spaghetti Westerns, being one of the last films of its genre, and is known for its incorporation of newer cinematic techniques of the time and its vocal soundtrack by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis.
Grand Canyon Massacre is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western filmed in Croatia starring James Mitchum, Milla Sannoner, and George Ardisson. It was directed by Sergio Corbucci and produced by Albert Band. The film's theme song was performed by Rod Dana. The film has nothing to do with the Grand Canyon.
Django is a fictional character who appears in a number of Spaghetti Western films. Originally played by Franco Nero in the 1966 Italian film of the same name by Sergio Corbucci, he has appeared in 31 films since then. Especially outside of the genre's home country Italy, mainly Germany, countless releases have been retitled in the wake of the original film's enormous success.
The Specialists is a 1969 Spaghetti Western co-written and directed by Sergio Corbucci. It was an international co-production between Italy, France and West Germany. Retrospective critics and scholars of Corbucci's Westerns have deemed The Specialists to be the final film in the director's "Mud and Blood" trilogy, which also includes Django (1966) and The Great Silence (1968).
Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! is a 1967 spaghetti Western film directed by Giulio Questi and starring Tomas Milian, Marilù Tolo, Roberto Camardiel, and Ray Lovelock in his film debut.
Nicoletta Machiavelli was an Italian film actress, also known as Nicoletta Rangoni Machiavelli and Nicoletta Macchiavelli.
Spara, Gringo, spara is a 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western directed by Bruno Corbucci.
