Keoma (1976, Enzo G. Castellari)

The highly impactful Django was first released in Italy in 1966, and with it's success came a spew of unofficial sequels, over 30 actually. When in reality there was only one official sequel... and that was Django Strikes Again.

Films cashing in on the success of Django and sometimes even with secondary names in different countries like Django, Prepare a Coffin, Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!, Django the Bastard and even Django Rides Again, which is actually this film.

Unofficially released with further alternate titles such as Django's Great Return and The Violent Breed, it was official released under the name Keoma staring Django himself Franco Nero in the titular role.

Keoma Shannon; a half breed gunslinger who upon returning home from the killing fields of the civil war, discovers there's another war to be fought.

His hometown is now riddled with the plague and the victims are enslaved into a mining camp under the rule of tyrannical gang leader Coldwell, who now runs the entire town. To make matters worse, his three half brothers who racially bullied Keoma as a child are now in cahoots with Coldwell.

Aiding in Keoma's hometown liberation is his old friend George (Woody Strode), an ex-slave with unparalleled skills with a bow and arrow yet has now diminished into the town drunk. And his father, who feels betrayed by his son's actions upon the town's people.

We get a more grandiose vibe rather than a standard western with this film. The shootout scenes are terrific and somewhat inspired by Peckinpah, with it's great use of slow motion footage as the victims beautifully fall to their inevitable death, not to mention a killer opening scene. It's one of the more bleaker westerns, as per most westerns of this decade.

Behind the camera is famed exploitation director Enzo G. Castellari, who's probably most noted for his films The Inglorious Bastards (leading him a cameo in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds) and The Big Racket and though his camera work is first rate, his choice of music here was appalling.

By far the greatest sin of the film, a somewhat "Cohen-esq" style attempt of a soundtrack that was clearly influenced by McCabe & Mrs. Miller, leading to a sour conclusion. It's not only ill suited for the material, it's just plain annoying. A far-cry from the epic theme of the original Django.

However, over all, if you get passed this theme music, the film is highly entertaining and easily one of the best unofficial Django sequels. And even with the sub-genre seemingly out of gas, there's still a certain quality to this one.  Believe it or not, Franco Nero is actually set to star in a sequel this year titled The Fourth Horseman, although we can expect the release date to be postponed for obvious reasons.

Keoma was one of the very last (twilight) Spaghetti westerns to be made. By this time, most Spaghetti Western directors had now moved on to making Poliziesco films. In-fact, it feels as though 1976 was the year that said goodbye to the great western genre. With major films like The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Last Hard Men, The Missouri Breaks and The Shootist (John Wayne's last film), they all embodied similar bleak elements of a dying breed and the end of an era. The end of the Western (for a while anyway).

Click here for the trailer

Rating: B+