''Django Strikes Again'' (, lit. "Django 2 - The Great Return") is a 1987

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

spaghetti Western 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 o ...

film directed by Nello Rossati, under the pseudonym "Ted Archer". It stars

Franco Nero Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), which made him a pop cul ...

as the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

in a story set 20 years after the first film, and it is the only official sequel in the ''Django'' series.

Synopsis

Twenty years after the events in the first '' Django'', the eponymous deadly

gunslinger Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...

has left his violent life behind and become a monk named Brother Ignatius. Living in seclusion in a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, he wants no more of the violent actions he perpetrated. Suddenly, he learns from a dying former lover that some time ago he had a young daughter, who has been kidnapped along with other children who are now working for a ruthless Hungarian criminal and aristocrat known as ''El Diablo'' (The Devil) Orlowsky, who commands a

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

army and has made himself infamous as an arms dealer and slave trader. The children and other prisoners are exploited working in Orlowsky's

silver mine Silver mining is the extraction of silver by mining. Silver is a precious metal and holds high economic value. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires the use of complex technologies. In ...

, from which he hopes to get rich from the spoils. Determined to find his daughter and nail the bad guys, Django gets some arms and goes on the warpath against Orlowsky's private army.

Cast

as Django/Brother

Ignatius Ignatius is a male given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name Religious * Ignatius of Antioch (35–108), saint and martyr, Apostolic Father, early Christian bishop * Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople, Ignati ...

* Christopher Connelly as "El Diablo" Orlowsky/Prince Orlowsky *

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He was known for his "bald head and intense, staring eyes," and played more than 250 stage, film, and television roles across a nearly sixty-year career. Pleas ...

as Ben Gunn * Licinia Lentini (as Licia Lee Lyon) as Countess Isabelle * Roberto Posse (as Robert Posse) as German Diablo Henchman * Alessandro Di Chio as Captain * Rodrigo Obregón as Diablo Henchman * Miguel Carreno (as Micky) as Local Boy * William Berger as Old Gunfighter * Bill Moore as Old Gunfighter * Consuelo Reina as Dona Gabriela

Production

''Django Strikes Again'' was conceived concurrently with

Duccio Tessari Duccio Tessari (11 October 1926 – 6 September 1994) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, considered one of the fathers of Spaghetti Westerns. Born in Genoa, Tessari started in the fifties as documentarist and as screenwriter ...

's '' Tex and the Lord of the Deep''; both projects were intended to represent a revival of the

Spaghetti Western 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 o ...

genre. Following the commercial failure of ''Tex'',

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer. He was one of the main exponents of the Spaghetti Western genre during the 1960s and 1970s, with his most notable work ...

, who had co-written ''Django Strikes Again'' and had initially agreed to direct it, refused to partake in its production. Shot on location in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, the film represents the final screen appearance of Christopher Connelly, who died of cancer a year after its release. Nero stated in a 2012 interview that he is "not happy with the film" and called it "a bit flat".

Release

''Django Strikes Again'' was released theatrically in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

on November 6, 1987 as ''Djangos Rückkehr''.

Sequel

Following a 2014 attempt to mount the project, it was reported in May 2016 that Franco Nero would reprise his role in a third and final outing as the titular character, entitled ''Django Lives!'' . The film was to be set 50 years after the events of the original installment.

John Sayles John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He is known for writing and directing the films '' The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' Matewan'' (1987), ...

was to direct.

References

External links

* {{Django 1987 films 1980s Italian-language films English-language Italian films 1980s English-language films Spaghetti Western films Films shot in Colombia Italian sequel films Django films 1987 Western (genre) films Films directed by Nello Rossati 1987 multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1980s Italian films English-language Western (genre) films