''Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!'' ( it, Se sei vivo spara, lit=If You Live Shoot) is a 1967

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 film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

film directed by

Giulio Questi Giulio Questi (18 March 1924 – 3 December 2014) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.Marco Giusti, Dizionario dei film italiani stracult, Roma, Frassinelli, 2004. Questi was born in Bergamo. He wrote short stories and filmed se ...

and starring

Tomas Milian Tomas Milian (born Tomás Quintín Rodríguez-Varona Milián Salinas de la Fé y Álvarez de la Campa; 3 March 1933 – 22 March 2017) was a Cuban-born actor and singer with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and ...

Marilù Tolo Marilù Tolo (born Maria Lucia Tolo; 16 January 1944) is an Italian film actress. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1960 and 1985. Life and career Born in Rome, Tolo, at a very young age, worked as an assistant of Mario Riva in the ...

Roberto Camardiel Roberto Camardiel Escudero (29 November 1917, in Alagón, Zaragoza – 15 June 1989, in Zaragoza) was a Spanish theatre director and actor. He appeared in ''Culpables'' and ''Bajo el cielo andaluz'' (1960), both directed by Arturo Ruiz-Castill ...

, and Ray Lovelock in his film debut.

Plot

A pair of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

medicine men A medicine man is a traditional healer and spiritual leader among the indigenous people of the Americas. Medicine Man or The Medicine Man may also refer to: Films * ''The Medicine Man'' (1917 film), an American silent film directed by Clifford S ...

encounter a wounded bandit, the Stranger, crawling out from a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

; they nurse him back to health. During his recovery, he remembers an assault on a

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

covered wagon The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...

guarded by

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

troops. The Stranger, his partner Oaks, and their gang killed the troops, caught swimming in a river, and stole a strongbox containing bags of powdered

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

from the wagon. However, Oaks and the

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

members of the gang betrayed the Stranger and the Mexican bandits, and forced them to dig their grave before gunning them down. In the present, the Indians inform the Stranger that they have

smelted Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...

his share of the gold into bullets, and that they wish to be his companions so that he can tell them about the

happy hunting ground The happy hunting ground is a concept of the afterlife associated with Native Americans in the United States. The phrase most likely originated with Anglo-Saxon settlers' interpretation of the Indian description. History The phrase first appears ...

. Oaks and his gang arrive in a nearby town (referred to by the Indians as "The Unhappy Place"), where they attempt to buy horses and food with their gold. Bill Templer, the saloon owner, recognises Oaks from a

Wanted poster A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...

. Templer and Alderman, the town

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

, lead an armed mob in

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

all of the bandits except for Oaks, who barricades himself in a store. The Stranger arrives and shoots the frightened Oaks. Wounded, Oaks is operated on in the saloon, but is killed when the townspeople try to pull the gold bullets from his body. The Stranger spends the night in the saloon, haunted by what has transpired. Templer and Alderman argue over what shares of the bandits' gold they should receive; Flory, Templer's mistress, becomes

aroused Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to sexual stimuli. A number of physiological responses occur in the body and mind ...

as she watches the proceedings. Templar's unstable son, Evan, destroys some of Flory's clothes in anger after seeing her watch the argument. Sorrow, an eccentric

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

rancher, orders Templer to surrender the gold. When the Stranger and the Indians cut down the hanging corpses of the bandits to bury them, they are ordered to leave town. While horse-hunting, the Stranger witnesses Evan being kidnapped and held

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or ref ...

by Sorrow's ''"muchachos"''. They return to Sorrow's ranch, where he offers the Stranger work, throws a party and sends a messenger to town to inform Templer of the kidnapping. Templer lies and insists that Alderman has the gold. Sorrow orders Evan killed, but the Stranger saves his life via a drunken

shooting game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

, and Sorrow allows him to live. Whiskey-sodden, the Stranger is unable to help Evan as he is surrounded by amorous ''muchachos''. The next morning, while Sorrow, the Stranger and the other men sleep, Evan takes a gun and commits

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. The Stranger returns to town with Evan's body. Enraged by his death, he gets into a savage brawl with Templer and several locals. Knowing that Sorrow will have their saloon searched, Flory and Templer hide the gold in Evan's coffin. Alderman invites the Stranger to live with him, and encourages him to have an affair with Elizabeth, his half-mad wife who is kept locked up in her bedroom. As the Stranger and Elizabeth become attracted to each other, Alderman kills Templer with the Stranger's pistol, placing the blame on him. Flory, witnessing the murder, flees and tells the Stranger what has happened, and that the gold is now in the graveyard due to Evan's burial. Alderman leads the townspeople in a search for the Stranger, during which one of the Indians is scalped and Flory is shot dead by Alderman. Sorrow's ''muchachos'' capture the Stranger,

crucify Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

him and torture him with

vampire bats Vampire bats, species of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats found in Central and South America. Their food source is blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the com ...

; he confesses that the gold is in the cemetery. Sorrow's gang uproot the graveyard, but find that Alderman has already dug the gold up. The surviving Indian frees the Stranger, who kills Sorrow's men using a horse laden with

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

, and shoots Sorrow in his boudoir. The Stranger returns to town, where he finds that Alderman's house has been set on fire by a distraught Elizabeth. Alderman opens a cabinet to retrieve his gold; having turned molten, it smothers his hands and face. The Stranger and the townspeople watch as Elizabeth and Alderman, covered in boiling gold, die in the flames. Alone, the Stranger rides out of town, where he passes by two children using strings to distort their faces.

Cast

as The Stranger *

as Flory **Ann Collin as Flory's singing voice *

as Sorrow * Paco Sanz as Alderman *

Milo Quesada Milo Quesada, born as Raúl García Alonso, (16 April 1930 – 12 December 2012) was an Argentine actor. He started his career in Argentina with the movie ''Cristol de Hombres'' and other minor roles. He then moved to Spain, where his career ex ...

as Bill Templer *

Piero Lulli Piero Lulli (1 February 1923 – 23 June 1991) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 111 films between 1942 and 1977. He was the brother of actor Folco Lulli. Selected filmography * ''A Pilot Returns'' (1942) - De Santis * '' Love Stor ...

as Oaks * Ray Lovelock as Evan Templer *Patrizia Valturri as Elizabeth Alderman *Miguel Serrano as Indian *Ángel Silva as Indian * Félix Sancho Gracia as Willy *Mirella Pamphili as Townswoman ;Uncredited *

Lars Bloch Lars Bloch (6 August 1938 – 27 March 2022), was a Danish-Italian actor and producer, sometimes credited as ''Lars Block'' or ''Carlos Ewing''. Born in Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of ...

as Oaks' Henchman *

Frank Braña Frank Braña (born Francisco Braña Pérez; 24 February 1934 – 13 February 2012) was a Spanish character actor. Biography He was born Francisco Braña Pérez in Pola de Allande, Asturias, Spain on 24 February 1934. Also credited as Frank Bla ...

as Townsman *Gene Collins as Collins * Rafael Hernández as Richie *Herman Reynoso as Townsman

Style

''Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!'' was described by film historian Howard Hughes as "difficult to pigeonhole", noting it encompassed the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, and

splatter film A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of wikt:gore, gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the h ...

genres, describing it as "the weirdest Italian made Western". It is well known for the surrealistic violence and for the psychedelic editing of Franco "Kim" Arcalli.

Phil Hardy Philip Hardy (born 9 April 1973) is an English-born former Ireland under-21 footballer who played as a left-back. With Welsh club Wrexham from 1990 to 2001, he played more than 450 games under manager Brian Flynn. He was named on the PFA ...

defines it as "the most brutally violent spaghetti western ever made". Describing the film, Christopher Frayling says that "the violence was of an extraordinarily savage kind". Antonio Bruschini writes that "this film is the first western to offer a sample of truly horrendous scenes". Marco Giusti defines the film as the most violent and bizarre ever filmed in Italy. It has also been characterized as an

Acid Western Acid Western is a subgenre of the Western film that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s that combines the metaphorical ambitions of critically acclaimed Westerns, such as ''Shane'' and ''The Searchers'', with the excesses of the Spaghetti Westerns and ...

. Despite the fact that it has "'' Django''" in its title, the film is unrelated to the ''Django'' series, and was just one of many Spaghetti Westerns to incorporate the name into the title to cash-in on the success of the Franco Nero film.

Release

''Django Kill...If You Live, Shoot!'' was shown in Italy in January 1967 and was withdrawn from release within one week due to complaints from censorship boards. The film was then cut from its 117 minute running time to a 95 minute running time. The film was released as ''Oro Maldito'' in Spain and was reissued as ''Oro Hondo'' in an Italian re-issue and under the alternative name ''Gringo Uccidi!'' in Italy.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0062082 1967 films 1960s Western (genre) horror films Django films Films directed by Giulio Questi Films shot in Almería Films shot in Madrid Films shot in Rome Italian Western (genre) horror films Spaghetti Western films Spanish Western (genre) horror films 1960s Italian-language films 1960s Italian films Films about post-traumatic stress disorder