''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' ( it, Preparati la bara!, “Prepare the Coffin!”), alternatively titled ''Viva Django'', is a

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

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

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

Ferdinando Baldi Ferdinando Baldi (19 May 1917 – 12 September 2007) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Biography Baldi was born in Cava de' Tirreni, Salerno, on 19 May 1917. His early film work began in Italy in the early 1950s with films su ...

. The film stars

Terence Hill Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti; 29 March 1939) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He began his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with longtim ...

in the title role, which was previously played by

Franco Nero Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed both very violent Spaghetti Westerns and bloodless Bud Spencer and Terence Hill action comedies. He is the older bro ...

original film Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. History Original Film was started out in the early 1990s by Neal H ...

''.'' ''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' is unique among the plethora of films which capitalized on Corbucci's in that it is not only a semi-official, legitimate follow-up, but was also originally intended to star Nero. A piece from the film's score, "Last Man Standing", was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

in the song "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

" by American soul duo

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley are an American soul duo, composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, '' St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contained their hit single "Crazy", which peaked at number two ...

. The film's title song, "You'd Better Smile", is performed by

Nicola Di Bari Nicola Di Bari (born 29 September 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter and actor. He is considered one of the "sacred monsters" of Italian pop music. Life and career Born in Zapponeta, Apulia, Di Bari was the youngest of ten children from a f ...

. It was shown as part of a retrospective on Spaghetti Western at the

64th Venice International Film Festival The 64th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, opened on 29 August 2007, with Joe Wright's ''Atonement'' and closed 8 September 2007. Host of the event was Italian actress Ambra Angiolini. The Golden Lion for Lifetime ...

Cast

as Django *

Horst Frank Horst Frank (28 May 1929 – 25 May 1999) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1955 and 1999. He was born in Lübeck, Germany and died in Heidelberg, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Der Stern von Afrika'' (19 ...

as David Barry *

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...

as Lucas *José Torrès as Garcia Ibanez *Bruna Simionato (as Barbara Simon) as Mercedes Ibanez *Pinuccio Ardia as Horace (Orazio) *

Guido Lollobrigida Guido Lollobrigida (1927–2013) was an Italian actor and race car driver, usually credited in movies as Lee Barton or Lee Burton. He was a cousin of actress Gina Lollobrigida. Life and career Born in Rome, after graduating as a technical engin ...

(as Lee Burton) as Jonathan Abbott *Spartaco Conversi as Django Gang Member *

Luciano Rossi Luciano Rossi (28 November 1934 – 29 May 2005) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 67 films between 1966 and 1987. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Partial filmography * ''Ten Italians for One German'' (1962) - German Soldier ...

(as Edward G. Ross) as Yankee Jack *Gianni Brezza as Alvarez *Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia (as Ivan Scratuglia) as Pat O'Connor *

Andrea Scotti Andrea Scotti (born 27 August 1931) is an Italian film and television actor. Background Born in Naples, Scotti attended at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduating in 1956. During his career he was mainly active in genre f ...

as Lucas Henchman *Roberto Simmi as Wallace *

Franco Balducci Franco Balducci (23 November 1922 – 7 June 2001) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 75 films between 1947 and 1978. He was born in Umbria, Italy. Selected filmography * ''Bullet for Stefano'' (1947) - Giacomo * ''Tempesta su Parig ...

as Sheriff Jack *

Adriana Giuffrè Adriana Giuffrè (born 9 March 1939) is an Italian actress. She appeared in more than fifty films since 1961. Filmography References External links * 1939 births Living people Italian film actresses People of Calabrian descent

as Mrs. Yankee Jack *

Lucio De Santis Lucio De Santis (16 November 1922 - 23 August 2006) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than twenty films from 1953 to 1970. De Santis was married to fellow actress Dina De Santis Dina De Santis (born 21 December 1943) is an Italian form ...

as Django Gang Member *

Angela Minervini Angela Minervini is an Italian actress, known for her roles in films such as ''La visita ''La visita'' is a 1963 Italian comedy film directed by Antonio Pietrangeli. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * San ...

as Lucy Cassidy *Giovanni Di Benedetto (as Gianni De Benedetto) as Walcott *Angelo Boscariol as Lucas Henchman *Omero Capanna as Django Gang Member *

Remo De Angelis Remo De Angelis (30 July 1926 - 9 October 2014) was an Italian film actor, stunt man and painter. He appeared in ''Nel Segno di Roma'' (1959), by Guido Brignone, and he played Prometheus in '' Maciste all'inferno'' (1962), by Riccardo Freda. He wa ...

as Barry Henchman *Franco Gulà as Deputy *Paolo Magalotti as Lucas Henchman *

Eugene Walter Eugene Ferdinand Walter, Jr. (November 30, 1921 – March 29, 1998) was an American screenwriter, poet, short-story author, actor, puppeteer, gourmet chef, cryptographer, translator, editor, costume designer and well-known raconteur. During his y ...

as Spokesman

Plot

Django is wounded and his wife is killed when the gold transport that he guards is attacked by the men of his ”friend” David Barry, who wants the gold to finance a political career. Django pretends to be dead and starts working as a hangman, who spares the lives of the condemned victims of David Barry’s conspiracies. He organizes them in a band to ”haunt” the perjurers that sent them to the gallows. This is part of a plan to disclose Barry and bring him to justice. The ”hanged” are supposed to intercept an attack on a gold transport and capture Barry’s men to get evidence, but Garcia - who earlier has saved Django’s life during a fight within the group - convinces the rest of the men that instead they should take the gold for themselves. Garcia then kills the others. Django saves Garcia’s wife from hanging, and she then saves Django after Barry has captured him. Garcia regrets his treachery, which he explains by the fact that he is poor, and helps Django lure Barry to the graveyard, where Django digs up his own coffin and then kills Barry and his gang with the machine gun kept in the coffin. Garcia dies in the fight. Django leaves a sack of gold to Garcia’s wife ”for you and the children” before he leaves.

Release

''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' was released on 27 January 1968.

Reception

In his investigation of narrative structures in

films, Fridlund suggests that though ''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' is basically a story of vindication and retribution, the relationship between Django and Garcia shows some affinity with the Gringo specialist/social bandit pair in "political" spaghetti westerns like '' The Mercenary''.Fridlund, Bert: ''The Spaghetti Western. A Thematic Analysis''. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006 pp. 111,118,198.

Restoration

''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' was restored at

L'Immagine Ritrovata The Cineteca di Bologna is a film archive in Bologna, Italy. It was founded on 18 May 1962. Since 1989, it has been a member of the Fédération internationale des archives du film (FIAF). It has been a member of the Association des cinémath� ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. The film was transferred at 2K resolution with Arriscan from a 35mm interpositive print. ''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' was digitally restored in high definition and then digitally colour corrected with Film Master by Nucoda. The sound was digitalised using the Chace Optical Sound Precessor from the original soundtrack negative. The restored high definition edition of ''Django, Prepare a Coffin'' made its

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

debut in June 2013 from the United Kingdom's

Arrow Video An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers ca ...

References

External links

* {{Gnarls Barkley 1968 films Spaghetti Western films 1968 Western (genre) films Django films Films directed by Ferdinando Baldi Films scored by Gianfranco Reverberi 1960s Italian films