SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO is a fine homage to that genre of western, spaghetti, that was dominant from the mid-sixties to the early seventies. Directed by Takashi Miike, sprinkled throughout the film are references to some of the great films. I recognized a good many of them and I’m sure I missed some as well, having only seen about fifty of these things out of 600+ made during that era.
There was Sergio Leone a number of times and themes used often by Corbucci. As soon as you see the wooden coffin being dragged through the mud behind the wagon, you know what’s coming out of it sooner or later.
A mysterious stranger rides into the small Nevada town where two warring clans, the reds and the whites, are looking for a legendary treasure of gold supposedly hidden somewhere in or near the town. After establishing himself as a man not to be messed with, he offers his services in finding the gold to the side that offers him the largest share. Both sides court him of course.
It’s not hard to figure out where this is going. I smiled every time I recognized a bit of another film. The Van Cleef bits, the Eastwoods, even the gun wielding woman.
The town is a mixture of old west and Japanese architecture. I spotted regular swinging saloon doors as well as a set of Japanese design. The movie was filmed in English with occasional Japanese subtitles(my Japanese is a bit rusty-ahem, maybe nonexistent would be a better word).
It was all great fun watching it build to the sort of climax one can expect, down to the dramatic duel between our loner and the leader of the whites, six gun against samurai sword. The music of course seems like something Morricone might have written back then.
Finally, Quentin Tarantino is a Japanese(?) cowboy who introduces the story and has a bit later in the film.
Wonderful little movie. Lately, I’ve been dipping into that deep pool of spaghetti westerns and this was a very satisfying addition to them. If you haven’t seen this one, you should add it to your Netflix queue.
Broken Trails did a post and said Bill Crider had posted the trailer. Somehow or other, I managed to miss it so I’m adding it to mine.
