Cheap Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot (DVD) (Giulio Questi) Price

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Customer Reviews of Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot

This is a Spaghetti Western like no other. It's not your usual brand where you will find some comic relief among all the action. This one is pure in your face gruesome violence and perverse characters. It is however, a well made film that will keep you involved throughout this tale of evil vs. evil. No good guys here...aside from a couple of well meaning Indians and a woman declared insane by her husband, everyone is bad to the bone. Sound like your kind of movie?...Here's the story...

A gold thief(Tomas Milian), left for dead by his partners and found by two Indians who nuture him back to life,is out for revenge. Upon his arrival in the town called very appropiatley "The Unhappy Place", he finds the gang has already been here, only to meet with a horrible fate, as the towns people here it seems, are even more evil than the gold thieves themselves.As one of the thieves puts it.."Even God would not stay here." Two of the town's important men, have retrieved the stolen gold and will stop at nothing,even sacrificing members of their own families to a gang of depraved thugs, to keep all the loot for themselves. Milian, who may be classifed as an anti-hero of sorts, tries to stop these savages, putting himself in danger as well.It's every man for himself in this dark and graphic look at greed.

The ending is a shocker. It was at times almost like watching some old horror film and I was expecting Vincent Price to appear at any time.

I was amazed at how good this transfer to DVD by Blue Underground was. It's the original uncut version, in wonderful widescreen and had a nice clear picture with good color. The film may be viewed in the original Italian soundtrack(go to languages, or it will automatically default to English),with or without English subtitles. The sound is in DD Mono, but sounds pretty good. There are a few scenes in English(e.g. a barmaid is singing), that are very poorly dubbed, but won't divert from this shocker of a story. Extras include interviews with the director and stars, and a Still Gallery.

If you're looking for something along the lines of say... Peckinpah meets Poe...I would recommend "Django Kill"...

Get the popcorn ready and enjoy...Laurie

EASTER EGGS inside this DVD!
I will give technical specs on this DVD below, plus info on a few hidden extras (thanks, Blue Underground). I purchased this as part of the "Spaghetti Western Collection" and am reviewing this to give added detail to the generic review of the collection.

I couldn't justify a 2 star or 4 star rating because the lack of quality on the dubbing really dragged this movie across the same parched desert that almost killed Milian's character. But Blue Underground has been doing some fabulous work to keep the lesser- known movies from going into total obscurity, and actually, I'm glad they kept "If You Live, Shoot!" IYLS is also called, "Django Kill," which was only named that way because the distributors wanted to ride the coattails of the previous successes of "Django." However, IYLS has NOTHING to do with Django. At all.

Yet I liked this movie. I've actually watched this more than the "Django" DVD I also have. There's something about the structure of the movie's dark nature that intrigues me. The one scene I suggest you watch is when the bandits first enter the town. I am still floored by it, especially with the music that accompanies the scene. It can be quite shocking to many people, so be forewarned. If you are easily shocked, I suggest you read the slight spoiler in the following graph. If you have a tough side but don't like spoilers, it's your option to read or not to, but I suggest you skip the slight spoiler.

*****VERY SLIGHT SPOILER***** Skip graph, it's a spoiler nonetheless.... The scene starts when the group enters the bizarre town after a rough travel through a desert. A naked child stands with his back to the camera, obviously urinating. A little girl pulls the hair of a boy, and in the English version is heard saying, "Give up. Give up." Play it with the Italian track to discover that she is actually spitting in the boy's face 3 times. Also, a relative pins a young girl to the porch using his boots as she pleads for him to let her go. That whole scene, up to the point where the group reaches the tavern blew me away. It didn't help either when townspeople discovered gold in an injured man's body and used their bare hands to dig them out. ***End of spoilers***

The English dubbing made for the movie pulled it down. Try using the Italian track with English subtitles, it sounds more realistic. Milian's own voice should have been used, but for whatever reason, a more English- sounding voice was used. The two Indians... "With gold- made bullets...." And that singer at the saloon.... blech... I argued over a two- star rating, but there are plenty of macaroni flicks that deserve that. This is 2-1/2 stars, plus 5 stars for the transfer from the print and the care that is involved in making a Blue Underground DVD.

I would get the 4- boxed set, and might buy this movie again if I needed. Why? Because I love the spaghetti western genre and it's slim pickings in the category. I only have about 12 titles or so, and after these, it gets hard to find any more decent ones out there of all the (possibly?) hundreds that were made from the '60s through the late '70s. I would get it again. But for the regular movie buff, you might use your money of "Run Man Run" "The Great Silence" or "Companeros" instead. But purchase the Sergio Leone macaroni first, for they are the benchmarks of the European Westerns.

Technical info: Color in mono sound at 2.35:1 aspect ratio only; 117 minutes; English and Italian languages (mono); English subtitles only; extras include interviews with director Guilio Questi, Milian, and Ray Lovelock; original theatrical tralier; gallery of production stills and movie posters; a two- page insert with detail on the movie and chapter selections; PLUS...three HIDDEN videos! Maybe they're called "Easter eggs," which is fun to find. I hadn't noticed them until just now. They are located when you drag the mouse over the clenched hand (it turns pale) and also there are two pale gun icons that appear on the "Languages" and "Extras" pages which reveal hidden interviews. For those who use the DVD player, follow these instructions: On the Main Title page, go to Chapters and push the arrow key right to illuminate the hand. Press enter. On the Extras page, go to the Main Menu and go LEFT to reveal the gun, and hit enter. On the languages page, go to Resume and go UP to reveal the gun, then hit enter. Cool!

Poor Film Gets Top Grade DVD Treatment - Too Bad
First kudos to Blue Underground. They are doing a fantastic job with their DVDs - beautiful film prints, very good sound and extras. The quality of their Spaghetti Western DVDs actually look and sound better then the Leone Western reissues on MGM DVD. This is why I hate to give "Django If You Live, Shoot" a bad review. But....

I have been a huge spaghetti western fan for more then 35 years. A Bullet for a General, Death Rides a Horse, Sabata, The Great Silence, Keoma,The Big Gun Down, All the Leone films, range from fair to great. The grade D "If You Live Shoot" makes even the awful "Django Returns" look like Gone With The Wind by comparison

The film is compelling only because of some of the plot elements - combining Poe-ish macabre in a western setting. It starts with bad guys wondering into a really, really bad town - The atmosphere at this stage is truly creepy - but when it wears off we are left with ineptly constructed action scenes,fake gore, confusing camera setups, sloppy editing, hokey dialogue, tired clichés, uninteresting music and worse then usual dubbing.

The director and actors claim this film to be experimental because of the use of some flash editing[...] The sadism, horror, blood and freak show aspects were probably to gather an audience by word of mouth. The homosexual aspects come off as a fetish of someone involved in the film.

So what do we have left?

The original film stock has that cheap look - You'll know what I mean when you see it. This "look" has nothing to do with Blue Underground excellent DVD qualities. But due rather to the original lighting, camera lenses and focus techniques of the film makers.

Just about everyone overacts - The Stranger's two Indian friends are particular bad. I'm guessing that real Native Americans might find them insulting as they recite tired clichés with real bad accents- Did one of them actually refer to the "Happy Hunting Ground" ?

The dubbing - absolutely incredible.... The saloon girl singing scene is a hysterical - the song is completely inappropriate. The music is from the wrong time period and geographical area. This music style would not be invented for another 50 years. The words do not even remotely match her lips. It is one of the most ludicrous dubbing scenes ever to be seen anywhere.

The action scenes make no sense as good guys stand directly in front of bad guys waiting for the bad guy to shoot them... but for some reason the bad guy doesn't shoot them...but instead chooses to run around until the good guy shoots them. Otherwise no body seems be able to hit anyone with a bullet no matter how many shots or fired but then suddenly, for no reason, the guy gets hit by fifteen bullets.

The editors must have had a terrible time with what they had to work with. Often we can not even comprehend the reason why anything is taking place.

Did I mention the fakest blood this side of Dutch Boy paints?

For the most part the film just seems to meander around dully and aimlessly until an improbable climatic action scene and an unsatisfying ending.

The unique music we are accustomed to in Spaghetti Westerns is not present here either. Instead we have a bunch of tired Roy Rodgers style western clichéd themes.

There is the atypical spaghetti western scene of the hero being tortured. In this one...a crucifixion motif (where have seen that one before?) the poor "Stranger" has to deal with some National Geographic bats and a couple of iguanas. But don't fear the bats were nowhere near our hero - the jungle can be clearly seen behind them as the hero is tied up in jail. I never knew how bad iguana's can be. Their stare is very painful.

I can't imagine anyone who enjoys quality Spaghetti Westerns, American Westerns or even Splatter or Horror Films enjoying "If You Live Shoot"...But there maybe some members of NCBLA - The National Cow "Boy" Lovers Association who may like it - for this film actually builds up very lovingly to a rape of a boy by Gay Hopalong Cassidies. Oh did I mention there is also some real animal cruelty via dog kicking, and bizarre child abuse?

A message or warning to any weirdo who may like this kind of thing - it is all handled very badly.

Note - Tomas Milian and director Giulio Questi are both interviewed on this DVD. On their behalf they seem amiable, intelligent, and are surprisingly unpretentious- To their credit both actor Tomas Milian and director Questi have created a number of quality films and characters. Unfortunately "Django If You Live Shoot" is not one of them.