Django (Franco Nero) a mysterious figure appears in a small town controlled by two warring factions. He says little and drags a coffin behind him. When he rescues a prostitute from being murdered he arouses the interests of both a sadistic Major and a group of outlaw Mexicans. Yet Django has his own reasons for being in town.
The films enigmatic hero speaks little yet carries a lot of emotional baggage from his past. Though Django is an avenging anti hero he is not invincible and both he and Maria (Loredana Nusciak) are somewhat robotic, it's been suggested that this is because both have been overexposed to violence. The film is bleak, the town is frigid and sinking in mud and the dark colours are contrasted dramatically by the red hoods of the majors men and the bright blood. The film makes extensive use of the 'imagery of death' including, blood, coffin's and crucifixes.
Sergio Corbucci's film remains one of the most influential Spaghetti Westerns of all time; it spawned several sequels, remakes, and a lot of films that simply used the name Django in the title to draw people in. Initially however the film was greatly criticised for its use of violence. Still it became one of the most famous and successful of the Spaghetti's, along with Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy. Django remains a unique visual Western that plays upon more common tropes and creates its own, it critiques violence, greed and racist imagery and gave cinema a fascinating anti hero.
Little Rita is a gunslinger with an interesting quest, she wants to rid the world of gold. Rita spends her time stealing gold from famous gunslingers, and then delivering the gold to her Native American friends who plan on destroying it, thus riding the world of all evil.
Ah, the things I will watch for you-Terence Hill.
Little Rita was essentially a vehicle for Italian singer, Rita Pavone who was popular in the 60s. The pint sized, feisty Rita had a powerful voice, and made several quirky films during her heyday. At the time of filming Rita was involved with a married man (whom she eventually married) and it was hoped that this film would re-establish her with the public, particularly her male fans, who were disappointed with her impending marriage. Terence Hill had been making a series of Westerns in Germany, and this was his first Spaghetti Western since that period. As the film was a showcase for Rita the story frequently diverges into song and dance numbers often with no warning! As I am unable to understand Italian I watched the English dubbed version, however none of the songs are dubbed! They remain in their original language, strangely catchy, but hard to understand!
What 'Little Rita' really is, is a spoof of the popular Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s. Rita spoofs the extreme violence, obsession with gold, ineffectual sherifs and dirty gunslingers of these films. Rita even takes on Ringo and Django (famous Spaghetti Western characters). It's a bizarre mix of Spaghetti Western and musical comedy, the ending is also rather odd! Some of the jokes are quite funny though, and the film is rather quotable, here are some of my favourites:
"Look a herd of buffalo. What a magnificent spectacle I just love buffalo"
"Those are skinny cows, and don't you forget it"
"Cows? Well I'll be darned"
"You better talk, or I'll put my signature on your face with a red hot iron!"
"But you don't know how to write…"
"But a movie is supposed to have a happy ending, or else the producer will lose all his money, cause no one will go and see it"
Of course, lets be honest, the real point of this film is Terence Hill (ha!). For those of you who don't know, he is my very favourite! His part isn't huge, he appears about 40 mins in, and often looks slightly bewildered during all the singing and dancing! The film though was to have several happy outcomes for Terence. The director of 'Little Rita', Ferdinando Baldi, was to cast Terence in his next film, Django Prepare a Coffin. The cinematographer of 'Little Rita', Enzo Barboni, was to cast Terence in his star making vehicle, They Call Me Trinity. And as Little Rita accurately describes him, "He's beautiful!"
If you're intrigued by this slightly crazy, but oddly endearing film, you can find the English version on YouTube!
Here's a look at the Pink Panther-esque opening credits:
