This Beloved '60s Spaghetti Western Was Banned In The UK For Nearly Three Decades
by Witney Seibold · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
Google Discover
When Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" was released in 1964, it almost immediately inspired a lawsuit from filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. "Fistful," as one could easily see, was a direct remake of Kurosawa's 1961 samurai film "Yojimbo," even going so far as to copying individual shots. Leone never credited the makers of "Yojimbo," nor its studio, Toho, so Kurosawa successfully sued the production.
Kurosawa might also have a case to sue Sergio Corbucci, the maker of the 1966 cult Western "Django" starring Franco Nero. "Django" is also a pretty clear ripoff of "Yojimbo," but since it was also cashing in on the more recent success of Leone's film, it's a ripoff of "Fistful" as well. "Django," like its two predecessors, takes place mostly in a small town where two warring gangs meet to vie for superiority. In the previous two iterations, the taciturn hero wanders into said town alone. This time, he has a companion in the form of María (Loredana Nusciak), a former sex worker he had rescued from attackers. Also unlike its predecessors, "Django" is wickedly violent. The main character shoots more people, there's a lot more blood, and there's even a scene wherein someone is forced to eat their own severed ear at gunpoint.
Yes, Quentin Tarantino took the title and a lot of details from "Django" for his 2012 film "Django Unchained." Indeed, the 1966 film was such a hit, it inspired a slew of ripoffs of its own. Films like "Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!" and "One Damned Day at Dawn... Django Meets Sartana!" are not official sequels. Only "Django Strikes Again" in 1987 involved Franco Nero again.
"Django" was so violent it was banned from release in the UK until 1993.
Django Banned... If You Saw It, Bootleg!
Other violent things that happen in "Django": Django mows down a group of gangsters with a machine gun. Later in the movie, Django and a group of gunslingers sneak into an army base and murder more. Django has his hands crushed in a scene of violent retribution. This film was released in 1966, and this level of violence was unusual at the time, earning the film a shadowy reputation as the most violent movie ever made. Movies were definitely becoming more violent in general at the time, though (how many of you are familiar with the 1960s horror films of Herschell Gordon Lewis?), so "Django" was, at best, only in the top 50.
Regardless, one can go to the British Board of Film Classification website, and see that "Django" wasn't released and wasn't given a classification until 1993. When it was first seen by British censor John Trevelyan back in 1967, he was so appalled, he announced that "Django" wasn't even capable of being shaved down to achieve an X rating, the board's harshest. He said that "Django" contained "excessive and nauseating violence."
The film was submitted by various distributors over the years, including in 1972 and in 1974. In '72, not much had changed, but by '74, there might have been a more serious reconsideration, of editing the film slightly to get an X rating. Sadly, it didn't move forward. The film, the BBFC noted, "lov[ed] dwelling on violence," and noted that the violence was the movie's "sole raison d'etre."
By the 1990s, the rating system shifted to a few numerical format, and "Django" was submitted again, hoping to get a rating for release on home video. It was finally deemed an 18-rated film in 1993.
Django was first rated 18, then downgraded to a 15
By 1993, of course, James Cameron's "Terminator 2" had been released, and the BBFC felt that "Django" was relatively tame in comparison. Gun violence and blood had become more common, and mainstream audiences were kind of desensitized. Heck, Quentin Tarantino had already released his first feature, "Reservoir Dogs," which also contains a scene of someone's ear being severed. In light of "Reservoir Dogs," withholding "Django" from public consumption might have been churlish. Tarantino, naturally, went on to make "Django Unchained," and, keeping the tradition alive, made it insanely violent and bloody. Corbucci himself passed away in 1990. Franco Nero is still working to this day, and even had a cameo in the 2022 "Django" TV reboot in Italy (he also has a cameo in "Django Unchained"). Some American audiences might have noted that he played the Pope in "The Pope's Exorcist."
The original 1966 "Django" was eventually resubmitted to the BBFC in 2004, and it went from its 1993-era 18 rating down to the more permissive 15 rating. I guess the level of violence wasn't cruel or sadistic enough to activate the 21st-century censors. By 2004, "Django" was well-known the world over, and while it is nihilistic and violent, it might feel tame by Tarantino standards. High school students could rent the film with ease. These days, one can see "Django" for free through the Roku Channel and through Kanopy. Conditions for entry have never been more lenient.
Critics, meanwhile, have merrily reappraised "Django" over the years. In 2012, Budd Wilkins reviewed "Django" for Slant, and he was impressed that the film wasn't just violent, but dripping with actual political anger. It's appalling, but it's supposed to be. That's where its power lies.