A Spaghetti Western for Those With Harsher Taste

Italian director Sergio Leone turned Clint Eastwood into a movie star in such western classics as “A Fistful of Dollars” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

But Leone wasn’t the only director who made spaghetti Westerns during the 1960s.

Sergio Corbucci also found success with these western adventures. His best-known film is the 1966 action-adventure “Django,” which was considered so violent it was banned in several countries and wasn’t shown in England until 25 years after its initial release.

Anchor Bay Entertainment is offering a wide-screen collector’s edition of the western ($15). Handsome Franco Nero, then 23, plays the title role in this over-the-top flick.

Django, a mysterious man of few words, travels on foot, pulling behind him his trademark--a coffin. Inside the coffin is a huge machine gun that enables him to mow down all the bad guys.

Though most of the violent scenes are tame by today’s standards, there is one particularly grisly moment when a man’s ear is cut off and then he is forced to eat it. Quentin Tarantino paid homage to this scene in “Reservoir Dogs.”

The English-language track is pretty bad, with Nero being dubbed by someone who sounds suspiciously like Eastwood. Equally camp is the deliciously awful theme song.

This edition also includes the trailer and a recent interview with Nero, who is still striking as he approaches 60.

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Anchor Bay is also offering the inferior, distasteful sequel, “Django Strikes Again” ($15), which was produced in 1987. This time around, Django has abandoned violence in favor of a peaceful life as a monk.

But when he learns that his young daughter--whom he had by the prostitute he saved from bandits in the original film--has been kidnapped by an evil general (Christopher Connelly), he leaves the holy life behind and digs up his coffin to avenge the wrongdoings.

“Django Strikes Again” is fully restored for the first time from a long-missing negative and includes a never-before-seen prologue.

A special limited-edition DVD ($40) includes both films, a 20-page full-color booklet and an interactive game.