Django Strikes Again


Django Strikes Again is a 1987 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Nello Rossati, under the pseudonym "Ted Archer". It stars Franco Nero as the title character in a story set 20 years after the first film, and it is the only official sequel in the Django series.

Synopsis

Twenty years after the events in the first Django, the eponymous deadly gunslinger has left his violent life behind and become a monk named Brother Ignatius. Living in seclusion in a monastery, he wants no more of the violent actions he perpetrated. Suddenly, he learns from a dying former lover that some time ago he had a young daughter, who has been kidnapped along with other children who are now working for a ruthless Hungarian criminal and aristocrat known as El Diablo Orlowsky, who commands a mercenary army and has made himself infamous as an arms dealer and slave trader. The children and other prisoners are exploited working in Orlowsky's silver mine, from which he hopes to get rich from the spoils. Determined to find his daughter and nail the bad guys, Django gets some arms and goes on the warpath against Orlowsky's private army.

Cast

Production

Django Strikes Again was conceived concurrently with Duccio Tessari's Tex and the Lord of the Deep; both projects were intended to represent a revival of the Spaghetti Western genre. Following the commercial failure of Tex, Sergio Corbucci, who had co-written Django Strikes Again and had initially agreed to direct it, refused to partake in its production. Shot on location in Colombia, the film represents the final screen appearance of Christopher Connelly, who died of cancer a year after its release. Nero stated in a 2012 interview that he is "not happy with the film" and called it "a bit flat".

Release

Django Strikes Again was released theatrically in West Germany on November 6, 1987 as Djangos Rückkehr.

Sequel

Following a 2014 attempt to mount the project, it was reported in May 2016 that Franco Nero would reprise his role in a third and final outing as the titular character, entitled Django Lives!; the film was to be set 50 years after the events of the original installment, and John Sayles was attached to write the screenplay and direct.