Navajo Joe (1966)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The early 20th century produced a number of silent Westerns, now erased from both history books and film archives, in which lovable cowboys gunned down savage Native American Indians, most of whom wanted to kill their kids, burn their towns and rape their women. In other words, almost the opposite of actual history.Westerns began to get more complex as the decades rolled on. By the 1960s, an era of mass movements and civil rights campaigns, revisionist westerns were a dime a dozen. What was being revised? The ideals of Manifest Destiny, frontier masculinity and a form of white, western exceptionalism. As such, most of the westerns released in the 60s and 70s centred on sympathetically portrayed Native Indians or mixed race Apaches. They dealt with bigotry and xenophobia, they portrayed "cowboys" as being violent and brutish, dealt explicitly with genocide, or portrayed natives as righteous warriors who unleash divine justice.Bizarrely, these films ("Hud", "Hombre", "Soldier Blue", "MccAbe and Mrs Miller", Altman's "Buffalo Bill", "Little Big Man", "Chato's Land", "Bad Company", "Lonely Are The Brave" etc) are mostly ignored or rarely canonised as "great westerns" of the era. Instead fare like "Once Upon A Time In The West", "Hang Em High", "True Grit", "The Wild Bunch" etc are exalted, essentially films which either revitalise western archetypes or mourn the death of the cowboy, pining for a specific form of violent, outlaw masculinity."Navajo Joe" is a 1966 Spaghetti Western by Sergio Corbucci. Essentially a blood and guts exploitation movie (Tarantino loves it), it watches as a Navajo Indian, played by Burt Reynolds, wages war on the group of white bandits responsible for massacring his tribe. The film is bloody, violent, scored by the great Ennio Morricone, and obsessed with vengeance. During this period, many blaxploitation movies were telling similar tales in urban settings, oppressed Africans gunning down slimy white villains in a blaze of righteous, ethnic justice. Most of these films are more interesting as historical capsules than "good art", and its perhaps likely, at least in a social sense, that their glorification of vengeance has the opposite effect, not empowering but propagating disempowerment, subjugation and the further sanctification of violence.Corbucci was always a second rate Leone, but he had some style. Reynolds is terrible as our hero, complete with fake spray-on tan and a bad wig. He needs a surfboard, not a six-shooter.6/10 - Worth one viewing.

This cynical Sergio Corbucci horse opera about the eponymous Native American hero wreaking vengeance on a murderous gang of cutthroat renegades for murdering his woman and massacring his village qualifies as a stalwart, traditional Spaghetti western with nonstop riding, shooting, and killing galore. Killing constitutes a virtual reflex action in this savage, above-average shoot'em up. "Gunsmoke" actor Burt Reynolds must have been in the best shape of his life to pull off some of his stunts. He leaps and he lunges as if he were a born acrobat. For example, trussed upside down by the evil villains, he gets a little help from a sneaky city slicker and crunches up to untie his ankles. Remember how Richard Gere did sit-ups dangling by his ankles from the ceiling of his apartment in "American Gigolo?" Burt performs similar stunts and is as nimble as a ninja. Masquerading as Leo Nichols, "Fistful of Dollars" composer Ennio Morricone conjures up another memorable, atmospheric orchestral soundtrack with traditional Indian chanting, screaming, and steel string guitar thumping. Quentin Tarantino thought so much of it and he sampled Morricone's score in his two sword-wielding "Kill Bill" sagas. "Hercules, Samson, and Ulysses" lenser Silvano Ippoliti confines all the rampaging violence very skillfully with his widescreen compositions so it looks very cool. Some of Ippoliti's more imaginative images occur when he hides the identity of one of the villains during a saloon conference scene."Navajo Joe" is one of a fistful of westerns where the only good Indian isn't a dead one. Few American westerns would celebrate the Native American as Corbucci does in "Navajo Joe." Joe is pretty doggoned smart for a savage. Veteran Spaghetti western villain Aldo Sambrell is as treacherous as they come. So filled with hate is he that he kills without a qualm. No sooner has Mervyn 'Vee' Duncan (Aldo Sambrell of "For A Few Dollars More") shot, killed, and scalped Joe's Indian wife than Joe hits the trail in pursuit of Duncan and his gang. Gradually, Joe begins to whittle down the opposition. Meanwhile, Duncan discovers that the authorities in the town of Pyote where he once sold scalps have posted a bounty of both himself and his half-brother. Just before Duncan's blonde-headed brother Jeffrey (Lucio Rosato of "4 Dollars of Revenge'') drills the sheriff with his six-shooter, the lawman informs an incredulous Duncan that he is wanted for murder. Duncan points out that he has been bringing the sheriff the scalps of Indians for years. "The scalps you brought then were those of troublemakers," the lawman points out. According to the sheriff, things have changed. "Now, you're attacking peaceful tribes, killing even the women and the children." A prominent doctor convinces Duncan to rob a train heading for the town of Esperanza. He warns Duncan not to try and blow up the safe because an explosion will destroy the half-million dollars in the safe. He knows the combination, and they can split the loot. This part of the "Navajo Joe" screenplay by "Fistful of Dollars" scribe Fernando Di Leo, "Hills Run Red" writer Piero Regnoli, and "Mafia" scribe Ugo Pirro sounds somewhat like "For a Few Dollars More" when Colonel Mortimer persuades El Indio to let him open the safe because too much dynamite might destroy the loot. Before Duncan leaves town, his gang and he set it ablaze.Predictably, Joe intervenes and steals the train from Duncan after the villainous dastard has massacred all the passengers, including a woman and her baby, along with a U.S. Army escort. Joe takes the train to Esperanza and offers to liquidate the gang if they will pay him a dollar for each head. Eventually, Duncan captures Joe and tries to learn the whereabouts of the money, but Joe refuses to talk. Duncan ranks as one of the most heartless outlaws. He shoots a preacher point blank in the belly with his six-gun after the minister thanks him for not wiping out their town! This trim 93-minute oater features a lean, mean Burt Reynolds wielding a Winchester like a demon and decimating the ranks of the bad guys. The Spanish scenery looks as untamed as the ruthless desperadoes that plunder one town after another. "Django" director Sergio Corbucci never allows the action to slow down. Despite its many sterling qualities, "Navajo Joe" never achieved the status of other Corbucci westerns like "The Mercenary," "The Grand Silence" and "Companeros." If you think about it, "Navajo Joe" is a genre-bending western because an Indian saves a town of mostly white citizens rather than terrorizes them!

One of the better known spaghetti westerns, directed by Sergio Corbucci, probably the most prolific director of spaghettis. While it was Sergio Leone who made the masterpieces, Corbucci carved out his own little niche and made several important contributions to the genre. Navajo Joe is also known for featuring the up-and-coming Burt Reynolds in one of his earliest roles.Unlike Sergio Leone, Corbucci seems to have had a really passionate agenda for making what he saw as inflammatory anti-westerns. Here his mission is to restore the balance of treatment of Native Americans in the Hollywood western. He wasn't being quite as radical as it at first appears though, seeing as Robert Aldrich had done the same thing ten years earlier with Apache, starring cinema's other famous Burt (Lancaster). Joe is an interesting character compared to the usual spaghetti anti-hero though, as his extortion and cynicism are continually influenced by this higher purpose he has of seeking justice.Italian westerns were really becoming big business by this point, and Navajo Joe has somewhat bigger production values than Corbucci's earlier films. The dubbing is of a much higher quality than that in Django, although it's still not great. Nothing can cover the weakness of the plot - aside from the Native American angle it's a fairly basic train robbery story. There's a half-hearted attempt at injecting some mystery and suspense into it with the Doctor Lynn character doing an inside job, but this never really gets off the ground. The actual dialogue is terrible too.Corbucci showed promise as a director in Django, but in Navajo Joe the direction is nothing special. Whereas Django made great use of interiors and dark spaces, Navajo Joe is in 'scope and mostly set outdoors, but Corbucci really has no feel for landscapes. He gives a great rough and ready feel to the action scenes, but overall there are just too many zooms and pointless camera moves.Although he would later become a big star back home, Burt Reynolds isn't particularly good here. He moves fairly well, and gives Joe just the right note of self-absorbed nonchalance, but when he opens his mouth terrible things happen. He puts in these little pauses, as if trying to deliver lines like John Wayne, except he falls well short. He actually manages to do the seemingly impossible and do an unconvincing job of dubbing himself. The only acting performance really worth noting is that of Aldo Sanbrell. Sanbrell was one of the most prolific spaghetti character actors, playing third-bad-guy-on-the-left in dozens of pictures. Here is a rare chance to seem him in a lead role, and he's actually not bad. Not good, but not bad either.Burt Reynolds once stated that this was the worst film he ever made. It's probably not, (as anyone who's seen the Smokey and the Bandit sequels will testify) but it is a fairly bad one, and if Reynolds wasn't familiar with exploitation cinema he no doubt wondered what the hell he was doing. Corbucci had already made one of the best loved spaghettis (Django) and would go on to make some real classics (The Mercenary, The Great Silence), but Navajo Joe was a real step backwards in his career.

Daniel Baker pull your head out of you know what! First off Burt Reynolds had to leave during filming of Navajo Joe for a commercial, which infuriated Corbucci. Reynolds thought he was going to become a huge star doing a spaghetti western and believed he was going to work with Leone. I believe deep down in his little heart he knows this was one of his better roles he has played.The opening scene was great with Aldo Sambrell (Mervyn Duncan)smiling at Joe's wife (Cristina Sani). I didn't think (Indians) feared anyone especially Navajo..Answering Daniel's second intelligent remark! It shows Duncan's hatred for his own being half blooded Indian and during his childhood being called a halfbreed. He collects Indian scalps for a dollar a head. Which is funny how Joe makes a deal with the townspeople for a dollar a head. When Duncan learns that he has a bounty on his head he sacks the local town and make's a deal w/ Dr. Lynne in stealing the train carrying $500,000 on board. One by one Joe eliminates the Duncan Gang and Dr. Lynne is killed by Duncan. It is a great final showdown with Merv Duncan and Joe in the Indian Burial ground of his ancestors. Like Corbucci's style the hero is killed off unlike Great Silence were the hero dies and the villain lives. The hate for one another destroys each other it is a cool Ax to the head scene which is edited in most versions. When you see Joe's horse ride into town with the money we know Joe has died....Niccoletta M. plays a small role in this film as a half breed as well but the opposite to Duncan's character.Ennio Morricone uses an unusual alias as Leo Nichols. Great music, great camera work and great acting. It is a shame Reynolds only contribution to this genre. The saddest part is it never gave Aldo Sambrell a chance to play a lead role only more smaller parts. It is rumored to have a full version were Joe is visited by Nicolleta M before he dies in the burial grounds bullet ridden.