Corbucci
Music by: Ennio Morricone
Cast: Burt Reynolds (Joe), Aldo Sambrell (Mervyn ‘Vee’ Duncan), Nicoletta Machiavelli (Estella), Fernando Rey (Brother Jonathan)
89 minutes
Story
A gang of scalp hunters, led by a sadistic half-breed named Duncan, are ravaging the countryside, indiscriminately attacking Indian camps and massacring their inhabitants for the bounty of a dollar a scalp. When the bounties are suddenly withdrawn, they begin to attack local white townships, but a mysterious Indian named Joe intervenes and tries to help the townspeople. A local doctor is in league with the bandits and tips them off about a train loaded with cash. The bandits steal the cash, but Joe foils the robbery and returns the money to the town of Esperanza. The bandits arrive and capture Joe after he has hidden the money. The hero is then freed when Estella, a young Indian woman, helps him. Duncan and the bandits take the whole town prisoner, keeping them locked up in the church, but Joe lures the scalp hunters away into the desert. Having gradually decimated the gang, Joe faces the remaining members until only Duncan is left alive. During the climactic duel in an Indian burial ground, Duncan learns that he killed and scalped Joe’s wife in one of his raids. Joe kills Duncan but is mortally wounded and sends the money back to Esperanza on his horse, while he remains in the graveyard and prepares to meet his ancestors.
Background
This is one of future-superstar Burt Reynolds’ first successful starring roles, though he often cites it as his worst movie. He’s wrong, as anyone who’s sat through At Long Last Love (1975), Smokey and the Bandit 2 (1980) and StrokerAce(1983) will no doubt attest. Corbucci’s fifth Western is one of his best, not least for Reynolds’ rippling portrayal of ‘feathers and leathers’ Joe, who whittles down the huge gang of scalp hunters single-handedly. Reynolds hardly says a word for the first half of the movie (and when he does it’s in a very basic ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane’ style), but as far as performances go, this is one of Reynolds’ better efforts. Like Eastwood, he was appearing in American TV Westerns ( Gunsmoke and Riverboat ) when he was cast in Navajo Joe in 1966. Though it failed to catapult Reynolds to superstardom and he left Italy before shooting was finished, Corbucci managed a pretty good cut-and-paste job. One of the most distinctive and successful aspects of Navajo Joe is the incredible screaming, clanging score by Ennio Morricone. The music incorporates much Native American-style yelling and whooping, as well as several effectively understated, flute-led compositions that enhance Reynolds’ on-screen relationship with the beautiful Indian maiden, Estella – played by the stunning Italian actress Nicoletta Machiavelli, in her most memorable role.
Navajo Joe is more overtly a ‘message’ film than any Corbucci had previously attempted. He abandoned the underlying racism of Django (which concentrated on post-Civil War Southerners attempting to continue the conflict) and made his villain a full-blown, Indian-hating bastard. In the chilling opening sequence, half-breed scalp hunter Duncan stops near a Navajo encampment and smiles at a young woman (Joe’s wife) washing her clothes before, without warning, shooting her dead and scalping her. His psychological unbalance is explained in an effective scene later, when he describes why he hates whites (like his father) and Indians (like his mother) – the first time a Corbucci villain had the opportunity to explain himself.
The film is exceptionally violent for its time and is still one of Corbucci’s most graphic movies – included are some vicious beatings, convincing stunts (supervised by ex-stuntman Reynolds) and death by tomahawk, bullet, knife, scalpel and strangulation. The relationship between Joe and his obedient horse is a brief concession by Corbucci to traditional Hollywood Westerns (his mount even carries
Music by: Ennio Morricone
Cast: Burt Reynolds (Joe), Aldo Sambrell (Mervyn ‘Vee’ Duncan), Nicoletta Machiavelli (Estella), Fernando Rey (Brother Jonathan)
89 minutes
Story
A gang of scalp hunters, led by a sadistic half-breed named Duncan, are ravaging the countryside, indiscriminately attacking Indian camps and massacring their inhabitants for the bounty of a dollar a scalp. When the bounties are suddenly withdrawn, they begin to attack local white townships, but a mysterious Indian named Joe intervenes and tries to help the townspeople. A local doctor is in league with the bandits and tips them off about a train loaded with cash. The bandits steal the cash, but Joe foils the robbery and returns the money to the town of Esperanza. The bandits arrive and capture Joe after he has hidden the money. The hero is then freed when Estella, a young Indian woman, helps him. Duncan and the bandits take the whole town prisoner, keeping them locked up in the church, but Joe lures the scalp hunters away into the desert. Having gradually decimated the gang, Joe faces the remaining members until only Duncan is left alive. During the climactic duel in an Indian burial ground, Duncan learns that he killed and scalped Joe’s wife in one of his raids. Joe kills Duncan but is mortally wounded and sends the money back to Esperanza on his horse, while he remains in the graveyard and prepares to meet his ancestors.
Background
This is one of future-superstar Burt Reynolds’ first successful starring roles, though he often cites it as his worst movie. He’s wrong, as anyone who’s sat through At Long Last Love (1975), Smokey and the Bandit 2 (1980) and StrokerAce(1983) will no doubt attest. Corbucci’s fifth Western is one of his best, not least for Reynolds’ rippling portrayal of ‘feathers and leathers’ Joe, who whittles down the huge gang of scalp hunters single-handedly. Reynolds hardly says a word for the first half of the movie (and when he does it’s in a very basic ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane’ style), but as far as performances go, this is one of Reynolds’ better efforts. Like Eastwood, he was appearing in American TV Westerns ( Gunsmoke and Riverboat ) when he was cast in Navajo Joe in 1966. Though it failed to catapult Reynolds to superstardom and he left Italy before shooting was finished, Corbucci managed a pretty good cut-and-paste job. One of the most distinctive and successful aspects of Navajo Joe is the incredible screaming, clanging score by Ennio Morricone. The music incorporates much Native American-style yelling and whooping, as well as several effectively understated, flute-led compositions that enhance Reynolds’ on-screen relationship with the beautiful Indian maiden, Estella – played by the stunning Italian actress Nicoletta Machiavelli, in her most memorable role.
Navajo Joe is more overtly a ‘message’ film than any Corbucci had previously attempted. He abandoned the underlying racism of Django (which concentrated on post-Civil War Southerners attempting to continue the conflict) and made his villain a full-blown, Indian-hating bastard. In the chilling opening sequence, half-breed scalp hunter Duncan stops near a Navajo encampment and smiles at a young woman (Joe’s wife) washing her clothes before, without warning, shooting her dead and scalping her. His psychological unbalance is explained in an effective scene later, when he describes why he hates whites (like his father) and Indians (like his mother) – the first time a Corbucci villain had the opportunity to explain himself.
The film is exceptionally violent for its time and is still one of Corbucci’s most graphic movies – included are some vicious beatings, convincing stunts (supervised by ex-stuntman Reynolds) and death by tomahawk, bullet, knife, scalpel and strangulation. The relationship between Joe and his obedient horse is a brief concession by Corbucci to traditional Hollywood Westerns (his mount even carries
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