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What is the work?[]

DJANGOOOOOOOOOO~~ is a 1966 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci, and is in fact one of the most well known films from the subgenre (not to mention its memorable theme song). So well known that Quentin Tarantino created a love letter to not only Spaghetti Westerns, but also Django when he filmed Django Unchained. Fun fact: Django played a lot of inspiration for a certain torture sequence on a cop committed by a certain bank robber in one of Tarantino's films...

Much like Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, the film is Sergio Corbucci's western take on Yojimbo, but much more violent and cruel. It follows the titular Django, a widowed ex-Union Army soldier-turned-lone gunslinger who drags a coffin around with him. After saving the ex-prostitute María from torture and subsequent death, Django gets caught up in a bloody feud between two gangs: a rowdy posse of Mexican Revolutionaries and the Confederate-affiliated Red Shirts (a real 19th century white supremacist terrorist group, but the film seems to model them after the Ku Klux Klan).

In order to protect María and a ghost town oppressed by both gangs, Django works to take them down... especially when the leader of one of the gangs was responsible for killing Django's wife.

Who is he? What has he done?[]

MajorJacksonIntro

Major Jackson is an ex-Confederate, the murderer of Django's wife several years prior, and the sadistic leader of the aforementioned Red Shirts. It becomes very clear early on in the movie that Jackson lets his fellow Klansmen engage in careless brutality when we're introduced to the Red Shirts capturing María and attempting to crucify her on a burning cross before Django saves her life.

Furthermore, while waging a gang war against General Hugo's Mexican Revolutionaries, Major Jackson keeps a small town under his thumb with a protection racket so he can extort the citizens. If any Mexican locals in particular are unable to pay off their debts to him, Jackson kidnaps them and hones his marksmanship by using them as target practice both for fun and out of petty racism. This is more or less said to be a regular occurrence when we see Jackson, one by one, sending captive Mexican civilians on the run so he can cruelly snipe them dead. Jackson even lets one of his henchmen kill a father right in front of his two boys.

When crossing paths with a vengeful Django in a one-sided gunfight, Major Jackson is goaded into bringing his entire Klan to town as a show of force when Django won't let the townspeople, especially the women, cave to his harassment... So Jackson returns, marching his entire gang into town. But Django opens his signature coffin to reveal a machine gun and mows down most of the Red Shirts, prompting Jackson and his remaining Klansmen to flee.

At this point in film, Major Jackson doesn't do much as the plot shifts its focus to Django siding with and manipulating General Hugo's gang to rob gold stored in one of Jackson's military compounds. Long story short, Django double-crosses the revolutionaries and his betrayal backfires on him when General Hugo captures Django and has his men crush his hands... But when General Hugo's posse start riding back to Mexico, Major Jackson strikes back, with troops under his command. In an ambush, Major Jackson massacres all of the revolutionaries in one fell swoop, all with smug satisfaction.

Returning to town to settle his score with Django, Major Jackson murders Nathaniel the saloonkeeper after forcing him to spill the beans on Django’s whereabouts and tracks Django down to the cemetery, hands broken and hiding behind his wife's grave. Jackson mockingly prays for Django by shooting the corners of the cross-shaped grave. But before Jackson can put a bullet in him, Django, who removed the trigger guard from his pistol, avenges his wife’s death by pressing the trigger against the cross and fanning his pistol with his broken hands, shooting Jackson and his henchmen dead.

Mitigating Factors[]

General Hugo, Jackson's opposite, is at least honorable enough to spare Django's life after torturing him, as he does genuinely consider Django a friend who saved his life more than once. He even has something of a proper endgame by winning his revolution for Mexico.

Major Jackson on the other hand? Nothing. He is a cruel, arrogant racist who has no second thoughts about any of the atrocities he commits. He is motivated by hatred, sadism, suppressing the helpless, slaughtering his enemies, and little else.

Heinous Standards[]

Standards are a bit higher than a typical Hollywood western. Spaghetti Westerns have a knack for not shying away from violence and the bad guys in these films are usually some seriously mean bastards. Django is no exception, as it was regarded as one of the more brutal movies in the subgenre for a time, no thanks to the ear cutting scene and Django getting his hands wrecked. But Major Jackson is responsible for a lot of nastiness in the film.

He runs a band of racists who have no problem with, say, attempting to crucify María on a burning cross. He regularly kills Mexican civilians who can't pay their debts for sport by using them as live target practice. He has a father murdered in front of his two boys. He racks up a significant body count by leading the slaughter of Hugo's revolutionaries. And to top it all off, Django has a personal vendetta against Jackson because he killed Django's wife (not offscreen villainy - we literally see her grave).

Django's a bit of a conniving anti-hero with a high body count, but he’s ultimately a good man who only cheated and killed people who really had it coming. And General Hugo himself is no stranger to brutality: he's a bit of a misogynistic pervert towards the town’s prostitutes; sadistically tortures and kills one of Jackson's goons; kills a bunch of soldiers; and tortures Django. But despite all of this, I do think Major Jackson is the worst person in the movie by virtue of the racist nature of his crimes, his body count and how he acts on it all with cold sadism.

Final Verdict[]

I lean yes.