After Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece "Django" from 1966, a whole series of so called "Django" films were released in Italy. Some of these (unofficial) sequels were quite good, some were worse, but none of them even near the original. The original "Sartana" films with Gianni Garko also spawned a bunch of rip-offs, some of them quite good, some worse. As a great fan of the Italian Western, I must say that, out of all films I've seen carrying either title "Django And Sartana...Showdown In The West" is the worst. The storyline is quite primitive, a gang of criminals take a girl hostage before they wanna flee to Mexico and then, for some reason, instead of going to Mexico they wait, and try to kill the area's two deadliest bounty hunters, Django and Sartana, before they can find them. The dialogue is pretty poor too, at least in the German dubbed version of the movie.

The characters of Django and Sartana are not even near to those in the original movies, Django, originally a cynical avenger, is a bounty hunter in this, and Sartana, usually a typical antihero looking mainly for quick cash, is suddenly somewhat of a saint, helping the poor and trying to turn the west into a better place by fighting the bad guys. This movie is aguably only watchable to my fellow fans of the genre, and they're also quite likely to be disappointed. If for anything, watch the film for Spaghetti Western veteran Gordon Mitchell, who plays the villain in this, and who saves the movie from being total garbage. If you don't know any other "Django" or "Sartana" movies, please don't judge the whole series after this movie, don't even waste your time with this one, but watch Sergio Corbucci's original "Django" of 1966 with Franco Nero (it's a masterpiece!!) or any of the great Sartana movies with Gianni Garko instead. Only watchable for Spaghetti Western enthusiasts like myself, and even then it is anything but recommendable.

Psychotic bandit Gordon Mitchell and his gang kidnaps a girl and head for Mexico. Django and Sartana take their time, eventually getting around to confronting the kidnappers and attempting to rescue girl.

Directed by Dick Spitfire (AKA Miles Deem AKA Demofilo Fidani), this is marginally better than his subsequent Django/Sartana match-up, One Damned Day At Dawn..., though that's not really saying much. The story is paper-thin, with lots of pointless scenes and elongated shots meant to bring the film to an acceptable length.

However, it's visually pleasing, with decent production values and good photography by Aristide Massachessi (AKA Joe D'Amato). There is one goof though, about seventeen minutes into the movie, when Django walks up to a moist dirt patch covered in automobile tracks! Look fast for a couple of plastic cacti as well.

A band of vicious outlaws lead by the crazed Black Burt Keller (an amusingly nutty and robust portrayal by Gordon Mitchell) abduct the feisty Jennifer Colby (lovely blonde Simonetta Vitelli) and decide to flee to Mexico. Shrewd bounty hunter Django (a sound and engaging performance by Jack Betts) and saintly roving gunslinger Sartana (a solid turn by Franco Borelli) join forces to rescue the poor lass from the gang's vile clutches. Directors Demofilo Fidani and Diego Spataro offer a nifty and enjoyable pairing of two iconic spaghetti Western characters: the simple, but effective story unfolds at a constant snappy pace, the stirring outbursts of raw violence include the expected thrilling shoot-outs and a handy helping of rough'n'ready fisticuffs, and Borelli and Betts make for charming and likable protagonists. Moreover, Mitchell has a ball as the gloriously unhinged Keller; he's very funny as he talks to his own reflection in a mirror while playing cards. Coriolano Gori's twangy and lively score hits the harmonic spot. Ditto Joe D'Amato's polished cinematography. The climactic confrontation between our heroes and the bad guys makes inspired use of stylized slow motion. A fun flick.