Western Wednesdays: Navajo Joe (1966)

I know its Thursday but better late then never...

     Navajo Joe was released on November 25th 1966. It is directed by Sergio Corbucci (Django, The Great Silence) and stars Burt Reynolds and Aldo Sambrell. It tells the story of an outlaw gang lead by Mervyn Duncan (Sambrell) who are stalked by a mysterious Indian figure (Reynolds) after massacring an Indian village. When Duncan plots with his former partner Lynne (Pierre Cressoy), now a doctor in a nearby town, to steal a shipment of gold intended for the townspeople, it's up to the Indian to stop them and get vengeance for his people.

     Navajo Joe has a few things going for it. Burt Reynolds, with his background in Football, brings a lot of athleticism and physicality to the titular hero. Similarly the director Sergio Corbucci really knows how to stage exciting action scenes and all of the action scenes in the film, particularly the final shootout with hearkens back to Anthony Mann's Winchester 73, are a lot of fun. Ennio Morricone, as always, writes a really memorable score, though the film's low budget (I assume) forces the film makers to repeated certain cues quite often.

     On the other hand the characters in this film are quite thin, even by Spaghetti Western standards. Joe wants revenge, the townspeople want their money and Duncan and Lynne want the money for themselves. That's about as deep as it goes. As with Corbucci's later work there are attempts at adding social commentary here with Joe pointing out that he's more of an American than the townspeople, who are reluctant to hire him, as his ancestors have been here many years more than their's. However, it's rather brief and somewhat forced. Indeed, the dialogue in general has a forced/cumbersome feel to it and there's a lot of lazy exposition. The film is also awkwardly paced at times. The main plot takes too long to set up but the pacing does get better as the movie goes on.

     In the end Navajo Joe is a fairly entertaining Spaghetti Western plagued with bad writing and pacing issues. It's not a film I would recommend for those not familiar with the genre but it's certainly worth checking out for Spaghetti Western aficionado's (though most of them have already seen this film anyway).

Score: 6.5/10