"Navajo Joe" may not be as great as Sergio Corbucci's masterpieces "Django" and "The Great Silence", but it is an incredibly entertaining and ultraviolent, Spaghetti Western that no genre fan should miss. Like most Westerns by Corbucci, Navajo Joe has a sociocritical message, as it portrays racism and the genocide of the Native American population. Predominantely, however, Navajo Joe is non-stop action-packed fun with an excellent score by Ennio Morricone.
A gang of unscrupulous bandits led by Duncan (Aldo Sambrell) ride through the American Southwest and kill every Indian they can find for the one-dollar reward on an Indian scalp. Joe (Burt Reynolds), a Navajo warrior and merciless avenger, starts haunting the scalp- hunters and soon becomes their worst nightmare.
Burt Reynolds actually fits the role fits the role of the eponymous Navajo better than one would suppose and does his action stunts very well. The ravishing Nicoletta Macchiavelli does a good job as Estella, a half Indian half white woman who lives in a white community. It is Aldo Sambrell, however, who steals the show as the villainous the scalp-hunter Duncan, a despicable man who is nothing but greed and concentrated hate. The violence is very graphic for 1966 standards, arguably more so than Corbucci's own "Django" from the same year. The score by Ennio Morricone is brilliant as always, Tarantino reused some of it for Kill Bill Vol.2. If you like Spaghetti Westerns, you have to love Sergio Corbucci. Navajo Joe is not one of his most outstanding masterpieces, but it is without doubt a more than worthwhile Spaghetti Western and highly recommended to every fan of the genre.
A gang of unscrupulous bandits led by Duncan (Aldo Sambrell) ride through the American Southwest and kill every Indian they can find for the one-dollar reward on an Indian scalp. Joe (Burt Reynolds), a Navajo warrior and merciless avenger, starts haunting the scalp- hunters and soon becomes their worst nightmare.
Burt Reynolds actually fits the role fits the role of the eponymous Navajo better than one would suppose and does his action stunts very well. The ravishing Nicoletta Macchiavelli does a good job as Estella, a half Indian half white woman who lives in a white community. It is Aldo Sambrell, however, who steals the show as the villainous the scalp-hunter Duncan, a despicable man who is nothing but greed and concentrated hate. The violence is very graphic for 1966 standards, arguably more so than Corbucci's own "Django" from the same year. The score by Ennio Morricone is brilliant as always, Tarantino reused some of it for Kill Bill Vol.2. If you like Spaghetti Westerns, you have to love Sergio Corbucci. Navajo Joe is not one of his most outstanding masterpieces, but it is without doubt a more than worthwhile Spaghetti Western and highly recommended to every fan of the genre.