Review: Django Shoots First 4K UHD
Seeing his father’s corpse slung over a bounty hunter’s horse who has approached his camp site, Django takes advantage of the situation by shooting the bounty hunter, deciding against burying his father, and instead taking him into town to claim the $5k reward.
Before he can ride away with the reward money, he discovers that his father may have been innocent and that he owned half of the bank, the saloon and a sizeable portion of the town.
The other half belongs to Ken Kluster, played by Nando Gazzolo, who has no intention of sharing his little empire with the dead man’s son. What begins as a revenge story soon becomes a battle over money, property and ownership, with enough double-crossing to keep the local undertaker comfortably employed.
Anyone expecting the mud, brutality and almost gothic atmosphere of Corbucci’s Django may be surprised by how light this film can be. Glenn Saxson’s Django is less haunted than Franco Nero’s and considerably more cheerful. He is confident, quick with a gun and frequently amused by the trouble unfolding around him. Saxson has an easy screen presence, although he never feels particularly dangerous. He is more like a man enjoying an unexpectedly profitable holiday than someone consumed by vengeance.
The film moves quickly and never takes itself too seriously. There are gunfights, ambushes, a crazy bar-room brawl and the compulsory final visit to a cemetery.
Released in 1966, Django Shoots First was directed by Alberto De Martino and arrived during the first great rush of Italian westerns bearing the Django name. Despite being released in the same year as Sergio Corbucci’s Django, this is not a sequel and Glenn Saxson is not playing Franco Nero’s character. His real name is Glenn Garvin, although everyone calls him Django because, by that point, apparently one Django was never going to be enough.
Riccardo Pallottini’s widescreen photography gives the film a far more polished appearance than its modest reputation might suggest. De Martino makes good use of foreground objects, faces and figures within the Techniscope frame, while Bruno Nicolai provides a lively score which deservedly refuses to sit quietly in the background.
It may lack the distinctive personality and violence of Corbucci’s film, but judging it purely as an imitation does it a disservice.
This release has received a new 4K restoration and is presented with Dolby Vision and HDR10. Both Italian and English audio options are included, together with English subtitles and English hard-of-hearing subtitles.
This is not an essential spaghetti western, nor is it one of the great Django films. It is, however, an entertaining example of the genre while it was still gathering momentum. Its unusual opening, lighter tone and collection of dishonest characters give it enough personality to stand apart from the dozens of Django films that followed.
Django Shoots First is released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and Digital by Studiocanal on 24th August 2026.
Special Features:
- NEW Interview with Glenn Saxson
- NEW Audio commentary by filmmaker Alex Cox, author of 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director’s Take on the Italian Western
- Erika’s Saloon – interview with Erika Blanc
- Evelyn in the West – an interview with Evelyn Stewart
The 4K UHD and Blu-ray both include a 12 page booklet with new essay from Peter Raleigh
Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Studiocanal via Fetch Publicity.
