So many films and not enough time to see them all, thats always the dilemma I am facing (and so do most other film cans) but I gave up trying to keep up with all the new films a few years ago and instead opted to watch the films I wanted to watch, whether they be from this year or last year or 60 years ago. If a film looks interesting to me, then ill free up some time to check it out. Thats exactly what I did this morning with an August release from Studiocanal’s Cult Classics range. 1966’s Italian western Django Shoots First or to give it its proper title Django spara per primo from Director Alberto De Martino whose film Blazing Magnum I saw last year and had fun watching that.

The original Django film came out in 1966 starring Franco Nero and was a successful movie which then spawned over the years dozens of ‘unofficial’ sequels to Django. Django Shoots First is one of those unofficial sequels. But who cares whether its an official sequel or an unofficial sequel, the only question that should be asked is this ‘Is Django Shoots First’ any good?

I definitely vote YES. Whilst I haven’t actually seen the Franco Nero film Django,that made no difference, in Django Shoots First it works perfectly as a standalone movie. Anything we need to know about the character Django (played by newcomer Roel Bos, but credited as Glenn Saxson) is told within the film. You can (and I did) go into this movie knowing nothing about any other film featuring a character called Django and you’ll be fine. The plot on the surface is simple. Set in 1872 in the town of Silver Creek, Django rides into town to claim an inheritance that is rightfully is, after his father has been shot and killed by a bounty killer. Rivalries ensure, double crossing occurs, and the town of plunged into a ‘how will this all play out’ scenario that western fans are very familiar with. For fans of the classic Sergio Leone films, then Django Shoots First is definitely one to see if you haven’t seen it. If you have seen it but not for many years then I do also urge you to revisit the film in this new restoration by Studiocanal.

It looks glorious in 4k. Its polished but not over polished. It still has that classic film look to it which I love. You can also choose whether to watch the film in its original Italian audio track or you can opt for the English language dub (which I opted for) and its a great audio dub too, Very often I actually forgot I was watching a dub so thankfully its not one of those English language tracks that distract you from the movie with its clearly obvious lip moving difference compared to the sound. A great job has been done here.

This release isn’t just excellent because of the film itself, Studiocanal also have included some newly recorded special features which are fascinating. There isn’t a huge amount of them but the quality of them is excellent. There’s a feature length audio commentary from filmmaker Alex Cox (who also wrote the book 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director’s Take on the Italian Western) who takes us into the story of Django Shoots First and its place in the Italian Western’s history. Fascinating chat track that’s well worth listening too.

Featurette wise there are three. Dust and Gunfire which is a 16 minute documentary focused on Glenn Saxson (real name Roel Bos), this seems to be an audio interview but the documentaries visuals consist of clips of the film, stills of the film and so you don’t actually realise that you haven’t seen Roel’s face in this interview until its nearly done. Its a great insight into the film from the films leading actor. We are also treated to featurettes focused on the leading actresses in the film Erika’s Saloon is a sit down with Erika Blanc (who plays Lucy) and Erika shares her memories of filming the 1966 film. Seems like such a lovely lady and its great to take a trip down memory lane with her. The same goes for Evelyn Stewart (who plays Jessica) who gets her own featurette Evelyn In The West, a lovely 23 minute documentary where Evelyn shares her memories of the film and its production. Whilst all those featurettes add up to only around 45 minutes. It was a wonderful 45 minutes to have spent with the actors involved in the film.

I loved that I freed up some non distracted time to check out Django Shoots First this morning, I loved that the film was really good, and I am very happy to share those thoughts with you in the hope that you free up some time to watch such a fun, action packed, well shot movie that I definitely think you should pop on your ‘watch list’ Excellent work (again) by Studiocanal on this restoration and keep up the great work

DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST was released to buy on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and Digital from 24th August 2026