gavin6942 A Native American warrior called Navajo Joe (Burt Reynolds) seeks revenge on a gang of sadistic outlaws who has massacred the people of his tribe.If this film is known for anything, it is just how much Burt Reynolds hated working on it. The story, in its simplest form, is that he thought he would be working with Sergio Leone and instead got Sergio Corbucci. Beyond that, his protests seem a bit over the top. Yes, this is a bad movie. But is it really the worst one he ever did? Ultimately, it does not really seem terrible in a technical way. Just bland, boring, nothing really special. If Reynolds was not in it, it would be forgotten. The worst part is actually the soundtrack. The Navajo Joe theme is played way too many times and is not very good the first time.

LakiM9 Another work of Spaghetti western master! But is it really that bad? Sergio Corbucci knew how to make good-looking movies. Or at least, he knew how to make this one look good. He combines up the shots of the Western landscape (Spain, as usual in spaghetti westerns, stands in for the American frontier). He knows whose faces the audience loves and gives them lots of dramatic close-ups. Hands up to cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti, but the cinematographer can only photograph what the director tells him to, and Corbucci knew what to shoot.Corbucci also manages to keep his leading man off of the screen most of the time. Burt's stuntman is superb. They combine to give us Navajo Joe, one of the most athletic western heroes you have ever seen. Unlike the typical western lead who gets most of his exercise transferring his Colt .45 to and from its holster, Joe believes in getting close and personal whenever he can, usually by flying through the air and otherwise dealing with the situation acrobatically. The movie poster ridiculously shows Burt aiming a bow, which he never once uses in the movie; as any smart Indian would, Joe uses a Winchester rifle for long-range combat. But he uses even the Winchester athletically, holding down the trigger and pumping the lever action frenetically to shoot down his foes. Even Burt Reynolds has goofed on this movie several times during guest spots on TV talk shows. Whatever, Navajo Joe is a worthwhile Euro- western, several degrees darker and brutal than other released during the same year and a much better, more stylish film than Burt's later westerns. I'd rate Navajo Joe a "must see" movie for Spaghetti-heads, but I wouldn't place it in my top 10 SW. Somewhere in my top 20's more like it. And the Morricone's score in this picture is beautiful.

MARIO GAUCI Though admittedly the film doesn't have much of a reputation within the Spaghetti Western genre (the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide" rates it a mere *1/2), given director Corbucci and co-writer Fernando Di Leo's involvement, this still turned out to be a watchable example of its type – albeit a surprisingly second-rate and rather dreary affair! For one thing, the two main plot threads (an Indian avenging himself on the men who massacred his townsfolk and a hated Indian sacrificing himself to save the lives of white people besieged by a group of bandits) is too similar to, respectively, the Charles Bronson vehicle CHATO'S LAND (1972) and HOMBRE (1967) with Paul Newman – for the film to be particularly distinguished in this regard! Besides, Burt Reynolds is no Clint Eastwood (or Franco Nero, for that matter) and feels positively miscast as the titular redskin – especially decked-out with a hairy wig; this, however, didn't prevent him from appearing in further Westerns on his home turf – by the way, apparently, Reynolds signed on for this project because he was under the impression that Sergio Leone (and not Corbucci, whose equally seminal DJANGO [1966] probably hadn't been released yet Stateside) would be directing! Even the casting of the other central roles is disappointingly below par: Aldo Sanbrell makes for an uncharismatic chief villain, Fernando Rey is wasted in the role of an ineffectual priest, peplum regular Pierre Cressoy appears as a treacherous doctor, while Nicoletta Macchiavelli (who does well enough by what little she's given to work with!) is the only female character of any consequence as a half-breed naturally sympathetic to "Navajo" Reynolds. As expected, the various action scenes (including one in which the star makes away with an entire train from under the bad guys's noses!) are the highlights of the show – albeit still insufficiently remarkable to elevate this above mere average (apart, perhaps, from Sanbrell's come-uppance via a hatchet in the face).The real saving grace of the film, then, unsurprisingly emerges to be the score provided by Ennio Morricone (bafflingly credited as Leo Nichols here!) – with a theme tune full of wailing screams, and a memorable five-note riff that was even lifted by Quentin Tarantino for KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004)! For the record, NAVAJO JOE (1966) was recently released by Fox on R1 DVD along with a bunch of other Westerns, which is how I got to watch it (dubbed in English).

Steffi_P One of the better known spaghetti westerns, directed by Sergio Corbucci, probably the most prolific director of spaghettis. While it was Sergio Leone who made the masterpieces, Corbucci carved out his own little niche and made several important contributions to the genre. Navajo Joe is also known for featuring the up-and-coming Burt Reynolds in one of his earliest roles.Unlike Sergio Leone, Corbucci seems to have had a really passionate agenda for making what he saw as inflammatory anti-westerns. Here his mission is to restore the balance of treatment of Native Americans in the Hollywood western. He wasn't being quite as radical as it at first appears though, seeing as Robert Aldrich had done the same thing ten years earlier with Apache, starring cinema's other famous Burt (Lancaster). Joe is an interesting character compared to the usual spaghetti anti-hero though, as his extortion and cynicism are continually influenced by this higher purpose he has of seeking justice.Italian westerns were really becoming big business by this point, and Navajo Joe has somewhat bigger production values than Corbucci's earlier films. The dubbing is of a much higher quality than that in Django, although it's still not great. Nothing can cover the weakness of the plot - aside from the Native American angle it's a fairly basic train robbery story. There's a half-hearted attempt at injecting some mystery and suspense into it with the Doctor Lynn character doing an inside job, but this never really gets off the ground. The actual dialogue is terrible too.Corbucci showed promise as a director in Django, but in Navajo Joe the direction is nothing special. Whereas Django made great use of interiors and dark spaces, Navajo Joe is in 'scope and mostly set outdoors, but Corbucci really has no feel for landscapes. He gives a great rough and ready feel to the action scenes, but overall there are just too many zooms and pointless camera moves.Although he would later become a big star back home, Burt Reynolds isn't particularly good here. He moves fairly well, and gives Joe just the right note of self-absorbed nonchalance, but when he opens his mouth terrible things happen. He puts in these little pauses, as if trying to deliver lines like John Wayne, except he falls well short. He actually manages to do the seemingly impossible and do an unconvincing job of dubbing himself. The only acting performance really worth noting is that of Aldo Sanbrell. Sanbrell was one of the most prolific spaghetti character actors, playing third-bad-guy-on-the-left in dozens of pictures. Here is a rare chance to seem him in a lead role, and he's actually not bad. Not good, but not bad either.Burt Reynolds once stated that this was the worst film he ever made. It's probably not, (as anyone who's seen the Smokey and the Bandit sequels will testify) but it is a fairly bad one, and if Reynolds wasn't familiar with exploitation cinema he no doubt wondered what the hell he was doing. Corbucci had already made one of the best loved spaghettis (Django) and would go on to make some real classics (The Mercenary, The Great Silence), but Navajo Joe was a real step backwards in his career.