Navajo Joe, the lone survivor of a massacre, promises payback for the outlaw gang that slaughtered his Indian tribe. He soon gets to avenge his people when the citizens of a small Western community appeal to him for protection from the same marauding gang. Joe quickly accepts their offer of one dollar for each outlaw scalp delivered and goes to work eliminating his enemies one by one, saving the outlaw leader until last.

After the surprise success of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), producer Dino De Laurentiis decided to produce his own spaghetti Western with an American actor who could rival Clint Eastwood in popularity. For the lead in Navajo Joe (1966), De Laurentiis needed someone who could pass as a Native American and Burt Reynolds was the ideal choice. Not only was the actor part Cherokee but he had also convincingly played other minorities on two popular TV series; in Gunsmoke, Reynolds played Quint Asper, a half-breed who worked as the town blacksmith, from 1962-1966 and in Hawk (1966-1976), he was cast as a full blooded Iroquois Indian working as a cop in New York City. Although Reynolds had his doubts about a Western in which he killed about a hundred men single handedly, De Laurentiis convinced him to sign on to his first and only spaghetti Western.

Excerpt from TCM located HERE

The plot starts with an unscrupulous doctor (Pierre Cressoy), who has married into wealth and status and has grown tired of it. He teams up with a band of robbers to steal a huge pile of money so that he can skip town. Three dance hall girls and their goofy bandleader are witnesses to the dirty deal, and they are chased out of town. Navajo Joe saves them, and goes on to waylay the money. Thus begins a huge standoff between the bandits, Navajo Joe, and a town full of unarmed innocents. Of course, Joe isn't made of stone; he has his own agenda here.

Corbucci really plays up the concept of cowardice here. Not one of the town members dares to make a move to protect their money or their families. The great Spanish actor Fernando Rey plays a priest that keeps trying to appeal to the bandits' humanity, to no avail. Only the beautiful housemaid Estella (Nicoletta Machiavelli) seems brave enough to help Joe. I also loved the scene with the goofy, older bandleader who uses a slingshot/arrow trick from his stage act to rescue Joe; anyone can be brave.

Gary Tooze

August 3rd, 2015