Navajo Joe


Navajo Joe is a 1966 Spaghetti Western film, directed by Sergio Corbucci, and stars Burt Reynolds as the titular Navajo Indian who opposes a group of bandits responsible for killing his tribe.

Plot

Having massacred an Indian village with his gang, scalphunter Duncan rides to the nearest town to discover he is now an outlaw due to scalphunting now being illegal. Duncan murders the sheriff and begins burning the town. In the town Duncan meets Lynne, the town doctor, who connives with Duncan to steal a train full of money belonging to the bank. Three female entertainers and their manager overhear the plot and ride to the next town of Esperanza to warn them. Several of Duncan's gang attempt to kill them but their scheme is thwarted by a solitary rider, Navajo Joe.
Joe steals the train back from Duncan's gang. He asks the townspeople of Esperanza a firearm free community, to pay him to protect them from Duncan, making an offer of "I want a dollar a head from every man in this town for every bandit I kill." The townspeople reject him, as they "don't make bargains with Indians." Lynne's wife Hannah persuades them otherwise. Joe sets a trap for Duncan, but is caught and tortured; Lynne and Hannah are killed. Rescued by an old man who leads the female enterainers, Joe again steals the train and eradicates Duncan's gang. There is then a showdown in an Indian cemetery, where Joe reclaims the pendant that Duncan stole from his wife when he murdered her. As Joe turns, Duncan shoots Joe with a hidden gun. Injured, Joe grabs a tomahawk and throws it, hitting Duncan square in the forehead. With Duncan dead, Joe sends his horse back to town, carrying the bank's money. The townspeople are surprised by Joe keeping his word, yet show more relief at the return of their money over the status of Joe. Estella, disappointed in the attitudes of the townspeople and grateful for what Joe did for them, sends Joe's horse back to be reunited with him, still leaving his fate ambiguous after his fight with Duncan.

Cast

Producer Dino De Laurentiis approached director Sergio Corbucci with a script titled Un dollaro a testa. Corbucci claimed that Marlon Brando was promised to him for the lead role in the film. De Laruentiis cast Reynolds for the role as he felt he looked like Brando.
Reynolds was friends with Clint Eastwood, who had raved to his friend about a director named Sergio. Eastwood introduced Reynolds to De Laurentiis, who was looking for an actor who could do his own stunts. Reynolds went to Italy in April 1966. Reynolds spoke about his time in Europe at the time in 1969, explaining that "the only thing today for an American actor is to go to Europe for $350,000, crinkle up the film, jump up and down a couple of times and you've got it made."
De Laurentiis announced the film would be part of a six-picture deal he had with United Artists which included other films titled Absurd Universe, Matchless, A River of Dollars with Reynolds and Henry Silva, The Bandit with Clint Eastwood, and Waterloo. Reynolds was ready for the film but had to De Laurentiis kept getting re-writes of the film from Piero Regnoli and Fernando di Leo. After the sixth draft, De Laruentiis approved the script, Reynolds found himself surprised that his cast was predominantly non-English speaking and that the director was not Sergio Leone as he thought but Sergio Corbucci. Commenting on his role in the film, Reynolds felt that the physical aspects did not worry him, but his costumes did. Reynolds stated on a talk show that the film failed due to his working with "the wrong Sergio".
Reynolds stated that the Italian crew did not know what "real Indians" looked like, describing his wig that made him look like Natalie Wood. Reynolds added "of course when you play a half-breed you have to be stoic - and you can't get funky - and you have to have a deep voice. Apparently there are no Indians with high voices. And you have to shave your arms all the time. It's easy to get the left but just try and reach the right."
Corbucci spoke about his work, opining that he made "European Westerns the way they like them over here. Plenty of action. Little talk. And I have the privilege of changing at a moment's notice the costumes and geography.

Release

Navajo Joe was released in Italy in November 1966. The film was released in the United States in 1967.

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Bosley Crowther dismissed the film as "colorless" and another of the "super-bloody "Westerns" made by Italians and Spaniards in Spain with Italian, Spanish and American actors" "Whit." of Variety noting that Regnoli's and Di Leo's screenplay allowed for "fast movement which Corbucci handles well enough", ultimately declaring the film to be "Lowercase western Okay for minor action market."
In retrospective reviews, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a D rating, calling it "a dubbed Italian botch", finding it inferior to another Western reviewed, Man of the West.
Burt Reynolds described Navajo Joe as "So awful it was only shown in prisons and aeroplanes because nobody could leave. I killed ten thousand guys, wore a Japanese slingshot and a fright wig." When Reynolds won an Emmy in 1991 for Evening Shade he said during his acceptance speech, "All those pictures – Navajo Joe – they paid off, you know."

Footnotes