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.

Scott LeBrun There's style to spare in this revenge-minded Italian oater, from director Sergio Corbucci of "Django" fame. While some viewers may have difficulties accepting star attraction Burt Reynolds as an American Indian, the film does ultimately pay one back. It's stirring, robust entertainment, exquisitely designed and shot. It's quite visceral and violent, but also has a rich array of characters, and nicely executed (pardon the expression) action set pieces. Corbucci and screenwriters Fernando Di Leo & Piero Regnoli do their best to give us a memorably enigmatic main character, keeping his screen time to a minimum at first.Burt plays the title character, whose peaceful tribe was massacred by outlaws. He stays on their trail, determined to get back at them. In the process, he also makes a deal with the citizens of a town to protect them from the outlaws, who are led by the scuzzy Mervyn "Vee" Duncan (genre regular Aldo Sambrell). The townspeople are expecting a hefty payday, and Duncans' gang has been alerted to the existence of the money by a scheming local.Apparently, Burt is embarrassed by this one (!). He's actually done far worse, in this viewers' humble opinion, and has nothing to be embarrassed about. He does his best to acquit himself in his heroic role, and keeps his charisma dialed down, although he does get chances to show off some physicality. Sambrell tends to steal the show. Films like this often depend on the entertainment value of the villain, and he doesn't disappoint. He even gets a showcase moment near the end to explain why Vee has a hatred for Indians. The very fine supporting cast also includes Nicoletta Machiavelli, Fernando Rey, Tanya Lopert, Pierre Cressoy, Nino Imparato, and Lucio Rosato.Ennio Morricone (utilizing the pseudonym Leo Nichols) once again proves how valuable he was to this genre, composing a typically atmospheric soundtrack with a fair amount of vocalizations as well as music."Navajo Joe" is not a truly great example of the Spaghetti Western, but it provides an ample amount of diversion.Seven out of 10.

martin-dearlove-564-397785 Aside from Reynolds, the acting in this film is pretty mediocre. The dialogue is one dimensional as are the characters. None of it is helped by it being dubbed.Aside from a few notable exceptions, Spaghetti westerns do little for me. From the unrealistic gunshot sounds and stereotyped characters to the over acting and obvious story lines, they are generally low quality products. This Western is not one of the exceptions. I have a feeling that the growth in Spaghetti Westerns was one of the main reasons that Westerns virtually died out.It isn't the worst film I've seen, not even the worst Western. But it's certainly not one I'd bother with again.

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.