Taglines: Life, liberty and the pursuit of vengeance.
In 1858 Texas, brothers Ace and Dicky Speck drive a group of shackled black slaves on foot. Among them is Django, sold off and separated from his wife Broomhilda von Shaft, a house slave. The brothers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter who asks to buy one of the slaves. He questions Django about his knowledge of the Brittle brothers, a trio of outlaws for whom Schultz is carrying a warrant.
When the suspicious Ace levels his gun at him, Schultz kills him with a fast draw and then kills Dicky’s horse, which falls and crushes Dicky’s leg. Schultz insists on paying Dicky a fair price for Django before leaving Dicky to the newly freed slaves, who kill him and follow the North Star to freedom. As Django can identify the Brittle brothers, Schultz offers him his freedom in exchange for help tracking them down.
They track the Brittles to the Tennessee plantation of Spencer “Big Daddy” Bennett and kill them. Bennett musters a large gang to raid their camp in the night; Schultz ambushes them with an explosive, killing most of them while Django kills Bennett. Feeling morally obliged to Django, Schultz agrees to help him find and rescue Broomhilda. Schultz trains Django as his apprentice, and the two become partners. Django soon collects his first bounty, keeping the handbill for good luck.
In 1859, Django and Schultz travel to Mississippi where they learn the identity of Broomhilda’s new owner: Calvin J. Candie, the charming but cruel owner of the Candyland plantation, where slaves are forced to fight to the death in brutal wrestling matches called “Mandingo fights”. Schultz and Django meet Calvin at his gentleman’s club in Greenville, and offer $12,000 for one of his best fighters; however, their ulterior motive is to purchase Broomhilda. Intrigued, Calvin invites them to Candyland.
The group encounters Calvin’s slave trackers en route: cornering one of Calvin’s disfigured Mandingo fighters, D’Artagnan, who tried to escape to avoid fighting again. Angered, Calvin has several attack dogs devour D’Artagnan alive. After finding Broomhilda and telling her of their plan, Schultz offers to buy her while negotiating the initial deal during dinner.
Calvin’s staunchly loyal house slave, Stephen, becomes suspicious and accurately deduces their plan. He alerts Calvin, who alters the deal at gunpoint so that Broomhilda will be sold for $12,000 instead of the Mandingo fighter. Schultz agrees, and the papers for her freedom are drawn up and signed. Calvin smugly insists that the deal be sealed through a handshake, but Schultz, sick of Calvin’s cruelty, instead shoots him through the heart with his concealed derringer, killing him.
Schultz is killed by Calvin’s bodyguard Butch with his sawed-off shotgun, who is then killed with his own revolver by Django. A shootout ensues, and Django kills many of Calvin’s henchmen, where he then retreats after running out of ammo and Stephen forces him to surrender when Broomhilda is taken hostage.
The next morning, Stephen tells Django that Calvin’s sister Lara has taken charge, and that he will be sold to a mine and worked to death. En route, Django proves to his escorts that he is a bounty hunter by showing them his first handbill, tells them that the men on the handbill are back at Candyland, and promises them all but $500 of the reward money if they free him and help him kill the wanted men. The escorts release him and give him a revolver, which he immediately uses to kill them before stealing a horse and returning to Candyland with a bag of dynamite. Django kills Calvin’s slave trackers, takes Broomhilda’s freedom papers from Schultz’s corpse, and frees his wife from a nearby cabin.
Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, and Don Johnson in supporting roles. Set in the Old West and Antebellum South, it is a highly stylized tribute to Spaghetti Westerns, in particular the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci, whose star Franco Nero has a cameo appearance.
Django Unchained premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 11, 2012, and was released on December 25, 2012, in the United States. The film was nominated for several film industry awards, including five Academy Awards. Waltz won several awards for his performance, among them Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Academy Awards. Tarantino won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA award for writing the film’s original screenplay. The film grossed over $425 million worldwide in theaters against its $100 million budget, making it Tarantino’s highest-grossing theatrical release.
Django Unchained (2012)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, James Remar, Laura Cayouette, Nichole Galicia, Ato Essandoh, Sammi Rotibi
Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino
Production Design by: J. Michael Riva
Cinematography by: Robert Richardson
Film Editing by: Fred Raskin
Costume Design by: Sharen Davis
Set Decoration by: Leslie Pope
Art Direction by: Page Buckner, David F. Klassen, Mara LePere-Schloop, Suzan Wexler
MPAA Rating: R for strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, language and some nudity.
Distributed by: The Weinstein Company, Columbia Pictures
Release Date: December 25, 2012
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