Quentin Tarantinoventured into the world of Westerns in 2012 withDjango Unchained, and it truly became a Tarantino movie with one last-minute addition. Throughout his career as a filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino has explored different genres, all of them with his signature narrative and visual style, which includes generous amounts of blood and violence. After exploring an alternate version of history withInglourious Basterds, Tarantino made his own Western withDjango Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Django Unchainedtook the audience to 1858 Texas to meet Django (Foxx), a slave freed by German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Waltz). Schultz trained him so they could find and free Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), a slave at the Candyland plantation. Her owner was Calvin J. Candie (DiCaprio), a soulless and cruel man. Despite controversy for its use of racial slurs and its very graphic violence,Django Unchainedwas a critical and commercial success, and it was improved by a last-minute addition by Tarantino.
Django Unchained’s Candyland Gunfight Was A Last-Minute Addition
Candie’s & Schultz’s Death Scenes Were Originally Much Calmer
When Django and Schultz learned that Candie owned Broomhilda, they traveled to Candyland and came up with a plan: as Candie forced male slaves to wrestle in deathly “Mandingo” fights, they would offer $12,000 for one of his best fighters as a pretext to acquire Broomhilda for a nominal sum. Candie invited them to Candyland, where Schultz and Django set their plan into motion, but they came across some unexpected obstacles, mostly Candie’s loyal house slave Stephen (Jackson). Schultz told Broomhilda their plan and offered to buy her as his escort while negotiating the initial Mandingo deal during dinner.
When Schultz approached Candie to shake his hand, he took out a gun from under his sleeve and shot Candie in the heart.
However, Stephen grew suspicious of Schultz and Django and realized Broomhilda and Django knew each other. Stephen alerted Candie, who turned unpredictable and more aggressive, demanding no less than $12,000 for Broomhilda. Schultz agreed, butit all took another turn when Candie insisted that Schultz shake his handor he would kill Broomhilda. When Schultz approached Candie to shake his hand, he took out a gun from under his sleeve and shot Candie in the heart. Schultz turned to the rest and, after saying he couldn’t resist doing it, Candie’s bodyguard shot him.
Jackson explained that Tarantino decided on the spot thatDjango Unchainedneeded another gunfight.
According to Samuel L. Jackson in an interview withGQ, what followed in that scene was Django being grabbed by someone and taken away, and it’s understood that the next scene would have been that of Django chained upside down, waiting to be castrated. However,Jackson explained that Tarantino decidedon the spot thatDjango Unchainedneeded another gunfight. The production crew then had to accommodate everything to shoot the big gunfight in which Django killed Candie’s bodyguard, his lawyer, and others at Candyland.
The Candyland Gunfight Made Django Unchained A Lot Better
The Candyland Gunfight Is One Of Django Unchained’s Best Moments
Django Unchainedalready had its violent moments before the gunfight at Candyland, such as the infamous scene where Candie’s trackers’ guard dogs mauled one of his Mandingo fighters to death, but the gunfight was different.Not only was it violent and graphic (in classic Tarantino style), but it was also pretty absurd. Django single-handedly took down most of Candie’s men who, to his luck, had the worst aim, and they even shot each other in their attempts to kill Django.
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Tarantino even mixed a more modern style with classic Western elements in that scene, with James Brown and 2Pac’s “Unchained (The Payback/Untouchable) playing as Django dropped a gun like in modern cop movies and continued shooting Candie’s henchmen in a more Western-style. In terms of story, it also made Django’s journey better, ashe was avenging his mentor and friend and defending Broomhildain the best way he could at the moment, even if that led to her losing her freedom again and him being tortured.
Django Unchained Would Have Felt Incomplete Without The Candyland Gunfight
Django Unchained Needed One Final Touch Of Tarantino
No matter the story, subject, and themes of the movie, Tarantino will always find a way to add his signature style of violence and will do so in ways that serve the story. As mentioned above,Django Unchainedalready had its violent scenes before the Candyland gunfight, but Django needed his big moment. Django had gone through a lot by that point, so he needed his big “revenge” moment against those who had wronged him, Schultz, and Broomhilda.The gunfight also added a bit more of that unique comedy style of Tarantino, which had already been seen inDjango Unchainedat different points.
That’s not to say thatDjango Unchainedwould have been bad without the Candyland gunfight – it would still have been a great movie thanks to its story, performances, themes, and sense of humor, but the gunfight is what it needed to truly feel like a Quentin Tarantino movie, and it served a purpose within the story.
Source:GQ.
Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained follows Jamie Foxx’s Django, a Black slave who is freed before becoming a bounty hunter. After meeting German dentist-turned-bounty-hunter Dr. King Schultz, Django sets off to free his wife from the cruel and charismatic plantation owner Calvin Candie. Christophe Waltz stars alongside Foxx, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington rounding out the cast of Tarantino’s revisionist Spaghetti Western.
