Keoma Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Keoma Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 20, 2024

Enzo G. Castellari's "Keoma" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Films. The supplemental features on the release include new program with Enzo G. Castellari, new program with editor Gianfranco Amicucci; archival introduction by filmmaker Alex Cox; and more. In English or Italian, with optional English SDH and English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

In an archival interview that is included on this release, director Enzo G. Castellari reveals that Franco Nero provided invaluable assistance during the shooting of Keoma and considers him its co-director. Apparently, Nero was very enthusiastic about Keoma and plenty was changed because of excellent suggestions he made once the camera began rolling. Castellari then declares that he is very proud of Keoma and considers it one of the all-time greatest Italian westerns.

The first part of Castellari’s statement is only partially surprising. In Italy, but elsewhere in Europe as well, Nero has always had the reputation of a workaholic whose passion for genre films was genuine. This is one of the main reasons Nero’s filmography is so big -- directors loved to cast him in various genre films, big and small, and he always did his best to meet their expectations. It is probably why Nero ought to be considered the greatest Italian genre actor as well. The length of his filmography and the quality of the content in it are unmatched.

The second part of Castellari’s statement is very interesting. Keoma is a great Italian western, but it has usually stayed in the large shadow cast by Sergio Leone’s legendary westerns. It is usually placed behind another Nero film, Sergio Corbucci’s Django, too. So, is Castellari’s statement accurate?

It is not easy to give a short answer because it is not easy to provide a simple definition of greatness. For example, quite often great is interchanged with influential, and while the two are very rarely used in drastically different contexts, they are not synonymous. Also, in Italy, some of the Italian westerns were interpreted very differently because of their political allegory, so an Italian take on greatness would not be the same as an international one. Still, is Keoma one of the all-time greatest westerns?

As far as this writer is concerned, the answer would be yes. Also, while it did not have the same transformational impact on Nero’s career that Django did, this writer believes that it is bigger and better than it, too.

Keoma was released a decade after Django, at a time when the Italian westerns had already become unfashionable because of the massive popularity of the poliziotteschi. According to Castellari, it was considered a very risky project before and after it was greenlighted, which is why later Nero’s contributions proved crucial. Indeed, it was Nero who tweaked Keoma to ensure that it appeals to the poliziotteschi fans while matching and improving a lot of what made Django a cult western. In other words, Keoma was always meant to impress two completely different and very demanding audiences -- the poliziotteschi fans and the loyal western fans.

A proper deconstruction of Keoma rather easily reveals how Nero transformed it and made it work very well. Nero’s character, a half-breed ex-soldier turned lone wolf, enters a town, and discovers that his three half-brothers have colluded with a vicious tyrant (Donald O’Brien) trying to permanently impose his will on it. While a deadly disease ravages the area, Nero’s character then clashes with the tyrant and his men, reunites with his father (William Berger), and eventually confronts his half-brothers (Joshua Sinclair, Orso Maria Guerrini, Antonio Marsina).

So, Keoma is a multi-layered western in which several conflicts assemble the same big picture of a seemingly decent town being overwhelmed by various ambitious shady characters that emerges in the many popular poliziotteschi as well.

But instead of playing a giant, intellectually superior character like the one he did in Django, which is a character all classic Italian westerns loved to promote, Nero plays an imperfect lone wolf whose overpowering anger defines him as much as his shooting skills do. Virtually all of the popular poliziotteschi had such a character too, which was usually an experienced cop who had enough of the filth and dirty politics ruining the city he calls home.

Woody Strode’s character was added only after he stopped by to greet Castellari while he was discussing Keoma with producer Manolo Bolognini. The supporting cast also includes Olga Karlatos, Gabriella Giacobbe, and Victoria Zinny.

Castellari's director of photography was Aiace Parolin, who lensed Pietro Germi's classic comedy Seduced and Abandoned and Francesco Rosi's great bullfighting drama The Moment of Truth.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Keoma arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Films.

The release introduces the recent 2K restoration of Keoma, which Arrow Video made available in America with this release in 2019.

The overall quality of the 2K makeover is very good, which is why it is exceptionally easy to declare that it represents a tremendous upgrade in quality over Mill Creek Entertainment's release of Keoma from 2012. (A have a couple of different release of Keoma, but this is the only Blu-ray release). In terms of delineation, clarity, and depth, the improvements range from big to massive, plus they are in daylight and darker indoor and nighttime footage. Density levels are superior, too. The surface of the visuals has a completely different complexion as well, which is why they have a proper organic appearance. Color balance is good and convincing. However, I think that in several areas, which are during daylight footage, primary blue needs to be a little better saturated. Image stability is excellent. The entire film is very clean, too. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and Italian LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH (for the English track) and English (for the Italian track) subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The English track should be considered the original audio track for Keoma since the majority of the actors utter their lines in English. Obviously, they are all overdubbed, so you should expect some of the typical for these tracks unevenness. However, I would like to mention that because of the prominent use of music, the overall balance is managed very well. Dynamic intensity is very good, too. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Enzo G. Castellari - in this new program, director Enzo G. Castellari discusses the difficult (for Italian westerns) period in which Keoma was conceived and shot, Franco Nero's invaluable contribution to it, the casting of Woody Strode, and the overlapping of various themes and style of the film. Produced in 2022. In English, not subtitled. (16 min).

• Interview with Editor Gianfranco Amicucci - in this new program, editor Gianfranco Amicucci explains why he considers Keoma a great cult film, and discusses its production -- from its conception, which was apparently initiated without a complete screenplay, to its editing -- his relationship with Franco Nero, and the unique identity of Enzo G. Castellari's westerns. Also, there are some quite interesting comments about Castellari's cult poliziotteschi High Crime, which also features Nero. The program was produced by Federico Caddeo in 2022. In Italian, with English subtitles. (38 min).

• Enzo G. Castellari on Westerns and Crime Flicks - in this new program, Enzo G. Castellari provides a wonderful overview of his body of work, explains how the classic American films he saw during his childhood years made an impact on him as a director and defined the characters of his films, and highlights some of the ways in which his westerns and crime films are similar. The production and style of Keoma are addressed as well. The program was produced in 2022. In Italian, with English subtitles. (30 min).

• Introduction - presented here is an archival introduction to Keoma by filmmaker Alex Cox. In English, not subtitled. (6 min).

• Art Cards - three collectible cards, one for each film in the Cult Spaghetti Westerns set.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

People who compare and rank the many terrific westerns that were made in Italy often forget that Keoma emerged at a time when the poliziotteschi ruled the local box office and were competing with the big American blockbusters. There was a pretty good chance that it will not meet expectations, which had evolved quite a lot. But Keoma did very well and rightfully became a cult film. Why rightfully? Because it very effectively mixes plenty of what made the old Italian westerns unique with a lot of what the poliziotteschi were promoting, which was rougher, macho action and imperfect characters. It is a great looking film, too. I have always liked it more than Django and consider it one of the best films in Franco Nero made. This release introduces a wonderful recent 2K restoration of Keoma and a small but terrific selection of bonus features. It is included in Cult Spaghetti Westerns, a three-disc set. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.