20 Things You Somehow Missed In Django Unchained

WhatCulture

You probably didn't spot Tarantino's second cameo.

Transcript

00:00Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is just one hell of a movie,

00:04regardless of where you'd personally rank it in the filmmaker's outstanding filmography.

00:09Released back in 2012, the blood-soaked revisionist Western won two Oscars

00:14and remains the director's highest-grossing film to date.

00:18Yet, despite how many times you might have already seen it,

00:21it's a film absolutely packed to the gills,

00:23with sneaky references and subtle nuances you can easily miss

00:27if you're not paying total attention.

00:30And even then, many of them are blink and you'll miss it.

00:33So, with that in mind, I'm Ellie for WhatCulture,

00:35and here are 20 things you somehow missed in Django Unchained.

00:40Number 20, James Remar plays Schultz's first kill and the person who kills him.

00:46You may well have noticed that veteran character actor James Remar

00:49plays two supporting roles in the film.

00:51But did you appreciate their fateful significance to Dr. King Schultz?

00:56Near the start of the movie, Remar first appears as Ace Speck,

01:00Django's owner, who soon enough ends up shot in the head and killed by Schultz.

01:05He then reappears later as Butch Pooch,

01:08one of Calvin Candy's bodyguards who ends up shooting Schultz dead

01:12immediately after Schultz kills Candy.

01:14So, to summarise, Remar ends up playing both Schultz's first kill in the movie

01:20and the man who ends up killing him.

01:22As for why Tarantino casts the same actor in both roles,

01:25well, you'd have to ask him.

01:27Number 19, Nash and Coons.

01:29When we briefly see the wanted poster for the Smitty Bacool gang,

01:33the names of two of the gang's members should stand out to fans of Tarantino's filmography,

01:39Gerald Nash and Crazy Craig Coons.

01:42Given Tarantino's fondness for not-so-subtly implying a shared universe between his movies,

01:48we can safely infer that Nash is likely related to Reservoir Dogs' ill-fated,

01:52kidnapped policeman Marvin Nash.

01:54And as for Coons, well, that one's a little bit easier to remember.

01:58It's Vietnam War veteran Captain Coons from Pulp Fiction,

02:02played so memorably in a small role by Christopher Walken.

02:06While the familial links themselves are vague at best,

02:09given that Tarantino imbues all of his movies with an exacting amount of detail,

02:14there is no way that these name drops were mere coincidence.

02:18Number 18, why there are only five bullets in Jango's revolver.

02:22When Jango kills the Brittle brothers,

02:24he wipes out Roger Lil Raj Brittle by shooting him dead with his own revolver.

02:30Yet you might have noticed that Jango only fires five bullets,

02:33despite the gun being able to hold six.

02:36I mean, being a six-shooter and all.

02:38Well, the reason for this?

02:39Single-action revolvers of the era didn't have a transfer bar,

02:44meaning that the gun's hammer would be resting on one of the chambers,

02:47increasing the risk of an accidental discharge if, say, the gun was dropped or mishandled.

02:52By leaving the chamber the hammer rests on empty, that risk was mitigated,

02:57even if it meant having one less bullet chambered for an engagement.

03:00So there you have it. Much as Tarantino is hardly a stickler for historical authenticity,

03:05he at least got this detail dead on.

03:08Number 17, Tom Savini's cameo.

03:11Legendary Hollywood makeup artist Tom Savini,

03:13best known for his gory contributions to George A. Romero's classic zombie films,

03:18has a brief cameo in the film as one of Candy's slave trackers,

03:22whose guard dogs, of course, brutally mauls slave D'Artagnan to death.

03:26Savini's character can also be briefly seen later in the movie,

03:29when Django goes back to save Broomhilda.

03:32Savini's involvement was more than mere fan service, though.

03:35He goes way back with Tarantino,

03:38having appeared alongside him in the cult fave vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn,

03:43which was also written by Tarantino and directed by their mutual pal Robert Rodriguez.

03:48Number 16, Schultz whistles the original Django theme.

03:52At the start of the scene where members of the proto-KKK prepare for their raid against Django and Schultz,

03:58we briefly see Schultz sticking a hunk of dynamite inside the novelty tooth on top of his wagon cart.

04:04While doing so, he whistles a tune, and though this might seem totally inconsequential,

04:10it's actually composer Luis Bakalov's theme tune from the original 1966 spaghetti western Django.

04:16This wasn't the first time that Tarantino used a whistle to nod to an iconic piece of film music.

04:22In Kill Bill Volume 1, he had Elle Driver whistle the title track from Bernard Herrmann's score for Twisted Nerve

04:28as she tries in vain to kill the bride.

04:31Number 15, Django's first kill and Schultz's last kill mirror each other.

04:36In another curious instance of kills throughout the movie mirroring each other,

04:41there's an intriguing parallel between Django's first kill and Schultz's last kill.

04:46Django's first kill is Big John Brittle, while Schultz's last kill is Calvin Candy.

04:52In both instances, the same gun is used, with the victim being surprised by its concealed nature

04:57before being shot in the heart, all while blood spills onto a white object on their chest,

05:03a piece of paper and a flower, respectively, and they then take a few seconds to fall down dead.

05:09In the immortal words of George Lucas, it's like poetry, it rhymes.

05:14Number 14, a clansman falls off their horse.

05:17Okay, so here's a really funny one, though considering the dark nature of the scene,

05:21you couldn't be blamed at all for missing it.

05:24When the clansmen ride their horses over the hill towards Django and Schultz,

05:28look closely at the middle of the screen and you might just notice a rider falling off their horse

05:34and getting damn near trampled to death by another.

05:37Now, to be clear, you might need to raise the brightness levels on your TV to spot this one,

05:42considering the low-key lighting involved.

05:44But it absolutely does happen.

05:46It doesn't seem to be a planned part of the scene, but then again,

05:50it totally works given that the clansmen are riding with crudely made eyesight-limiting hoods, so.

05:55Number 13, it's about a dentist fighting candy.

05:59Prepare to have your mind blown, and also hate yourself for not realising this earlier.

06:04Django Unchained is about Dr. King Schultz, a dentist-turned-bounty hunter,

06:09facing off against Calvin Candy, a savage slave owner with bad teeth.

06:15So just to be clear, it's a movie about a dentist battling candy.

06:19Do you get it?

06:19Again, this is one of those glaringly obvious things that hides itself so perfectly in plain sight.

06:25Simple wordplay we fail to fully appreciate because we're so wrapped up in the brilliantly written story and characters.

06:32Or that's what we're going to tell ourselves anyway.

06:34But if you did manage to catch that one yourself, well done.

06:37I applaud you.

06:38Number 12, Tarantino's second cameo.

06:41For better or worse, everyone remembers Tarantino's late film cameo as a member of the LeQuint Dickie Mining Company.

06:48Atrocious Australian accent and all.

06:50But he also makes another appearance earlier in the movie, in decidedly less conspicuous fashion.

06:55When the proto-KKK members are arguing over their poorly made hoods,

06:59one of the Klansmen asks a hood-wearing colleague, Robert, how well he can see out of the hood.

07:05And this character, whose face is never seen, is voiced by none other than Tarantino himself.

07:11Once you know it's him, it's really an easy spot.

07:13Yet the scene is so awash in various voices of masked individuals that it's incredibly easy to miss otherwise.

07:20Number 11, Candy's dinner pretensions.

07:22There are several references made to the Candy family's superficially well-to-do nature.

07:27That beyond all their riches, they're putting up a pretentious facade to give the impression that they belong in high society.

07:34Case in point, at the start of dinner, we see Schultz pour salt on his steak, but refuse an offer of gravy,

07:42all while Calvin's sister Lara accepts the gravy.

07:44And so in a vapid attempt to appear classy rather than stereotypically southern,

07:49when Broomhilde brings the jug of gravy over to his steak, Calvin taps it with his knife,

07:54shooing her away and refusing the gravy.

07:57Couple this with the fact that Candy, an alleged Francophile, doesn't know the meaning of the word panache,

08:02and his highfalutin facade quickly wears very, very thin.

08:07Number 10, Django learns from Schultz's gunplay at the end.

08:11And one more gunplay-related parallel now.

08:13At the start of the movie, when Schultz frees Django,

08:16note the extremely slick move where Schultz drops his lantern and immediately pulls out a pistol,

08:22allowing him to catch Ace Woody by surprise and blow him the hell away.

08:26Django evidently paid very close attention to this sleight of hand,

08:29as he does the very same thing right at the end of the movie.

08:33As the Candy Clan returns to the mansion following Calvin's funeral,

08:37they find Django lying in wait, holding a candle in hand.

08:41A mere moment later, he drops the candle to the floor and immediately pulls out a gun,

08:45similarly allowing him to get the drop on his numerous adversaries.

08:49Number 9, the original Django has a cameo.

08:52There's no greater tribute to the original Django film

08:55than the fact that its star, Franco Nero, has a cameo appearance.

08:59Nero plays the small part of an Italian slave owner who goes to the bar following the loss of a Mandingo fight

09:05and briefly crosses paths with Jamie Foxx's Django.

09:09Tellingly, when Django tells him that the D in his name is silent, he retorts with,

09:14I know.

09:15All the same, unless you're a huge fan of spaghetti westerns or familiar with Nero's career,

09:19it's incredibly easy to take this cameo at face value and not appreciate what Tarantino's actually nodding to.

09:26Fun fact, Nero initially suggested to Tarantino that he should play a mysterious horseman

09:31appearing to Django in visions throughout the film,

09:35who at the end would be revealed as Django's father.

09:38An idea which the filmmaker probably quite sensibly vetoed.

09:42Number 8, the red bandana woman is played by Zoe Bell.

09:45Late in the film, when Django guns down a room full of trackers,

09:49we briefly see that one of them is a woman who wears a red bandana over her face,

09:54with Tarantino even lingering on her for a few telling moments.

09:58Given that the lower half of her face isn't visible,

10:01you'd be forgiven for failing to spot that the tiny role was actually played

10:04by Tarantino's regular collaborator Zoe Bell,

10:08who has worked as both a stunt double and an actress across the latter half of his filmography.

10:13As it turns out, the character was originally intended to have a much larger part in the film,

10:18with a backstory and a fight scene, but it was cut due to time constraints during shooting.

10:23Bell also revealed that her character wore a bandana to conceal the fact that she's missing her entire jaw,

10:29as would have been revealed had Tarantino been given time to shoot the full version of the scene.

10:35Number 7, the meaning behind Mr. Candy.

10:38As Schultz first heads to meet Candy, he's informed that as a Francophile,

10:43Candy prefers to be referred to as Monsieur Candy rather than Mr. Candy.

10:47And for all but one of their interactions, Schultz does indeed address Candy per his preferences.

10:53This single exception comes in their final scene together,

10:56when after the sale of Broomhilde has been completed, Schultz says,

11:00Mr. Candy. Normally, I would say Auf Wiedersehen.

11:04But since what Auf Wiedersehen actually means is till I see you again,

11:08and since I never wish to see you again, to you, sir, I say goodbye.

11:12At this point, any remaining facade of placating Candy has been totally dropped,

11:17extending even to how he addresses him.

11:20Number 6, the poker game uses slaves' severed ears as chips.

11:24Okay, now this one's really gross, and you might wish that you never knew it.

11:27Near the end of the movie, moments before Django kills the trackers who are playing poker,

11:33look incredibly closely at the table they're playing on,

11:36and you might just notice that they're not playing with typical chips,

11:39but rather some strange fleshy objects.

11:42As it turns out, they're actually betting with ears,

11:44and Tarantino's script goes further to clarify that they're the ears of black slaves.

11:50And if that's somehow not horrifying enough,

11:52Tarantino adds that those who re-watch the film might even notice

11:56that some of the Candyland slaves are missing ears.

12:00Good God.

12:01Number 5, Django learns from being blinded by blood.

12:04It's always satisfying from a film continuity perspective

12:07to see characters learn from prior mistakes,

12:10even if only in incredibly subtle fashion.

12:12And that's absolutely true of Django and his close-range shooting technique.

12:17After Schultz's death, Django pulls his gun and shoots Butch Pooch dead,

12:21at which point the massive squib of blood squirts in his eyes,

12:25blinding him enough that he misses his next shot at another of Candy's goons.

12:30Django clearly takes note of his mistake, though,

12:32as later, when he convinces the slaver escorts to free him and hand him a gun,

12:37he closes his eyes before opening fire on the two men in front of him,

12:42ensuring the blood splatter doesn't blind him.

12:44This then allows him to make a bullseye shot at the third escort's dynamite pouch,

12:49exploding him instantly.

12:51Now that is character development.

12:54Number 4, Amber and Russ Tamblyn's cameos.

12:57Here's a cute duo of cameos that were missed by all but the most eagle-eyed of viewers.

13:02Early in the film, as Django and Schultz enter the town of Daughtry,

13:06they're eyeballed by the locals,

13:07including a young woman looking from a window up high

13:10and an older gentleman on the ground.

13:13These background artists are, in fact,

13:15actress Amber Tamblyn and her father Russ.

13:18The latter having famously starred in the classic 1965 western Son of a Gunfighter.

13:24As for how the pair made it into the movie?

13:26Well, according to Amber herself,

13:28Tarantino is a good friend and invited her to do a cameo,

13:31at which point she suggested it would be great

13:33if she and her father played a father-daughter pair in the movie.

13:37And so, in a nod to her father's western past,

13:40the duo are credited as

13:42Son of a Gunfighter and Daughter of a Son of a Gunfighter, respectively.

13:46Number three, Django kneecaps Stephen for faking his limp.

13:50At the very end of the movie,

13:52rather than directly kill Calvin's head house slave Stephen,

13:55Django shoots him in the kneecaps

13:57and leaves him helpless to escape as he blows the mansion up.

14:01It's a fitting end for Stephen,

14:03given that, moments earlier,

14:04he threw his cane aside,

14:06implying that he had been faking,

14:08or in the very least wildly exaggerating,

14:10the extent of his limp.

14:12For Django to seriously injure a man who had been falsifying his condition,

14:16moments before leaving him to die no less,

14:19was the ultimate insult for the last villain standing.

14:22Or as the case ultimately was,

14:24not standing.

14:25Number two, Django steals Candy's clothes at the end.

14:28Now, this one should be incredibly obvious,

14:30and yet it's bafflingly easy to miss amid the chaos of that incredible final scene.

14:35When Django returns to the Candy mansion

14:37to mop up the rest of his family and followers,

14:40he's actually wearing the very same burgundy suit

14:42that Candy was wearing the first time he met Django.

14:46Django having presumably raided his closet to put it on.

14:49To hammer the point home,

14:51Django even says to Stephen,

14:53how do you like my new duds?

14:54You know, before now,

14:55I didn't know that burgundy was my colour.

14:57And yet, it's almost embarrassingly easy to miss this fact,

15:01as silly as it might seem in retrospect.

15:03Right down to the cigarette extender,

15:05he's delivering the final blow to Candy

15:07by destroying his home while wearing his own goods.

15:11Number one, there's a post-credits scene.

15:14And finally, you probably don't associate Tarantino much with post-credits scenes,

15:18given that the guy's movies largely speak for themselves,

15:21without any last-minute sequel baiting or teases of future attractions.

15:26But Django Unchained does in fact feature an incredibly brief post-credits stinger.

15:30Returning to the scene where Django killed the slavers

15:33working for the LaQuint's Dickey Mining Company.

15:36Django's fellow Mandingo fighters are simply shown looking on at the carnage

15:40as one of them asks of Django,

15:42who was that?

15:43Trust Tarantino of all filmmakers

15:45to reward those who stuck around to the end

15:48with a totally perfunctory and yet absolutely hilarious final morsel.

15:53Let's go.

15:54Let's go.

15:55Let's go.

15:56Let's go.

15:57Let's go.

15:58Let's go.

15:59Let's go.

16:00Let's go.

16:01Let's go.

16:02Let's go.

16:03Let's go.

16:04Let's go.

16:05Let's go.

16:06Let's go.

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