Navajo Joe *** (1966, Burt Reynolds, Aldo Sanbrell, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Fernando Rey) – Classic Movie Review 13,895

Burt Reynolds stars as a Navajo Indian who takes on the bandits who killed his tribe, in director Sergio Corbucci’s lusty, action-packed 1966 spaghetti Western film Navajo Joe.

Burt Reynolds stars as the titular Navajo Indian who opposes a group of bandits responsible for killing his tribe, in director Sergio Corbucci’s lusty, action-packed 1966 spaghetti Western film Navajo Joe.

Burt Reynolds was lucky to land the role at the time. Producer Dino De Laurentiis cast Reynolds because he felt he resembled Marlon Brando whom he had promised as star to Sergio Corbucci.

Clint Eastwood introduced his friend Reynolds to De Laurentiis, who was looking for an actor who could do his own stunts. Reynolds went to Italy in April 1966. He recalled: ‘The only thing today for an American actor is to go to Europe for $350,000, crinkle up the film, jump up and down a couple of times and you’ve got it made.’

Reynolds said the Italian crew did not know what ‘real Indians’ looked like and that his wig made him look like Natalie Wood. The physical aspects of the role did not worry him, but his costumes did. He added: ‘Of course when you play a half-breed you have to be stoic – and you can’t get funky – and you have to have a deep voice. Apparently there are no Indians with high voices. And you have to shave your arms all the time. It’s easy to get the left but just try and reach the right.’

Reynolds said the film was ‘so awful it was only shown in prisons and airplanes because nobody could leave. I killed ten thousand guys, wore a Japanese slingshot and a fright wig.’

The cast are Burt Reynolds as Joe, Aldo Sanbrell as Mervyn “Vee” Duncan, Nicoletta Machiavelli as Estella, Fernando Rey as Father Rattigan, Tanya Lopert as Maria, Franca Polesello as Barbara, Lucia Modugno as Geraldine, Peter Cross as Dr Chester Lynne.

Sergio Corbucci directed sword and sandal movies beginning with 1961’s Goliath and the Vampires and Duel of the Titans [Romolo e Remo], but later was one of the mainstays of 1960s and 1970s Spaghetti Westerns, with his most notable films including the original Django (1966), Navajo Joe, The Great Silence, The Mercenary, and Compañeros.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,895

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