Keoma (film)

Keoma
Italian film poster
Directed by	Enzo G. Castellari
Produced by	Manolo Bolognini
Screenplay by	Mino Roli Nico Ducci Luigi Montefiori Enzo G. Castellari Dialogue: Joshua Sinclair (uncredited)
Story by	Luigi Montefiori
Starring	Franco Nero William Berger Olga Karlatos Woody Strode
Music by	Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
Cinematography	Aiace Parolin
Edited by	Gianfranco Amicucci
Production companies	Uranos Cinematografica
Distributed by	Far International Films (Italy)
Release date	25 November 1976
Running time	101 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian English
Box office	₤1.571 billion (Italian lira)

Keoma is a 1976 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Franco Nero. It is frequently regarded as one of the better 'twilight' Spaghetti Westerns, being one of the last films of its genre, and is known for its incorporation of newer cinematic techniques of the time (such as slow motion and close/medium panning shots) and its vocal soundtrack by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis.

After the American Civil War, ex-Union soldier Keoma Shannon, part-Indian and part-white, returns to his home town to find his half-brothers in alliance with a petty tyrant named Caldwell. Caldwell and his gang rule over the town with an iron fist. With the help of his father and George, an old Black friend, he vows revenge. Keoma also shows compassion when he saves a pregnant woman from a group sent by Caldwell's group to be quarantined in a mine camp full of plague victims. Keoma is constantly visited by the apparition of an older woman ("The Witch") who saved him during the massacre of an Indian camp.

While participating in the filming of 21 Hours at Munich, Franco Nero was approached by his longtime friend and collaborator Enzo G. Castellari and producer Manolo Bolognini on the proposition of appearing in a Spaghetti Western, despite dwindling demand for films of that genre. At the time, no stories or scripts had been written - Nero, Castellari and Bolognini did, however, decide to name their pet project Keoma, which was a Native American name that, according to Bolognini, meant 'freedom' (in reality, the name means 'far away').

Keoma was reportedly planned as a sequel to Sergio Corbucci's Django, which Bolognini co-produced. The original treatment was written by actor George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori) and developed into a script by Mino Roli and Nico Ducci, neither of whom were experienced writers of Spaghetti Westerns. Roli and Ducci's screenplay arrived three days after shooting began and was quickly thrown out by Castellari and Nero, unanimously believing that it was not appropriate for a Western. Castellari proceeded to rewrite the script on a daily basis throughout filming, taking suggestions from cast and crew members, as well as being influenced by the works of Shakespeare and Sam Peckinpah, among other sources. Most of the dialogue as it appears in the film was written by actor John Loffredo, although Nero also contributed a substantial amount of his own lines, including his final exchange with "The Witch".