According to critic Alex Ross, the alliance between Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) is not as "absurd" as viewers might think. Because in the 1840s, many German revolutionaries and progressives emigrated from Europe to the US and joined the abolitionist movement there.
Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) whistles the Django theme song while placing dynamite in the tooth on the wagon.
The lead actor of the 1966 film Django, which inspired this film, makes a cameo as the owner of a slave who fights a slave belonging to Calvin Candie (the character is named Amerigo Vassepi in the script). When asked how his name is spelled, Django explains, "The D is silent." Nero replies, "I know."
The $12,000 paid for Broomhilda's (Kerry Washington) freedom is equivalent to a value of over $410,000 in 2024.
Christoph Waltz's performance in this film, at 1 hour 6 minutes 17 seconds, was the longest performance to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The record was broken by Mahershala Ali in 2018's Green Book with 1 hour 6 minutes 38 seconds.
Quentin Tarantino revealed at Comic-Con that Django (Jamie Foxx) and Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) are the great-great-great-grandparents of the John Shaft character from the Shaft (1971) films. A clear reference to this connection can be found in the full name of Washington's character: Broomhilda Von Shaft.
The quilt on the bed Broomhilda is thrown onto is in the Underground Railroad style. According to legend, slaves used quilts to communicate, and the Underground Railroad style meant "pack up and go."
Near the end of the film, men playing poker use the severed ears of slaves as chips.
Body count: sixty-nine.
The hooded men organized by Big Daddy (Don Johnson) represent a group known as the "Regulators." This group is the spiritual precursor to the post-Civil War KKK, founded in 1865.
Calvin explains that through his phrenology studies, he was able to find three depressions in Ben's skull representing subservience. Phrenology was a pseudoscience claiming that various human capacities and traits could be understood by examining the features and physical characteristics of the skull. It was later proven to be complete nonsense.
It holds the record for the most uses of the "n" word (or its variations) in a film: 116 uses.
Except for films in which the cast is listed alphabetically (Celebrity (1998) and Don's Plum (2001)), this is the first film in sixteen years in which Leonardo DiCaprio does not receive top billing.
The name of the saloon Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) enter while in Daughtrey, Texas, is "Minnesota Clay's Saloon." Minnesota Clay (1964) is a western directed by Sergio Corbucci, who also directed Django (1966).
Dr. King Schultz says he wants to rename the Mandingo fighter Eskimo Joe, whom he is trying to buy: "Black Hercules." This was the real-life nickname of actor and boxer Ken Norton, who starred in Mandingo (1975).
Calvin Candie constantly eats sugar and sweets, which causes his teeth to rot. This connects four things in the film: Mr. Candie is rotting from within because of his evil nature (according to Quentin Tarantino); Dr. King Schultz is a dentist-turned-bounty-hunter who is saved from "human decay"; Calvin's plantation is named "Candyland"; and sugar was one of the main crops harvested by slaves.
One of the members of the Smitty Bacall Gang was Gerald Nash. This name was also used for one of the police officers killed by Mickey and Mallory in Natural Born Killers (1994) (written by Tarantino) and as Marvin Nash in Reservoir Dogs. This is Tarantino's signature: reusing names across his screenplays and connecting characters.
Django's blue costume is based on the famous painting "The Blue Boy." This painting inspired F.W. Murnau's film Emerald of Death (1919). Murnau is known for creating the "Unchained" camera technique.
When Calvin's men return from the funeral, they find Django on the upper floor of the house in a burgundy suit. This is the same suit Calvin wears when he first appears in the film.
In the middle of the film, Dr. King Schultz says, "I, at least, do not intend to die in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, USA." Unfortunately, that is exactly where he dies.
The name "Django" is of Romani origin and means "I awake." Among musicians and jazz enthusiasts, it was very popular because it was the name adopted by Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt (1910-1953), known as the Romani-Belgian jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. His story was told in the film Django (2017).
The opening song is the soundtrack by Luis Bacalov that plays during the credits of Django (1966).
Dr. King Schultz mentions that Alexandre Dumas was black. Dumas was of mixed heritage. On his father's side, his grandfather was a French nobleman and his grandmother was an African slave in present-day Haiti, which makes Dumas one-quarter black.
In the scene where Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) tells Django (Jamie Foxx) what will happen to him after he is sent to the mining company, Stephen ends his monologue with "And that will be your story." Quentin Tarantino had used this line before in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).
In the Mandingo fight scene, Django can be seen opening a tobacco pouch with a red apple pattern on it.
Set in 1858. Calvin Candie's speech about the skulls of slaves is based on phrenology, a pseudoscience that had been disproven in the 1840s - which, contrary to Candie's claims, reveals his ignorance.
Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) kills roughly twenty-three people in the film, while Django (Jamie Foxx) kills roughly thirty-eight. Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) kills no one, but is responsible for two deaths by his orders.
Dr. King Schultz insists on saying goodbye to M. Candy in English because in English the word carries a certain finality, whereas in German auf Wiedersehen actually means "until I see you again." French makes such a distinction. Adieu is used when you do not expect to see someone again. For someone you expect to see again, you say au revoir.
In an interview, Samuel L. Jackson described the film as "Shaft (1971) on horseback."
Dr. King Schultz partly reflects the real-life dentist-gunslinger Doc Holliday.
At the beginning of the film, while Dr. King Schultz is freeing Django, one of the slave owners calls out "Blueberry" to one of the slaves. This is a reference to the "Blueberry" comic book by Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Michel Charlier. Blueberry is set in the American Wild West, and its main character begins as a racist but, after being saved by an African-American, becomes a gunslinger who fights all forms of discrimination.
The lyrics of the Italian song that plays just before Django and Broomhilda's reunion translate as: "Still here / still you / even though it's now / I know who you are / who you always will be / and when you see me / you'll remember / still here / still you / I hope you forgive me / you, your eyes are still the same, you ask me again / how things are / (...) something that will come back / like before / still here / still you / and what happened is now gone / and" (the song cuts off abruptly).
Franco Nero is seen wearing white gloves in his cameo in the film. This may be a reference to his wounds in Django (1966). However, this should not be taken to mean he is the same character in both films, since Django (1966) is set in the 1870s while this film is set in the 1850s.
The horses of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) and Django (Jamie Foxx) are named "Fritz" and "Tony," respectively. These are the names of the horses of silent western stars William S. Hart (Fritz the Horse) and Tom Mix (Tony the Horse).
Although a connection is known to exist between Dr. King Schultz and the mysterious "Paula Schultz" grave in Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), the connection has never been fully understood. However, fans have theorized that Dr. Schultz is related to this Paula Schultz character, perhaps that they were husband and wife at some point and separated shortly before the doctor began his career as a bounty hunter. Other theories suggest Paula Schultz may be Dr. Schultz's estranged daughter or long-lost sister. Tarantino, however, has not confirmed this.
When Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) first begins speaking with Broomhilda von Shaft in his room on the Candieland plantation and starts to explain how he came there, he addresses her as "Fraulein," which means "Miss" in German. Some viewers may think this is a mistake, since the Doctor knows Hildi is a married woman and should more correctly say "Frau" (the German word for a married woman, "Mrs."). In fact, however, this is a deliberate word choice by Waltz, a native German speaker who uses the language well; he felt that Dr. Schultz did not want to frighten her with the word "Frau," which would make her wonder how this elegant but complete stranger knew she had a husband. So that the word would not spoil the complete surprise of learning that Django (Jamie Foxx) is only ten steps away, he deliberately feigned ignorance of the fact that she is a married woman in order to explain the reasons for his visit and to arrange the meeting that will leave her unconscious minutes later. Viewers can trust that Waltz is communicating openly, deliberately and with great artistry.
WILHELM SCREAM: Heard when one of the riders retreating from the exploding wagon during the night raid falls from his horse.
The Bible verse Big John Brittle (M.C. Gainey) recites before being killed by Django (Jamie Foxx) is a version of Genesis 9:2: "Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, everything that moves on the ground and all the fish in the sea will fear and dread you; they are given into your hand." This verse refers to God giving all the animals on earth into man's hand. In slave culture, black people were regarded not as human but as animals.
The first western to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and the first western to win an Acting Award since Unforgiven (1992) (and in the same category). Along with True Grit (2010), this film repeated a rare pattern in which two westerns (the other being Dances with Wolves (1990)) were nominated for Best Picture twenty years apart.
Quentin Tarantino added the snowy scenes as a tribute to The Great Silence (1968). "Silenzio takes place in the snow. I loved the action in the snow, so there's a big snow section in the middle of Django Unchained," Tarantino said in an interview.
Calvin Candy's death, shot through a white carnation pinned to his jacket, is taken from the spaghetti western The Mercenary (1968). Jack Palance's character Ricciolo/Curly dies in this way. The music playing in the scene in the Italian film is also used in Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) during the bride's escape from the grave.
Willard Peck's (Sheriff Bill Sharp) bounty was 200 dollars in 1858. Adjusted for inflation in 2021, this bounty was worth 6,415 dollars, and in the same year Broomhilda's sale for 12,000 dollars corresponds to 384,900 dollars in 2021 dollars.
In one of the scenes early in the film, Tarantino used an arrangement of the main musical theme from Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), directed by Don Siegel with original music by Ennio Morricone.
In Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Bill (David Carradine) describes how painful a bullet to the kneecap is. Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) states the same thing in Reservoir Dogs (1992). This is referenced when Django (Jamie Foxx) shoots Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) in both knees.
The music in which Django confronts Big John Brittle (M.C. Gainey) and Lil Raj Brittle (Cooper Huckabee) is from the film Django (1966), in which the main enemy uses Mexican civilians as target practice.
Django (Jamie Foxx) takes on a legendary form when he confronts the Brittle Brothers at Big Daddy's (Don Johnson) plantation. The Gothic nature of this scene is clearly visible when Big John Brittle (M.C. Gainey) is about to whip Little Jody (Sharon Pierre-Louis) for breaking eggs. Django is wearing his "Blue Boy" outfit, but when Little Jody looks at his reflection in the mirror beside the tree he is tied to, Django's head and hands do not appear in the reflection, elevating his legendary status to that of a magical figure. According to Gothic belief, ghosts cannot see their own reflections.
When Django shoots Laura (Calvin's sister), she is strangely pulled off-screen. This is a nod to the old Spaghetti Western genre's practice of not showing women dying on screen.
It has been theorized that Paula Schultz is the dead woman in the grave where Beatrix Kiddo (Uma Thurman) is buried alive in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and that she is Dr. King Schultz's wife. The tombstone states that Paula Schultz died in 1898. This film takes place in 1858-1859, and Dr. King Schultz may have married at some point in his life.
In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) kills a bounty hunter named "Jango." In this film, Jackson's character Stephen is killed by a bounty hunter named "Django."
US Marshal Gill Tatum has an interesting name. Marshall, Gill and Tatum are three towns located side by side in Northeast Texas. His title is written as Marshall in the credits, which is incorrect; it should have only one L. Apparently the character is named after three Texas towns.
Django practices by shooting a snowman in the crotch, shoots the naked Stonesipher in the genitals at close range, and shoots Billy Crash in the genitals.
Early in the film, Christoph Waltz kills a town sheriff and, just as he is about to be arrested by the local US Marshal, produces an arrest warrant for the man he has just killed. Later in the film, he draws attention to Monsieur Candie's fondness for Alexandre Dumas; in Dumas's novel "The Three Musketeers," a similar argument takes place between D'Artagnan and Cardinal Richelieu, and Waltz portrayed Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (2011).
Dennis Christopher's character Léonide Moguy is a reference to the French director Léonide Moguy.
The line "I count six shots, Django..." is a reference to Dirty Harry (1971).
As he dies, Stephen calls Django a "son of a b**h," but the last word is cut off by the explosion. This is a clear reference to the ending of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), in which Tuco (Eli Wallach) calls Blondie (Clint Eastwood) a "son of a b**h," but the last word is cut off by a title card.
Django and Kill Bill share similar scenes. Django stands on a balcony and tells the slave women they can be free, but orders Stephen to stay to be punished. In Kill Bill, the Bride stands on a balcony after killing the Crazy 88. She sends everyone away except Sofie and takes her revenge. In Django, while Schultz and Django sit around a fire, Schultz tells the folk tale of Siegfried and Broomhilda. In Kill Bill, there is an almost identical scene between Bill and the Bride.
Director's Signature. Tarantino was born in Knoxville, TN. In every one of his films, he references Knoxville or eastern Tennessee. In this film, the Doctor and Django go to Gatlinburg for the Brittle brothers, which is about 30 minutes from Knoxville.
The device that emerges from the Doctor's sleeve toward the end of the film is a nod to the contraption Travis Bickle creates for himself in Taxi Driver, one of Tarantino's favorite films. In Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle uses this device to rescue a prostitute from an abusive pimp; in Django, the Doctor uses this device to kill Calvin, which indirectly facilitates the rescue of Django's slave wife.
Calvin J. Candie's given names are a reference to Italian director Giorgio Ferroni, who directed many spaghetti westerns, including a trilogy starring Giuliano Gemma (Blood for a Silver Dollar (1965), Fort Yuma Gold (1966) and Wanted (1967)). For these films he was usually credited as "Calvin J. Padget", "Calvin Jackson Padget" or "Calvin Jakson Padget". Quentin Tarantino has named the Padget-Gemma trilogy among his favourite spaghetti westerns and used the theme of the first film on the soundtrack of Inglourious Basterds (2009).
In the scene where D'Artagnan is torn apart by dogs, one of the trackers has a large knife strapped to his right leg. This is the same knife carried by Aldo The Apache, a descendant of mountain man Jim Bridger, in Inglourious Basterds (2009).
When Broomhilda is finally told she is a free woman, a piece of cake can be seen behind Dr. Moguy, highlighting the contrast between life-changing news and the most trivial of things.
This is the first of two films in which Samuel L. Jackson's character lies dead or dying next to a Walton Goggins character at the end of the film. Coincidentally, both are Quentin Tarantino films.
It has been suggested that Michael Parks's character in this film is an ancestor of Earl McGraw, whom Parks has played many times, but neither Quentin Tarantino nor Parks has confirmed this.
When we first see Calvin Candie, he is sitting on a couch with his back to the camera, blowing smoke. This is a reference to one of the opening scenes of the 1962 Jean Pierre Melville film Le Samourai, one of QT's favourites.
Ten years earlier, Samuel L. Jackson had played Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). Leonardo DiCaprio was the first choice for the role of Anakin Skywalker, but the role went to Hayden Christensen. In this film, Mace Windu kills the bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). George Lucas named the character after the protagonist of Quentin Tarantino's Django (1966), the film that inspired this one. In this film, Jamie Foxx's Django is a freed bounty hunter.
The title refers to the titles of Django (1966), Hercules Unchained (1959) and Angel Unchained (1970).
In the conversation between Django and Vessepi, Django says his name is spelled with a silent D, and Vessepi replies "I know". This is a reference to Franco Nero's film Django (1966) being promoted with the tagline "the D is silent".
This is one of two films written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Bowen, in which the main character's name appears in the title. The other film was Jackie Brown (1997).
The Django, Trinity song is actually from the Trinity stand tall film starring Terence Hill.
The scene in Candyland where Django is asked to spell out his name is similar to the bar scene in Pulp Fiction where Butch and Vincent talk in Marcelleus's bar.
Just before Candyland explodes, Stephen starts to say "SOB" but cannot finish. This is a reference to the scene in Jaws where Roy Schneider shoots the shark and causes it to explode.
Samuel L. Jackson's presence in the film is a coincidence. Ten years earlier, in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Samuel L. Jackson's character Mace Windu kills the bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). Ironically, at the end of the film his character Stephen is killed by a bounty hunter, Django (Jamie Foxx).
One of Calvin Candie's fighters is named Samson. Samson is a biblical character given extraordinary strength by God.
A slave kills his master and frees his wife.
The film ends with a showdown at its climax.
At the beginning of the film, there are slave owners walking in Texas in 1858. When they encounter Dr. Schultz in the dark, one of the slave owners orders Schultz to introduce himself and state his business. In the conversation between these two characters, the audience is given a close-up of the slave owner's face; the slave owner has perfectly white, pearly teeth. Since Dr. K. Schultz is a dentist, this is a deliberate easter egg.