Calvin J. Candie (June 6, 1821 - May 5, 1859) was the Francophile owner of the plantation Candyland and the initial main antagonist of Django Unchained.
Calvin Candie is one of the villians in Django Unchained. He owns the fourth largest cotton plantation in Mississipi which he calls, creepily enough, Candyland. Calvin Candie gets his wealth from three sources; the cotton from his plantation, which is his sole legitimate source of income. His other two are forcing male slaves to participate in brutal wrestling matches called Mandingo fights, and charging admission for spectators to come watch these fights. Calvin shows great joy in watching Mandingo fight displayed for the amusement of onlookers, despite the fact that these fights are damaging the health of his slaves and rendering them unfit to harvest cotton or any other jobs that needs to be done, which is directly hurting production of his plantation. Calvin even feeds a slave to dogs for refusing to fight any more of these gladiatorial battles. Calvin is only slightly less cruel to female slaves, assigning the older and homelier women to either harvesting cotton or housekeeping, but taking young attractive slave women to be prostituted in a brothel he also owns called the Cleopatra Club.
His friend is Stephen, a slave who caters to his every need to the detriment of his fellow slaves. An odd thing about him is he insists on being called Monsieur when he doesn't know a word of French. His father owned the ranch and he grew up on it his whole life. Until his death, he was the owner of Django's wife Brunhilda von Schaft.
History
Meeting Django and Schultz
When Django and Schultz arrive at yoza Cleopatra Club*, they are taken to the bar to meet Candie, who is watching two muscular slaves fight to the death. After the winning slave kills the losing slave (a rule that is part of the slave fight), Candie congratulates him and rewards him a drink. When Django meets Candie, he antagonizes him since he is Broomhida's owner. Schultz reminds him not to make Candie suspicious to which Django retorts that he is only trying to play the part. The duo begins a deal to purchase one of the fighting slaves as a coverage for rescuing Brunhilda.
*) At this point, a chronological error shall be noted: in the foyer of the “Cleopatra Club” we see a replica of the famous Nefertitit Bust, one of the most important archaeological discoveries of Egyptology, depicting the Egyptian queen Nefertiti Neferneferuaten who lived around 1370 – 1330 BC. The same image of her portrait is also displayed en profil on the two brass signs to the right and the left outside the front door to the club. However, while the film is set in the years 1858-1859, the bust was not discovered until 1912, that is 53 years later, and could thus not have been known to neither Monsieur Candie nor any of his contemporaries.
Journey to Candyland
As the duo travel to Candyland, Django is riding horseback alongside Candie's hired white men while the fighter slaves walk on foot and Schultz is invited to share the carriage with Candie and his lawyer. During their travel, they meet up with slavers and hounds surrounding a tree in which a slave named D'Artagnan has climbed. Candie orders the slavers and hounds to remains quiet as he immediately speaks to D'Artagnan. Candie taunts him for his attempted escape and the slave reveals that he couldn't handle fighting anymore, even though he claimed he had won three matches. Candie reveals that D'Artagnan can't retire until he has won five fights in a row in order to recoup his investment for $500. Candie then orders the slavers to release their hounds to tear D'Artagnan into pieces, much to Django and Schultz's shock. Later, they travel directly to Candyland and meets with Stephen, who is the only slave who dishabits his fellow slaves and is staunchly loyal to Candie. Stephen announces to Candie that Brunhilda has tried to escape and is captured for which she has been locked in a box outside since morning. Candie orders his men to release her and get her dressed. Django watches as his screaming wife is taken in the house.
Dinner
Candie, with his injured hand now bandaged after smashing a glass, is paid $12,000 by Schultz and signs a release form for Brunhilda von Schaft, making her a free woman. As Schultz turns to leave, Candie has one final thought: to shake Schultz's hand. Schultz refuses multiple times, but Candie insists, claiming that a deal in the South is not considered complete without a handshake. He orders one of his men to shoot Brunhilda should Schultz not comply. Schultz approaches Candie but draws his sleeve gun instead, shooting Candie in the chest, who stares at his wound wordlessly before dropping dead. Schultz then apologizes to Django before he is shot to death by Candie's guard Butch Pooch (who would later get shot to death by an angry Django) leading to a bloody gunfight as Stephen mourns and cries over his master's body.