Sabata

Gianfranco Parolini's "Ehi Amico... C'è Sabata, Hai Chiuso!" aka. "Sabata" is a stylish and excellent Italian Cult Western starring one of the greatest Western icons of all time (THE greatest in my book), the incomparable Lee Van Cleef. Van Cleef is a blessing for any movie, and "Sabata" is, besides "For A Few Dollars More", "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly", "The Big Gundown", "Day Of Anger" and "Death Rides A Horse", one of the most important films starring this great actor. Although this film is was followed by only two sequels (one of them starring Van Cleef, the other starring Yul Brynner), the "Sabata" series could very well be described as the most important series of Spaghetti Westerns alongside the "Sartana" series starring Gianni Garko and, of course, the "Django" series (which isn't really a series, since "Django" of 1966 was followed by dozens of unofficial "sequels" that mostly had little to nothing to do with the original).

Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) is a typical antihero of the Italian Western, who longs for money and his own benefit more than for anything else. After killing a whole gang of outlaws and bringing their loot back for the money, Sabata stays in town for a while, in order to make some more money. He soon has two sidekicks, Carrincha (Ignazio Spalla) and Indio (Aldo Canti), and he furthermore runs into an old acquaintance, the constantly relaxed banjo player Banjo (William Berger)...

Lee Van Cleef is the perfect cast for Sabata, and delivers a great performance in the lead as always. Another highlight of this movie is William Berger, who is coolness incarnate as Banjo. Franco Ressel is great as the villain and Ignazio Spalla and Aldo Canti make two great sidekicks, especially Spalla is funny as hell. The movie is perfectly photographed in the Spanish Alméria, the greatest location for a Spaghetti Western, and very stylish from the first minute. The score is great, especially Banjo's theme, which he constantly plays on his banjo, is a great piece of soundtrack and a very catchy tune that I'll never forget. "Sabata" is an essential Spaghetti Western and a great film in any aspect, and fans of the Italian Western can not afford to miss this. Highly recommended.

Good, exciting western action film. Some originality that's surprising -- i.e. very good acrobats. "Banjo" is obviously Johnny Guitar, but it's still refreshing to see in an Italian western. Van Cleef is brutal and excellent as Sabata, a bounty hunter on the make, and the story is pleasingly ironic, humorous, and without sentimentality or moralizing. Pleasing fun for fans of the genre.

Several spaghetti westerns inspired a number of sequels focussing on a particular kind of shady hero. Beside the widely known "man with no name" there are (amongst others) Django, Sartana, Ringo, Spirito Sancto and this one, Sabata.

Sabata is partly inspired by 'For a few dollars more', since Lee van Cleef plays the bounty hunter Sabata as a character with similar features to his Colonel Mortimer. Especially noticeable is his collection of shooting gadgets. Western fans are used to the never-reload always-hit one-mile -range magic revolvers of classic westerns. In this film, Sabata wins a shoot-out by simply staying out of the range of his opponents revolver and shooting him with one of his long-range weapons.

Despite being a bounty hunter, Sabata has his peculiar code of honor, as opposed to the villain of the piece, the sleazy rich land owner Stengel, played superbly by Franco Ressel. As you might expect there is little doubt how it will all end but director Parolini keeps us guessing about Sabata's next moves.

A superior spaghetti western.

Sabata is another of the Spaghetti Western anti-heros & in this his first film he foils a bank robbery & then blackmails the ringleader. This is a great addition to any Spaghetti Western fans collection with all the classic elements, a good score, some great action & a cast of oddball characters. Sabatas cohorts include such characters as an acrobatic mute indian & best of all Banjo. The always excellent William Berger plays the ambiguous character of Banjo named after the instrument he always carries with him. This character is arguably more interesting than Sabata & should have had his own spin-off film. As in a lot of Spaghettis it is the interesting interplay between characters that is just as important as the plot. Sabata is no out & out hero nor is he a villain but is out for what he can get in the opportunity laden new frontier of the west. Despite this he does have his own moral code. Like many films of its type there is a vague political undercurrent, here we have the bourgeoisie at odds with the working class in the form of the corrupt rich official masterminding the crime to fund his land buying plan. This film has some great gadgets employed by Lee Van Cleef & others which I won't spoil by revealing. Van Cleef was a great actor tailor-made for the wild west & plays Sabata brilliantly here, clad in black & always one step ahead of his enemies, or is he? The only way to find out is to seek out a copy of this most entertaining Spaghetti Western.

Lee van Cleef is Sabata, yet another one of those bounty hunters and mavericks who populate the genre. During the story Sabata however interacts with people from all social classes which makes this spaghetti-western one of the most social ones. Specific to the Sabata series are the many special weapons which are not only used by Sabata himself but also by his evil opponents. Added to the rivalry of good Sabata and bad Stengel there is a third party competitor called Banjo (William Berger) who mostly helps Sabata but also wants more than his share of the bounty. Mr. Maltin (from the Guide) obviously hasn't seen this film well. Despite playing a high stake Sabata is not a gambler. This Western is fun.

Regarding the score the main theme is one of those tunes that catch you and don't give up soon. Cinematography is stylish, often with dark bluish foregrounds and natural-source(?) yellow-lighted backgrounds.

8 / 10.