Sartana kommt!

Giuliano Carnimeo's "Una Nuvola Di Polvere... Un Grido Di Morte... Arriva Sartana" aka. "Light The Fuse... Sartana Is Coming" is an excellent Spaghetti Western and arguably the best of the Sartana movies with Gianni Garko.

Sartana, the Italian Western's best dressed antihero, is often described as a kind of Spaghetti Western James Bond, which is very reasonable, since does not only have great style, but he uses lots gadgets and tricks . Much alike the fact that many films had 'Django' in their title after Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece "Django" of 1966, Sartana's name was used in quite a bunch of Spaghetti Westerns (not quite as often as Django was used), but none of these films ever came close to the original series with Gianni Garko.

In "Light The Fuse... Sartana Is Coming", Sartana (Garko) is on the hunt for half a million dollars in gold and 2 million dollars of counterfeit money. Sartana is not the only one who is keen on the gold, of course, a gunslinger named Grand Full (Piero Lulli), a beautiful but sneaky widow (Nieves Navarro) and the slightly insane General Monk (José Jaspe) are just three out of many folks who are after the gold.

The acting ins "Light In The Fuse... Sartana Is Coming" is great, especially Gianni Garko delivers a (once again) excellent performance as Sartana. Lovely Nieves Navarro is very convincing as Senora Manassas, a widow who is as crafty as she is beautiful, Spaghetti Western regular Piero Lulli is great as gunslinger Grand Full. The crazy General Monk played by José Jaspe is another great, typical Spaghetti Western character. The supporting cast furthermore contains actors like Bruno Corazzari, whom genre-fans should know for his performances in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" and Sergio Corbucci's "The Great Silence". Bruno Nicolai's score is excellent and makes the movie even better.

"Light The Fuse... Sartana Is Coming" is what a good Spaghetti Western should be like: A stylish movie with a very good plot, great actors, good gunplay, black humor and an excellent score, superbly photographed in great locations. All of the Sartana movies with Gianni Garko are very cool, fun Spaghetti Westerns, this one is arguably the best of the series. All said, "Light The Fuse... Sartana is Coming" is a great Spaghetti Western, and a must-see for every fan of the genre.

Sartana comes around for another case of Wild West crime mystery. This time it's a search for a well-hidden cache of gold (and $2 million in counterfeit money) - and it seems that half the neighborhood is looking for all of it, too - including (but not limited to!) corrupt prison warden, sheriff, a bunch of his deputees, self-proclaimed general and his army for hire, brothers, wives, partners, lovers and friends of deceased gold/money owners, federal agents, false federal agents, elderly gamblers/inventors, gambling house owners and the Apache (well, at least, their cave is involved). As you can probably imagine, with such a ridiculously vast array of characters, the "mystery" gets so muddled that you simply don't care about all the double-, triple- and quadruple-crossings going on all the time. A more talented director and/or writer COULD have been able to pull this thing off (probably by making some plot elements less pronounced than the rest), but as it stands, unfortunately, the whole thing suffers from the lack of consistent pacing - and some order or structure to what's going on.

Though certainly not a masterpiece, the movie is still watchable and holds a certain undeniable entertainment value - and has a lot of shootouts and a really large body count (just think about the sheer number of people competing to get their hands on that gold who are certain to get killed before the final confrontation), complete with Django-like multi-barreled gun massacre the likes of which you probably won't see anywhere else. Also, while perhaps not brilliant, the music - like in many spaghetti westerns - is quite good, and adds a lot of atmosphere to the proceedings.

Strangely, some supporting actors from the previous Sartana movie ("Have a good funeral, my friend - Sartana will pay") - namely, the undertaker (now turned gambler?) and Chinese servant - make appearances here - though it isn't clear if they are supposed to play the same characters they did in the previous installment. And how the hell did Sartana get the Alfie back, what with all the exploding in sheriff's face Alfie did fifteen minutes earlier? Anyway, if you are looking for an easy (if not necessarily very intellectually stimulating) way to spend 90 minutes of your life, give this one a try; perhaps even if you are not a spaghetti western fan - as the whole thing sometimes resembles more a Sherlock Holmes mystery than a typical western.

The fifth, and final if I'm not horribly mistaken, official entry in the Sartana series, sees director Giuliano Carnimeo (Anthony Ascott I'm looking at you) and regular Gianni Garko teaming for yet another spaghetti western mystery-cum-action extravaganza.

The plot is crafted in typical Carnimeo fashion, occasionally makes no sense, but is fun to watch as it unfolds its twists and turns, with a myriad of people trying to get ahold of 500,000$ dollars and $2 million counterfeit money. The whole cast puts in a good performance, the gorgeous Nieves Navarro (aka Susan Scott, known from A Pistol for Ringo and giallo efforts) easily standing out, not necessarily for her acting abilities though.

The final showdown in the empty streets of a town is as close to offering a monumental spaghetti western moment, the Sartana series will ever come. After Parolini's insurmountable original from 1968 that is. It's obviously, strongly influenced by Corbucci's Django (1966), but that doesn't detract from its psychotronic charm. Watch it and find out. Bruno Nicolai's score is like a second grade Morricone, but given Il Maestro's genius, even a second grade Morricone is a good thing. Combined with plenty of gunfights, greasy villains, conniving women and enough quirks and tricks to keep fans happy, this is a worthwhile second tier spaghetti western entry and Carnimeo's best in the Sartana series. Great for a Sunday afternoon...

Half a million dollars in gold and twenty million dollars in counterfeit money are enough reason for Sartana to be relaxed with the gun. His opponents are gangs, a fake general with an army, a sheriff and the seductive widow of an accomplice. According to the motto "It's better to stink than die early", he delivers a fight that is second to none with the help of his robot Alphine and his bulletproof death organ.

Just reading the above and you know what you are in for: double twists, triple twists, deception, greed, endless gunfights and a high body count. From the opening to the end "Light the fuse ... Sartana is here" is one fun ride. It has a standard spaghetti western premise but done with panache and energy. The plot moves along as Sartana gets into one trouble to the next. He's like Sabata with his array of gadgets ( such as the big piano where he lets out a tune with gunfire). It's wacky, sometimes bizarre (robot) but it's imaginative and its OTT approach is part of its charm. I reckon this is the second best Sartana western, the first best is "I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death."

Sartana infiltrates a sadistic frontier prison in order to bust out an inmate accused of stashing half a million dollars in gold. However, getting the inmate out proves to be easier than uncovering the whereabouts of the missing loot, located somewhere in a town full of crooked characters with shady intentions.

Another fast-moving entry in the official Sartana series, starring Gianni Garko, there's a lot of twists and turns, with Sartana seemingly able to read minds, tell the future and see in all directions at once!

There's loads of gun-play and a fairly interesting mystery regarding who exactly has the gold. It's not quite groundbreaking cinema, but it'll do.

One gripe though, there isn't one single likable character in the whole movie, not even Sartana!