Sartana

After returning from twelve years in jail for a murder he did not commit, a man returns to his home town to confront his brother Sartana who he knows framed him for the crime. Sartana now rules over the area with the help of his gang of thugs but not only that, he's also stolen his brother's woman. The good brother sets about putting this right.

This is quite notable for being a more serious minded spaghetti western than was the norm. Despite this, it's still a fast-paced and entertaining affair. The plot-line is still fairly typical for the genre and by the end of this you can't say it doesn't deliver the usual spaghetti goods. Ultimately, though, it boils down to a tale of two brothers, with Anthony Steffen playing good one and Gianni Garko the one who's psychotic.

The sound of a plaintive solo trumpet.......a tight shot of Anthony Steffen as ex con Johnny Liston... introduces this slightly mad..somewhat fascinating...often bad but never dull Spaghetti Western from 1966. After spending 12 yrs in prison for a murder he didn't commit, he encounters a deadly ambush as he returns to town ........only to find it under the boot of a gang of vicious thugs...led by none other than his brother, Sartana (No..not THAT Sartana)....a loony self styled 'General' commanding the forces of a brutal protection racket. Johnny also discovers his former lover, Manuela, in his camp...(which looks kinda like a combination Aztec temple/fort built into the side of a mountain..) He visits his wacked out mother.....living in what looks (architecturally) like a Greek Temple...the "queen", if you will..of the town..deluded & under the spell of luxury & power...anointed by her mad son's butchery.

Quite a morning...huh?

Directed by Alberto Cardone..a/k/a Albert Cardiff...best known for his work as assistant director on "Ben-Hur"..& second unit director on "Barbarella"...., this was Gianni Garko's first Western...and it's quite a debut. You've never..& never will again..see Garko like this...as a cruel, crazed, , psychotic maniac....with 3 entire towns under his domination......whose citizens are forced to pay tribute.........in return for his "protection".

Oozing with classical themes & references...elements of Greek tragedy...Shakespearean drama....high Italian opera..( I half expected to see someone break into an aria at any moment... a Greek chorus commenting on the action wouldn't have been a surprise, either)....Oedipal themes...religious parables (Cain & Abel)...A Christian passion play of resurrection & redemption......all stirred and whipped into a very 'Italian' melodrama. ..and quite violent (babies, women..all's fair game here) Western.

As far as I know...this was the only pairing of Steffen & Garko, who star as the conflicted brothers..............and probably the first use of "Sartana" as a character's name.

As Sartana's 'troops' march into a nearby town to collect their booty....Johnny declares "this town's under my protection", setting up some gun battles, which are basically boundary & limit defining contests......leading up to the inevitable confrontation..brother against brother...... & a starkly surreal & well filmed (best in the movie) ending......including, (but not limited to) the fires of Hell.......with the main street of the town acting as the river Styx' path to the Underworld...a biblical quote from Leviticus as we fade..with the heavens darkening & grumbling...(Zeus didn't make an appearance...but that doesn't mean he wasn't in the vicinity......)

Composer Michele Lacerenza was a trumpet player on the Fistful of Dollars score...& manages to come up with a serviceable soundtrack...including the melancholy trumpet theme...numerous Morricone rips--> electric guitar & flute..., organ music...and what sounds like incidental opera music.

While there's no shortage of things gone a little wrong here...there are ridiculous shots of the sun accompanied by cheesy organ music... some absurd dialogue..bad dubbing..... silent film style- like overacting.....& some intense closeups of maniacal laughter...which we all know & love from countless SW...I would never dismiss this as one to avoid.

There's a lot going on here..& while much of didn't work...some of it did...& can be quite a hoot if viewed w/ the right spirit.

It could qualify as a somewhat campy...fascinating failure of a stewpot of themes & references...& w/ the 'Wow' factor of Garko's Spaghetti Western 'debut'...the pairing of Steffen & Garko.... It can be a somewhat bizarre...weirdly entertaining hour and a half or so.

I had tried to watch this movie before, like a couple years ago, and I found it boring. I was slowly getting into spaghetti westerns at the time. I've started binging them recently, so I thought I'd try again, and without fail, I had the same reaction. This genre is known for its grittiness, realism, and unique storylines that don't necessarily revolve around racial clashes and land disputes like mainstream westerns. I'm all for that, but $1,000 on the Black has cringe acting. For a plot that's serious in nature - two brothers engaging in a vicious battle with each other - the performances are so silly. Johnny Liston (Anthony Steffen) returns to his hometown after enduring imprisonment for 12 years, for a crime that he didn't commit, only to encounter his brother, Sartana (Gianni Garko). He's taken control of the town and has everyone living in fear. He also stole his fiancee, Manuela (Daniela Igliozzi). No one is on Johnny's side, not even his own mother. She praises Sartana, completely ignoring that he's a psychopath. Johnny takes on Manuela's brother, Jerry (Roberto Miali), as his partner, a mute who's not afraid to fight back.

I had hard time seeing this as a drama. I even laughed at one point, when Johnny basically said he was in charge, and Sartana replied 'since when???' With dialogue like that, a movie's not suspenseful or powerful, even if that was the filmmakers' intention. The cast's delivery of their lines sounded so unnatural, and there was just a lot of overacting. Like the scene where Johnny told Jerry that he talked when he was a kid, then asked what happened, which led Jerry to start whimpering hysterically. I didn't wanna laugh, because the reason was evidently traumatic, but his performance was unnecessarily extra. Another issue was scenes dragging on for too long. One of the members of Sartana's gang is chasing around Joselita (Erika Blanc), the woman Johnny rescued from bandits at the beginning of the film, in a circle on his horse. He's getting substantial pleasure out of causing her distress. It took Johnny too long to intervene, to the point that it had got uncomfortable to watch. I think what sealed the deal that this movie was absurd, is during the opening, when Johnny discovers Manuela living in Saratana's compound. He tells him 'I had to do it,' as if his brother being in jail for a dozen years gave him a moral obligation to steal his woman. Johnny should've had a duel with Sartana right at that moment, but he leaves instead. How much sense does that make? So there really wasn't even a need for this almost 2 hour long dumb story if he had beaten the crap out of his brother 5 minutes into the movie.

By the way, for anyone who doesn't know, there's another version of this movie, Blood at Sundown, made in 1965. It says online they're the same film, but the synopses are different on here, so I was confused. I kept doing research, but didn't obtain the answer until I asked Copilot, because Google just wasn't helping. There's actually two Blood at Sundown films. One is translated to "$1,000 on the Black," and the other "Why Go on Killing?" The plot summaries are different because they were marketed under the same name in different regions. Why Go on Killing is shorter in length, so I imagine it's probably more entertaining. I'll probably check it out, but I plan on spending the next week or so watching other spaghetti westerns. I know 1,000 on the Black mostly has positive reviews, but I personally didn't see what the big deal is.

Steffen and Garko have been in a lot of awful movies, no doubt about that, so "Sartana" can easily be considered a climax in their careers, respectively.

It's the story of two brothers fighting each other, Steffen playing the straight and honest one, Garko portraying a sadistic, screaming blond loony. Their mother tries to stop him. Intense pictures, intense emotions, the director even alluded to Shakespearean tragedies a few times, but you needn't take that too seriously. All in all, well done, spaghetti western above average.

I'm beginning to think that if a movie is not in wide distribution that you can take one point off the IMDb rating. Look at the reviews for this one. One six and everyone else giving it a 7 or 8, but the IMDb rating is 6.3. That's the only reason I'm writing this. It's better than 6.3. lol Not that my "7" really expresses that, but we have to use integers. I'd give it 7.5, and there's LOTS of the genre between 6.3 and 7.5.

I loved the music score, it's a solid story and there's a great edginess about everyone and everything. Sets are good, gun play is solid. I think fans of the genre will want to see it.