Sabata

Absolutely ridiculous, totally entertaining ultra-spaghetti western featuring one of entertainments greatest, and ugliest, bad guys - Lee Van Cleef. Here he plays one of his rare good guy roles as Sabata, the cool gunhand who toys with a huge gang, none of whom could put a slug in him. He, on the other hand easily shot and killed them by the bushel basket, using guns, dynamite, and the blade. If you like offbeat westerns with clouds of gunsmoke, and a ton of lead then this is the one for you.

This is one of the most wonderfully cartoonish and over-the-top spaghetti westerns ever.

The great Lee Van Cleef plays Sabata, the bounty hunter who has more tricks than Bugs Bunny. Van Cleef was born to be in spaghetti westerns. Nobody plays these roles better. He is to spaghetti westerns what Bela Lugosi is to Dracula. He is as great as ever in this movie. William Berger is superb also in the role of Banjo, the cool, laid-back, and deadly musician. He and Sabata have a similar on-again-off-again "partnership" to the one that Blondie and Tuco share in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Franco Ressel is perfect as the weird over-the-top villain, "Stengel."

The music score is excellent, especially the title tune, which is one of my favorite spaghetti western theme songs. I also really like the use of the organ in the score. It's a nice touch.

All spaghetti western fans should have this movie. It's a classic of the genre.

This original Spaghetti deals about the master gunslinger Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) taking on some owners and various pillars of society as a baron land (Franco Ressell) and authorities (the judge played by Gianni Rizzo) of a little town called Dougherty . They have stolen an Army safe containing $100,000 so they can buy the properties upon which the coming railroad will be built , but they haven't reckoned on Sabata presence . Sabata is accompanied by a rare group , as a grumpy fat (Pedro Sanchez or Ignacio Spalla who played similar roles to Spaghetti idol, Fernando Sancho), an Indian acrobat (Nick Jordan) and Banjo (William Berger) , a troubadour-alike wielding a guitar that has a extraordinary surprise.

This Western parody is plenty of action , humor, shootouts and is quite bemusing . Sabata is a bounty hunter but his aim isn't vengeance like Django , Ringo or Mortimer but the loot . Sabata bears a similar presence to ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨'s Colonel Mortimer , as black clothes and is equally infallible on arms and holds a wide weaponry , furthermore in a James Bond style . It appears habitual secondary actors from Spaghetti Western such as Robert Hundar , Spartaco Conversi , Fortunato Arena, and Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins , also named the Italian Peter Lorre . Luxurious production design is created by Carlo Simi , Leone's ordinary , with lush interiors of the nasty's housing full of medieval furniture and armors . The picture was lavishly produced by Alberto Grimaldi and his PEA productions (producer of Leone's trilogy of dollars). Lively and sympathetic musical score by Marcello Giombani with Ennio Morricone influence . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography by Sandro Mancori .

The film was well directed by Gianfranco Parolini or Frank Kramer . He began directing muscle-men epics as ¨Rocha¨ , ¨The Macabeos¨ with Brad Harris and ¨The ten gladiators¨ with Dan Davis and Gianni Rizzo , Parolini's usual actor . After that , he continued with ¨commissioner X¨ series with Tony Kendall , fantastic with ¨three supermen¨ and warlike movie as ¨5 per l'Inferno¨ with Gianni Garco (Sartana) and Nick Jordan. His first Western was ¨Johnny West¨ and later on , he directed the ¨Sabata trilogy¨ . It's followed by ¨ Return of Sabata¨ with similar artistic and technician team and ¨Indio Black ¨ with Yul Brynner , Dean Reed and , of course , Pedro Sanchez . And several imitations and rip-offs as ¨ Arriba Sabata¨ (70) by Tulio Demichelli with Anthony Steffen , Peter Lee Lawrence and Eduardo Fajardo ; ¨ Open the tomb arrives Sabata¨ (71) by Juan Bosch with Richard Harrison and Fernando Sancho and ¨Attento Gringo e Tornato Sabata¨ (72) by Pedro L. Ramirez with George Martin , among others .

There is nothing like a good spaghetti western to pass a Sunday afternoon, especially when Tiger has little chance of winning.

This one is particularly good, as it stars the great Lee Van Cleef as a bounty hunter who foils an attempt to rob $100,000 from the army.

Filled with lots of interesting characters like Banjo (William Berger), Carrincha (Ignazio Spalla), and Indio (Aldo Canti); more than a few laughs; and some amazing tricks and gun play by Van Cleef; it is just the thing for fans of the genre.

I have to note that it is a good thing that the bad guys led by Stengel (Franco Ressel) have unlimited resources, because they drop like flies at every attempt to kill Sabata.

Lee Van Cleef stars in the first of the Sabata films. Here he plays cat and mouse games with the leaders of a town who have attempted to steal an army payroll. Sabata stops their scheme and then attempts to blackmail them for his silence, a price that climbs with each failed attempt on his life.

This is a fun western full of great action, twists and wisecracks. Van Cleef is the perfect western hero, a man of few words (and most of them smart ass remarks) he is clearly up to something, although what it is is never fully apparent. He is enjoyably helped by Carrincha a large civil war hero who is forever broke, and his pal a tall silent acrobat. The pair make for one of the best sidekick teams I've ever run across. Also wandering through the film is William Berger as Banjo, a man of decidedly mercenary loyalties, who is Sabata's equal in cracking wise, and who is forever waiting for the right angle to act act upon.

I really liked this movie a great deal, even if it really isn't clear whats going on at times. The main flaw of the movie is that after the first twenty minutes the film simply becomes attempts to blackmail the town fathers by our hero and their attempts to kill him. There's nothing wrong with this since the see saw battle is excellently done, rather it just engenders a sense that you're missing something since you would think something more should be happening.

Definitely one of the better westerns of I've seen. This should be something that those with a desire for good action should seek out.