Les colts de la violence

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.

Johnny Liston has just finished his twelve-year term in prison and returns back to his hometown to find out his brother Sartana rules the nest and has married his woman. Knowing that his brother framed him, Johnny with the help of his old girlfriend's mute brother Jerry, goes about trying to restore the justice to the ramshackle towns.

The typical staples show up prominently in this surprisingly well-made and rather hard-boiled showcase of spaghetti western bravado. A bit of everything is chucked for good measure in this baroque and rather intense soap opera, which oddly enough has a bemusing amount of developments going on. As its always incident packed (some quite bizarre too), where the high stakes never really take a backseat. Its rough around the edges, but this only enhances that grand guignol splendour of grit, dirt and being soaked in sweat. Albert Cardiff's kinetically snappy and surefooted direction engineers some cracking visuals and paints a very atmospheric mood (like the cracking final confrontation that was meant to be). He makes sure it quickly moves on without bogging us down. Gino Santini, who gets many actively singular zooms and earthy framework shaping it, brightly photographs it. The bone dry and rocky surroundings gave it a real rough edge and Santini milks it accordingly. Michelle Lacarenza's crackerjack soundtrack with that harmonious awe could up the neurotic flair at anytime. Those three facets really gave this production its added bite and overall striking competence. The clunky story is more than a simple revenge formula (well like mentioned by other IMDb reviewers; also a Shakespearean tragedy element streams through it and that of the closeness of family that moulds the town). Flourishing throughout are hilariously campy dialogues and uneven performances. There's dry jokes and subtle humour there about in the script, but it's never over-used. A real mean vibe is chalked up here, as its violent (with its constantly bruising brawls), but not terribly explicit with little blood spilt. At times it can come off as unintentionally silly and Roberto Miali takes the brunt of it with his over-exaggerated performance of the mute, Jerry. Gianni Garko gracefully hams it up as the insane, viper-like villain, Sartana and does an excellent job of it too. Antonio De Teffè is a steady head as Johnny and the stunning Erika Blanc is perfectly cast as vengeful lady Joschita. Franco Fantasia and Carlo D'Angelo are equally good in their parts. Every main character has a complex situation eating away at them that gives them all a little more weight. The dubbing for them is just plain atrocious that I had wish I saw it in its original format.

A fun and real spirited low-budget spaghetti western that can be a stylish and often poetic treat for fans of the sub-genre.

1000 dollari sul nero / Blood at Sundown

December 18, 1966

Johnny has done twelve years for a crime he didn't commit. He returns to find that his brother Sartana is running runshod over the town. Johnny has also got to contend with the beautiful daughter of the man he supposedly killed. Sartana is fond of abusing Maneula and her dumb-mute brother.

'Now take a nice walk. It'll help you to think better.'

This is a dystopian setup, as I expect to find in a lot of spaghetti westerns. It's a town run by the criminal element. In this case, there's an alliance between an outright thug and a judge. State is indistinguishable from the underworld. The girl melts the heart of a bitter man. His transformation is reflected by the removal of an obscuring hat. The terrible state of society has been facilitated by the tacit approval of a maternal figure. We're all looking for a man to come out of the desert and restore order. In their own defense, the town's people are mostly pasive and useless for the longest time. Garko is effective at conveying the last days of a despot in his bunker.

Anthony Steffen's dubbed voice doesn't match the ultra-grizzled appearance of the character. The bad guys have their hideout in the ruins of an Aztec temple. One of the gang members, played by Sieghardt Rupp, in some shots looks like Timothy Carey. (I would have loved to have seen Timothy Carey in a spaghetti western, provided he did his own voice.) I dig the music by Michele Lacerenza.

'Very well. I love violence! What do you want?'

Alberto Cardone directed L'ira di Dio (1968.) Ernesto Gastaldi also wrote giallos like Your Vice is a Locked Room . .. and The Case of the Bloody Iris. Erika Blanc was in Kill, Baby, Kill (1966). Gianni Garko was no stranger to playing Sartana in films like I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (1969.) (This predates all those films.) Carlo D'Angelo was in The Great Silence (1968). Roberto Miali was in something called Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961.)

*** / *****

Nice Italian Western with sad atmosphere , marvelous musical score and elements of Greek tragedy about two brothers : Cain/Abel alike . It deals with an ex-con (Anthony Steffen) out of prison and seeks justice and vengeance against his brother who wrongly incarcerated him . His sibling is called Sartana (Gianni Garco or Gary Hudson who took this pseudonym based on Gary Cooper and Rock Hudson) , a violent bandit dressed in soldier clothes and including the usual poster : ¨Wanted 10.000 dollars , dead or alive . Sartana is a leader of a nasty gang (Sieghart Rupp of ¨Fistful of Dollars¨) who carry out blackmails and massacre against various locations as Campos , Wishville, and Blackstone . The unsettling and disturbing Sartana supported by the corrupt Judge Waldorf (Carlo A'Angelo) proceeds his activities at whatever cost , acting as judge , jury and executioner . The film ends in a sentence : ¨Non Odiare Il Tuo Fratello Nel Tuo Cuore , E Non Levanti Contra Al Tuo Sangue ; Levitico XIX¨

It is a typical Spaghetti Western including common scenarios , two-fisted antiheroes , rapid zooms and strong confrontations full of shots , crossfire and violence . Nice production design shot in Elios studios and Almeria , of course , and adding a peculiar Aztec temple where the villain Sartana lives , in similar style to ¨Requiescant¨ (Carlo Lizzani) temple . Italia/Yugoslavia actor Gianni Garco or Giovanni Garkovich and the Brazilian Anthony Steffen give their ordinaries performances . Support cast is pretty well , it is filled with familiar faces from Spaghetti such as Sieghardt Rupp , Franco Fantasia , Carlo D'Angelo and Carla Calò as tragic mother . Besides , brief appearances from Sal Borghese and Riccardo Pizzuti . Evocative and thrilling musical score by Michele Lanzeranza in Ennio Morricone wake .

Being decently filmed by Colmenar Viejo and La Pedriza , Madrid , Spain and El Lacio , studios Elios Rome , Italy . This Spaghetti Western was decently shot by the Italian professional Albert Cardone . Albert was a prestigious assistant director to popular films as ¨Ben Hur¨, ¨Purple noon¨, ¨Cagliostro¨ , ¨Carmen¨ , ¨Don Camilo¨ , ¨Return of Don Camilo¨. And shot some films , most of them entertaining Westerns such as : ¨¨ Blood at Sundown¨ , ¨Kidnapping¨ , ¨Il Lungo Giorno Del Massacro¨ , ¨20.000 Dollari Sul¨ , ¨L'ira Di Dio¨ and starred by usual genre stars as Brett Halsey , Gianni Garco , Peter Martell , Wayde Preston , Fernando Sancho and Anthony Steffen . Rating : Better than average 6.5/10 . Only for Spaghetti Western aficionados .

This ¨Mille Dolollari Sul Nero¨ was first movie in which showed up ¨Sartana¨ , but this Sartana has nothing to do with true Sartana who appeared in ¨Se Incontri Sartana Prega Per Tu a Morte¨(1968) by Gianfranco Parolini or Frank Kramer , along with screenwriter Renato Izzo . Here Garco performed an unforgettable role as the ¨Mantello Nero¨ hero , as Sartana is a cunning card player ,elegantly dressed in black , he looks like a magician -Mandrake- more than a gunslinger . Parolini gives this character a ghostly style , introducing cynicism and amorality . To be followed by other Sartana (his origin name seems to be Satan) starred by Garco such as ¨10.0000 Dollari Per Un Massacro¨ (1967) by Romolo Guerrieri and ¨Per 1000.000 Dollari T'amazzo¨(1967) by Giovanni Fago . Then , Anthony Ascott or Giuliano Carmineo filmed 4 Sartana entries , such as : ¨Soni Sartana Il Vistro Becchino (69) , ¨Buon Funerale Amigos , Paga Sartana¨ (70) , ¨Sartana arrives¨(70) and ¨Sartana Vendi La Pistola E Comprati La Bara¨ (71), most of them starred George Hilton . Giuliano Carmineo shot with Gianni Garco two similar roles to Sartana as ¨Gli Fumavano Le Colt , Lo Chiamavano Camposanto¨(71) and ¨Lo Chiamavano Spiritu Santo¨ (72) . Subsequently , Sartana was played by William Berger in ¨Sartana in valley of the gold¨ (70) and Peter Lee Lawrence performed ¨A dollar for Sartana¨(71) by Leon Klimovski .