Abre tu fosa amigo... llega Sabata

Amusing Macarroni/Tortilla or Gazpacho Westen with plenty of action , crossfire , brawls , double-crosses , twists and loads of shots . The movie is running out of ideas a bit ; nevertheless , it is still good enough to be fun . It stars Steve McGowan (Richard Harrison), a Confederate soldier who returns from the American Civil War to his ranch in 1865 . But his father (Gustavo Re) has been killed by the Miller's hoodlums . Steve seeks revenge to kill the murderers . Then , the villainous boss Miller (Alejandro Ulloa) hires a gunslinger called Sabata (Raf Baldassarre) and henchmen to kill Steve . In the process , Steve arrives in Miller's mansion , but the latter escapes . Later on , Miller is protected by a corrupt sheriff (Luis Induni) who detains Steve . Steve is imprisoned but in jail he finds the known Mexican bandit León Pompero (Fernando Sancho) . After that , they get escaped . Meantime , Steve falls in love with the landowner's fiancée (Tania Alvarado).

This stirring tortilla/Ravioli Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action , humor with tongue-in-cheek and riding pursuits . Italian-Spanish co-production filmed in Catalunya , full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , gun-down , lots of shots and fights . Starring Richard Harrison as a stranger rider who vows revenge , a soldier who returns from the Civil War and finds his father has been killed by a greedy landowner . Richard is pretty nice , he ravages the screen , he jumps, leaps and bounds , hits and runs ; besides , receiving violent punches , whipping and wounds . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between Richard Harrison and Raf Baldassarre as the notorious hired hand called ¨Sabata¨ with some looks that say it all , including an exciting ending . Here Sabata (usually played by Lee Van Cleef) performed by Raf Baldassarre is another hero of second class in the S.W. genre as Sartana (Gianni Garco) or Cuchillo (Tomas Milian) or Ringo (Giuliano Gemma) or Holy Ghost . Strong and robust Richard Harrison was a magnificent muscle-man . Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos¨, ¨South Pacific¨ and ¨Master of world . Then , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe . He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades . To avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man , he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the Red¨, ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨Joe Dakota¨ , even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part . Support cast is frankly good , thanks to the boastful Fernando Sancho , playing a likable bandit , as usual . He played a Mexican outlaw lots of times , as he starred multitude ¨Chorizo¨ or ¨Pipperone¨ Westerns , as the quarrelsome , swanky Mexican bandit , such as : ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨Return of Ringo¨, "Requiem for a Gringo" , "Dakota Joe" , ¨Winchester Bill¨ , "The Man Who Came to Kill" and several others . Here appear important secondaries from Spaghetti/Tortilla or Paella Western , these are the followings : Alejandro Ulloa , Tania Alvarado as Helen , a beautiful townswoman who loves Steve , Tomás Torres as a Mexican hit man , Luis Induni as Sheriff , Gustavo Re , Gaspar 'Indio' González , among others .

Being decently photographed by Luciano Trasatti and Florian Trenker in Eastmancolor . Mostly filmed in atmospheric though poor scenarios on location in Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ built by Balcazar Productions and in Rome, Lazio, Italy . Atmospheric musical score by Enrique Escobar , Iquino's ordinary . The film was middlingly produced by Ignacio F. Iquino (IFI) that financed lots of Westerns . Most of them starred by Richard Harrison , Jorge Martin or George Martin , Luis Davila , Daniel Martin or Robert Woods . The motion picture was regularly directed by Juan Bosch . He managed to make a fluid and filled with thrills , duels , attacks , and shots , though average and in low budget . Juan was a Spanish craftsman , writing and directing ; working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies such as Spaghetti Western : ¨Dallas¨, "God in Heaven.. Arizona on Earth¨, "And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave" , "My Horse, My Gun, Your Widow" ,¨Ciudad Maldita¨, ¨They Believed He Was No Saint" , "Stagecoach of the Condemned" ; Giallo : "The Killer Wore Gloves" , "On the Edge" or "The Killer with a Thousand Eyes" ; Comedy : Mauricio Mon Amour¨, ¨40 Años Sin Sexo¨, ¨Caray Con Divorcio¨ , ¨Rolls Para Hipolito¨ and Terror : ¨Exorcismo¨, ¨Secta Siniestra¨ . Rating : 4.5/10 , mediocre but entertaining , though sometimes embarrassing . If you like Chorizo , Paella , Tortilla , Butifarra or Spaghetti westerns , this one remains lightly watchable .

The spaghetti western character of Sabata wasn't ripped off as much as Django, but it did happen several times, this western being one of them. Although Sabata is named in the title, surprisingly he is not the central character of the movie - he's a supporting character. Also, he is made to be a villain, not a heroic character. Most of the movie is focused on the characters played by Richard Harrison and Fernando Sancho. The two actors have some good chemistry together, and also manage to deliver a considerable amount of light comic relief, which is welcome. There is a significant problem with the movie, and that is that the middle section of the movie moves at a crawl, with little done to advance the story. But if you are patient, the movie ends up being an okay spaghetti western.

Released in 1971 and directed by Juan Bosch (as John Wood), "Dig Your Grave Friend... Sabata's Coming" stars Richard Harrison as a Confederate soldier who returns home from the Civil War where he discovers his father murdered by a greedy mogul (Alejandro Ulloa). Seeking vengeance, the soldier becomes a fugitive, teaming up with a likable Mexican (Fernando Sancho), while the mogul enlists the notorious gunfighter Sabata (Raf Baldassarre) to hunt down the fugitives. Meanwhile, the shady landowner's fiancée hooks up with the lovable rogues (Tania Alvarado).

This is a Sabata-in-name-only flick, as it's not part of the original trilogy and Sabata is a secondary character; the villain, in fact. The print I saw was a crappy pan and scan, which is probably the only version widely available in English. In any case, the quality of the DVD tends to bring down my grade, but it's hard to determine if the lousy editing & sound is a problem with this particular print or if it's intrinsic to the original film.

In any case, if you can roll with the palpable flaws this is an entertaining Italo Western, hopelessly dated music and all (e.g. bad dubbing and sound effects). The protagonists are amusing and likable, and they develop a good camaraderie with the dark-haired hottie that hooks up with 'em. Production-wise, this is nowhere near the quality of Leone's Dollars trilogy, but story-wise I find it superior. The movie leaves you with a good feeling.

The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in Barcelona & Fraga, Spain, with interiors done in Rome.

GRADE: C+

Ex-Confederate Richard Harrison returns home from the war to find his father murdered by a ruthless land baron. Caught in the act of exacting revenge, he escapes with bandito Fernando Sancho and become hunted men, squaring off against the famous bounty hunter Sabata.

With the nearly non-stop exaggerated movements of it's characters, the rapid-fire dubbing and comedic elements, this bogus sequel to Sabata seems almost like a comic book come to life or a live-action cartoon. It's all pretty broad, though fun to watch, the humor being a bit easier to take than a lot of other Italian westerns. It was better than expected and quite satisfying in the revenge department.

Harrison and Sancho, who can seemingly play these type of characters in his sleep, make a good team.

This is a very cheaply made spanish/italia western.very smooth ,fun, quick pace. Really enjoyed it. There IS something about this one . Just remember watching this the first time and could not stop watching it. Would love to see this on 2k or 4 k scan in English, now Spain has it on blue ray all regions with just Spanish audio and Spanish subtitles.