johnwaynefreak

Firstly, this is *not* a sequel to 1970's "Sabata" ("Ehi amico... c'è Sabata, hai chiuso!") although it can be considered a follow up of sorts. Lee Van Cleef did not reprise the role until 1971's "Return of Sabata". "Adiós Sabata" was originally about a character called Indio Black and completely unrelated to the previous Sabata story - Indio, I believe, was meant to be nothing more than a bandit. The name was changed to cash in on the success of "Sabata" - though this film could be considered a true Sabata entry as a couple of stars return (Pedro Sanchez, Gianni Rizzo) and the screenwriters and director are the same. Gianfranco Parolini (Frank Kramer) perhaps out does the previous film here, keeping everything tighter - "Sabata" was a little too jokey (although still excellent and one of the truly great Italian westerns) whereas this is blatantly tongue in cheek. I feel the music is better in this film, never intrusive and always fitting: a triumph for Bruno Nicolai, despite the fact that it is incredibly reminiscent of Morricone.

As Sabata, Brynner is a kind of anti-hero counterpart to Chris from "The Magnificent Seven"; he even dresses out all in black here too. Gérard Herter is great as the Austrian Colonel Skimmel at the time of Emperor Maximillian's Mexico - a kind of borderline camp, Bond villain type, complete with monacle and perfectly trimmed moustache. Oh, and yes, he is a dead shot with a rifle. In "Sabata", Franco Ressel's Stengel had his shootout's behind man shaped shields (to live at the peak of danger or some such nonsense) as his playtoy; Herter's Skimmel has an even better one - a drawer beneath a model ship that when opened fires each cannon on the model directly into whoever opens the drawer. Like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (which this film contains some surprisingly subtle references to) the plot centres around a shipment of gold: Sabata, Escudo (Sanchez) and Ballantine (Dean Reed) want the wagon load of gold, but it is also coveted by Maximillian's rebels. The scenes with the gold and the gold dust being poured out/spilled is nicely complimented by Nicolai's incidental music which really does bring out the joy of the characters.

I personally think it's a shame that Brynner and the others weren't brought back for another Sabata film because he plays the role much straighter than Van Cleef did and really does come across as a tough guy here, who doesn't need to rely on his gun. "Adiós Sabata" is a classic in it's own right and doesn't need to be viewed with the other Sabata entries. It's only downside is that after surpassing the superb original, it left most people disappointed with the later "Return of Sabata".

Are these subtle hints to Leone's 1966 masterpiece? Sanchez: "Me, I'd make a hiding place no-one would find - stick it in the ground, maybe in a cemetery..." Reed (the last line): "Hey fellas - are you gonna help me pick up the gold or not, you sons of...!" (music takes over)

Lee Galloway/Sartana (William Berger) is a wanted man. The film begins with an ill-fated bounty hunter on his tail (who, upon arriving in town finds the Sheriff is "tied up with a funeral"). Needless to say the hunter doesn't last long - Galloway then breaks the dangerous Craig brothers out of jail - in exchange for half of the gold the gang stole from the army. The brothers unsurprisingly doublecross Galloway and from then on the film degenerates into a formulaic game of cat-and-mouse; that said, I'm sure you can guess the outcome of this tired, uninspired western.

Although the whole affair's rather dull, there are a few nice touches: the scene involving the musical-doll maker (the fake Father Brown from "Sabata"); the catchy music and title song; the attractive landscapes (more lush-green than desert-yellow here); and a scene I find hilarious but shouldn't when, out of Galloway's shooting range, one of the Craig brothers gasps and pretends to have been hit - then sits up and blows Galloway a big raspberry! Alright, I know it's not exactly the Tuco/Gunsmith scene from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", but what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in it's short and sweetness. Trust me. Oh, please yourselves... Another plus is the presence of Berger and Wayde Preston. Both pretty much sleepwalk through their roles but they play them both straight and convincingly and stop this from being a complete and utter waste of time. I guess this isn't bad enough to be in the "so awful it's good" category, but for one or two viewings it's passable. Just make sure you go down the pub/bar before watching it...

*Dumb dialogue* The doll maker's daughter (Clementine in my version) commenting on how economically sound it is to waste food: "I do get pleasure from fixing dinner as if there were a lot of people around - to help us forget we're poor."

This film obviously needs no introduction as the movie that influenced the mid-sixties to early seventies avalanche of spaghetti westerns. Although severely panned by the critics on its initial release, "A Fistful of Dollars" and the other two films in the Man With No Name trilogy are now rightly hailed as classics and are the perfect examples of the Anti-Hero pictures. However, like Sergio Leone's other works, they should really only be viewed in their original aspect ratios. As with "The Magnificent Seven", remade from Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai", this was a remake of Kurosawa's later "Yojimbo".

The story itself is simple enough: a stranger (Clint Eastwood) arrives in town, and goes to work for two rival families, the Rojos (led by Gian Maria Volonté) and the Baxters (headed by Wolfgang Lukschy). He plays the two families off against each other while collecting the money from both. The levels of Eastwood's enigmatic character work well - the 'man' who rids the town of the rival gangs, and also the more caring 'man', who allows Marisol (Marianne Koch) and her husband and son to escape.

All the trademarks of the Leone westerns are here: the gorgeous panoramic shots of the Spanish hillsides; the action-packed set pieces and unflinching violence (although rather tame and blood-free by today's standards); the close-ups of eyes during the buildup to the showdown; and a memorable grand scale score from Ennio Morricone. Here, the music is not used in quite so operatic a way as in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" for example, and the story is not so much told by the music as it was in Leone's "Once Upon A Time in the West". With a fine performance from Eastwood, this shot him to movie stardom in the States, where all three films were shown in relatively quick succession. Other stars from the silver screen went in an opposite direction, appearing in the spaghetti westerns to try and breathe new life into their flagging careers. "A Fistful of Dollars" remains a solid film throughout and is still entertaining today, although from this particular genre, better was yet to come...

(Classic sample dialogue) Silvanito - José Pepe Calvo: "Ah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah - that was a fine idea you had my friend! What was it again...?"