È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta!

A Fellini movie about the circus wandered into a Sergio Leone picture and the result is a total train wreck. I'm 30 minutes into this and I literally have no idea what the hell is going on.

Return of Sabata marks the last outing for Lee Van Cleef.

This time he's up against a slaezy Colonel who has a million dollars in gold in which Sabata pulled off from his earlier assignment.

Determined to get it back, teams up with Clyde and another hordes of his team in order to fight back McLintock get his gold back.

Although this spaghetti western proved almost as good as the first two, it was really entertaining, especially the amount of guns Lee had to use in this film..

Well, at least Sabata rides off into the desert, but I'm hoping someday if by chance somebody might do a remake..

Return of Sabata casts Lee Van Cleef back as the cunning and ruthless sharpshooter, Sabata. Similarities between the first Sabata movie where Van Cleef also played the same role are more than abundant: acrobats, comical sidekicks, greedy villains, double-crossing allies, Sabata shooting off with his cool 4-barreled Derringer and so forth. Lee Van Cleef rocks. He's as cool as ever, and all the other actors do at least fairly decent jobs supporting him.

Everything seems to be as well as in the first movie. Except that this time the plot is more complicated and filled with twists and turns (and plot holes). Unfortunately this is not entirely good thing: in time you lose track of the plot twists and begin to wonder the motives and the logic behind some of the characters behavior. Why did he do that? Wouldn't it been more logical to behave or act some other way? Much like Ocean's 12 or any other snotty "cleverer-than-thou" sequel, Return of Sabata drowns you with twists and turns just for the sake of confusing. This leads to the point that you actually have to watch Return of Sabata at least couple of times before the main plot fully unravels. Of course you do get the big picture in the end of the movie after the first watch, but in order to get all the nuances and small details in place you might want to give it another go. Not that the main plot would magically turn out to be any better: it just rewards you a little bit more since the second time you have a small grasp *why* somebody did something that seemed illogical or strange before. This time you know what's in that characters mind and you also know something about his motives. Then again, I strongly believe that these kind of character traits should have been portrayed clearer in the script (or acting) so you would have realized them during the first view time already.

In short? Return of Sabata offers great characters, but lousy and confusing plot. Still, it's worth a watch. Or two.

The plot of this film has to do with the town of Hobsonville where McIntock, a now prosperous miner and town over seer is taxing the people in order to get the money to build up their fair town into something special. Enter Sabata, who is following a trail that led him from a murder in a traveling circus to the town. Clearly there is a great deal of money at stake and Sabata smells something a miss as well as sensing that there is a buck to be made.

This is a rambling, often seemingly plot less, (comedic) western. You're a good way into the film before you realize what exactly is going on. There a good number of characters who are two timing or three timing each other and we get dragged into their machinations, and it seems that there really isn't a central story (or real villain), or at least a reason why Sabata is in the town, until the movie is about half over. Its not bad as such but towards the end of the first half you really do begin to wonder why you're watching the film.

The reason you're watching it is Lee Van Cleef. Van Cleef as Sabata is pure smart mouthed hero. He can't be beat and he knows it. He is a hero we'd all like to be, even if his motivations are questionable. Van Cleef goes along with the nonsense on screen and in the process makes it somehow okay to go along too.

Worth a look for western fans, others may want to take a pass unless they are in an undemanding mood.

"È Tornato Sabata... Hai Chiuso Un'Altra Volta" aka. "Return Of Sabata" is the third, last and sadly also least interesting of Gianfranco Parolini's "Sabata" films (if "Adios Sabata" aka. "Indio Black", which wasn't originally intended to be a Sabata flick, and in which Lee Van Cleef was replaced by Yul Brynner, is counted as a Sabata movie). While the first "Sabata" (aka. "Ehi Amico, C'e Sabata, Hai Ciuso!") of 1969 is an excellent and immensely stylish Spaghetti Western that deserves its cult-status, this "Return Of Sabata" goes far over the top with slapstick elements, and even though Parolini obviously attempted to copy the original "Sabata" in many parts, it is not really a worthy sequel. Nevertheless, "Return Of Sabata" is an entertaining Spaghetti Western, Lee Van Cleef is great as always in the lead, and the coolness of his Sabata-character saves quite a lot.

I won't give too much of the plot away, but it resembles the first movie a lot, only that its not as violent and witty, but more slapstick-ish and confusing and not as interesting. Sabata (Van Cleef) arrives in Hobsonville this time, a town controlled by a rich and religious Irishman, Joe McIntock (Giampiero Albertini). Sabata decides not only to free town from McInrock's tyranny, but also to gain some profit himself...

There are several highly entertaining scenes, some good action and many amusing gags, and, as mentioned above, the great Lee Van Cleef is always worth the time. Apart from Lee Van Cleef's performance as Sabata, one of the trickiest antiheroes of the Italian Western, the movie is sadly far away from the greatness of its predecessor. While the first movie had an excellent score, the score is one of the biggest flaws in "Return Of Sabata", the music often sounds like the soundtrack of a slapstick comedy instead of a Spaghetti Western. The body-count is also disappointing, it really takes quite a while until somebody is finally killed.

Apart from Lee Van Cleef, two other actors from the first movie are also in this one, Ignazio Spalla and Aldo Canti. Spalla's and Canti's characters resemble their characters from the first movie a lot, but they are not the same. It is beyond me why Parolini didn't just let them play their old characters, who could have had a reunion with Sabata. Still these two sidekicks for Sabata fit in very well, especially Ignazio Spalla is highly amusing and a great enrichment to the movie. Giampiero Albertini also delivers a good performance as the villain. Another character, Clyde (played by Reiner Schöne), is an attempt to copy William Berger's 'Banjo' character from the first movie, which is not too convincing either, since the role doesn't have the wit, and Schöne is not nearly as great an actor as Berger.

Overall, "Return Of Sabata" will be a disappointment if you expect another movie as great as the first "Sabata". Knowing that this is an inferior sequel, however, it should certainly be fun to watch for my fellow fans of the Italian Western. It has many flaws, and it doesn't come up to its predecessors, but it is still an amusing film and Lee Van Cleef is never to be missed. I recommend the entire "Sabata" series to a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, but one should certainly see the great original, as well as "Indio Black", before watching "Return Of Sabata". 6/10