Sartana dans la vallée des vautours

I found this film quite disappointing. There are some good moments but the pace is pedantic. The storyline involves the usual hunt for hidden gold spaghetti western fare, but was, at times, non-sensical, unless I fell asleep in the middle, which may have happened. The dialogue and acting was quite poor in parts. William Berger's hair colour looked ridiculous and at time he almost looked like a peroxide blonde. The music was quite odd at times and often did not match the mood. The Japanese DVD release version was of surprisingly good quality. Not recommended unless you are a spaghetti western die-hard like me and must see them all.

Calloway helps 3 bandits to escape from prison. The deal is that they shall give him 50 percent of the gold they have hidden. Of course, as soon as they are free, they have little intention to divide the treasure with him. A long ride through the desert "valley of death" seems the perfect opportunity to get rid of him. However, Calloway is like a cat with 9 lives...

"Sartana nella valle degli avvoltoi" is a quite methodical movie which develops its story step by step instead of relying on mindless action. Yes, the movie is a bit slower than others of the genre, but since it takes time for its characters, for example the puppet maker, it has more qualities than the average low budget western. Nothing extraordinary, but I was satisfied.

While "Django" was the most-ripped off name in spaghetti westerns, I think "Sartana" must be in second place. Though the hero of this spaghetti western dresses in black, he is not the fantastic Sartana character John Garko played in several movies. For one thing, he's played by William Berger - pretty appropriate, since this character is an anti-hero. (And he's not even named Sartana!)

The story is pretty confusing, with some bad editing and a lack of explanation in some key scenes (like: where do those explosions on the city street come from?) But the story takes several interesting twists and turns, like how power switches back and forth from one character to another. And it's interesting to see Berger as a kind of hero, after playing the heavy in so many other roles. Movie also has one of the more memorable theme songs - "King For A Day" - even though it doesn't really apply to Berger's character or anyone else!

"Sartana nella valle degli avvoltoi" (English translation: "Sartana in the Valley of Death") AKA "The Ballad of Death Valley" (1970), is one of the hordes of unofficial sequels to "If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death", directed by Gianfranco Parolini, who made the interesting "God's Gun" (1976). This offering is directed by the competent Roberto Mauri, who stages some nice action scenes, and gets the great William Berger to do some cool business with a gun. The supporting cast is fine, and the photography frequently uses some neat angles, but the real problem with the movie is the exteriors. There are repeated shots of people riding across green and moist hills, covered in grass. This is supposed to be set around the Mexican border! The only "desert" scene is the sequence in Death Valley, which looks like it was filmed in a quarry. This aspect really let the film down for me, and it's a shame, as the rest of the movie is quite good.

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."