Sabata (1970)

One of the best from the late-great Lee Van Cleef, "Sabata" is a clever, stylishly staged and somewhat unusual entry for the genre, which holds up well to repeated viewings. In familiar territory as a bounty hunter, only not for Sergio Leone this time, but fellow paisano and film auteur Gianfranco Parolini, a fine talent in his own right, who, as evidenced in this film, had some original ideas of his own. This is first and probably the best of the three Sabata films, a series known for it's gripping gun-fights, high-flying acrobats and an overall high-degree of cinematic flair; and to top things off, thanks to the stellar performances of Lee Van Cleef and Yul Brynner, these films are firmly guided by the ultra-cool, swaggering presence of some of the genre's all-time best talent. In the case of the first film Lee Van Cleef's trademark steely stare and unshakable presence impregnates virtually every minute of this classic spaghetti-western, in which you'll see old Lee gun-down dozens of villainous scoundrels, with his six-guns blasting, while his screen presence works in over-time! And once the movie has roared to a close, I can't - off the top of my head - think of any other performance of his, in ANY movie, were his swagger comes through more potently then in Sabata. Lee Van Cleef's ultra-cool-grizzled-old-gun-fighter persona simply instills this film with a distinctive and pervasive quality, which of course, in this case, is the cumulative effect of his uniquely potent screen presence, that only a handful of stars can compete with. Because as most fans of his work know, Van Cleef could play both sides of the coin with a natural ease, as he was always equally adept at playing the villain. In Sabata he's teamed up with some unique characters that do a terrific job of furthering the story, while adding much to the overall variety and character of the movie as a whole. And just how many westerns do you see that prominently feature acrobats? Only in Sabata. The lead villain is of particular mention, as he's very distinctive and after a great scene in which they go mano-a-mano, that erupts into an exchange of witticisms and gun-fire, in the villains trophy room. Ultimately old Lee finishes him of literally, with the mere flick of his thumb, because after all when you've got swagger to spare and have a silver dollar in your hand, you can do things like that. From start to finish Sabata delivers the goods (most especially it's fiery finale) and should leave no one disappointed. Because along with all the great gun-fights, Lee and his gang have so many tricks up their sleeves, as a result the movie is chocked full of fun twists, flashes of sly humor and highly-stylized visual flair. Which in light of the films distinctive sense of originality and numerous off-kilter directorial choices, naturally, this creates many colorful and unusual developments within the movie, more so then most films of the genre. Musically speaking Sabata is also quite distinctive, from it's catchy main theme, to it's unusual inclusion of a pipe organ, to the way the banjo is cleverly implemented (culminating in gunfire), Sabata indeed packs in many musical highlights. While the insanely gorgeous Linda Veras provides the movies eye-candy.What this all equals up to is the cumulative effect of a star who was very much in his prime and a director who was like-wise in his element, when their inspired collaboration, that being Sabata of course, came to be. Also it's two sequels are very much in the same vein and definitely well worth checking out. The series goes in this order Sabata 69' / Adios Sabata 70' (with Yul Brenner in the role) / Return of Sabata 71'.Ultimately the Sabata series is an extremely enjoyable romp, through high-spirited realms of spaghetti-western escapism, which should easily when you over with it's innovative approach and great acting.

Sabata is a gem as it is unique among other spaghetti westerns. Lee Van Cleef gives probably his best performance and the film is high on action.The action never stops as the film begins with a bank robbery, then about twenty minutes later shows sabata killing all the robbers and returning the money. A few scenes later banjo shoots dead several unknown goons who are out to kill him. Other action includes excellently choreographed fist fights and brawls, small shooting and a large shootout at a ranch. The killcount is very high.As with most spaghettis, sabata is extremely cheesy and includes several funny, comedic and weird moments. The theme tune is excellent as well.A must see for western and action movie fans.

Lee Van Cleef makes an appearance in another spaghetti western (and boy was he churning them out during this period) as a solider of fortune Sabata looking to squeeze out $100,000, which was contained in an army safe that was stolen. To only be retrieved by Sabata. There's nothing new here to make it a classic of its inflated sub-genre, but it's an earnestly competent spaghetti western with outlandish flashes of style and an ideal star in the steely glare of actor Lee Van Cleef. Quite comedic in parts, but the old-hat story is the usual collection of ideas, clichés and developments that sees characters teaming up, while also trying to outwit each other. It's a card game of sorts, as who can out bluff who and gain the upper hand. It's a coin toss to which way it can go. The pacing is laid-back, but the camera smoothly follows the action with dramatic zooms and some rousing, if familiar sounding music cues. While it might not be as thrilling in its projected action set-pieces, it does bestow some hardhearted instances and agile illustrations like the frenetic opening and closing sequences with the traditional standoff. Then you got the igniting combination between the actors. William Berger (who's deadly with a banjo), Ignazio Spalla and the acrobatic Aldo Canti. These three make an interesting rapport with Cleef's honourable character. The villains are played with starch by Franco Ressel, Claudio Undari and Gianni Rizzo. Systematic, but lively Italian western."Finally his luck ran out".

Lee Van Cleef made his Spaghetti Western name under Sergio Leone in 1965 with a role in the masterpiece For a Few Dollars More, and a follow up as the villain in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. However, he was only a co-star in those films; whereas Sabata gave him the chance to take the lead...and the result is rather disappointing. Not because of Van Cleef's performance, which is imposing and memorable as always - the problems with this film are more down to the lukewarm plot and rather boring execution. The story begins with a bank robbery in which $100,000 is stolen from an army safe; money that was to be used to buy the land for a planned railroad. However, the thieves haven't banked (ho ho) on a man in black named Sabata turning up and foiling the robbery. He gets the money back and returns to town; where he hooks up with his two sidekicks and proceeds to get in the way of other people in town, which results in plenty of gunfights...although a lot of the plot itself is messy and it's not easy to tell what's going on.The messy plot is of course the main problem with the film, and it really does kill the entertainment value of it. Director Gianfranco Parolini must have had an inkling of this as he packs his film with plenty of gunfights, which are kind of entertaining but not enough so to paper over the many cracks created by the messy plot line. The lead character is of course the main draw and Lee Van Cleef leads every scene he's in and successfully portrays the classic Spaghetti Western anti-hero. However, the same positive things can't be said of the supporting characters, which would at best be described as unwelcome distractions and don't fit the film hardly at all. The film runs for about one hundred minutes, and although many of the best westerns are much longer; this runtime also feels overlong and the overall experience of watching this film is generally not a fun one. Overall, Sabata might be of interest to die hard Spaghetti Western fans; but unfortunately it's not one of the best that the genre has to offer and I don't recommend it.