Sabata

1970 "The man with gunsight eyes comes to kill!"
6.7| 1h39m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 02 September 1970 Released
Producted By: United Artists
Country: Italy
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Several pillars of society have robbed an Army safe containing $100,000 so they can buy the land upon which the coming railroad will be built. But they haven't reckoned on the presence of the master gunslinger, Sabata.

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Idiot-Deluxe 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.
ma-cortes This original Spaghetti deals about the master gunslinger Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) taking on some owners and various pillars of society as a baron land (Franco Ressell) and authorities (the judge played by Gianni Rizzo) of a little town called Dougherty . They have stolen an Army safe containing $100,000 so they can buy the properties upon which the coming railroad will be built , but they haven't reckoned on Sabata presence . Sabata is accompanied by a rare group , as a grumpy fat (Pedro Sanchez or Ignacio Spalla who played similar roles to Spaghetti idol, Fernando Sancho), an Indian acrobat (Nick Jordan) and Banjo (William Berger) , a troubadour-alike wielding a guitar that has a extraordinary surprise.This Western parody is plenty of action , humor, shootouts and is quite bemusing . Sabata is a bounty hunter but his aim isn't vengeance like Django , Ringo or Mortimer but the loot . Sabata bears a similar presence to ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨'s Colonel Mortimer , as black clothes and is equally infallible on arms and holds a wide weaponry , furthermore in a James Bond style . It appears habitual secondary actors from Spaghetti Western such as Robert Hundar , Spartaco Conversi , Fortunato Arena, and Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins , also named the Italian Peter Lorre . Luxurious production design is created by Carlo Simi , Leone's ordinary , with lush interiors of the nasty's housing full of medieval furniture and armors . The picture was lavishly produced by Alberto Grimaldi and his PEA productions (producer of Leone's trilogy of dollars). Lively and sympathetic musical score by Marcello Giombani with Ennio Morricone influence . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography by Sandro Mancori . The film was well directed by Gianfranco Parolini or Frank Kramer . He began directing muscle-men epics as ¨Rocha¨ , ¨The Macabeos¨ with Brad Harris and ¨The ten gladiators¨ with Dan Davis and Gianni Rizzo , Parolini's usual actor . After that , he continued with ¨commissioner X¨ series with Tony Kendall , fantastic with ¨three supermen¨ and warlike movie as ¨5 per l'Inferno¨ with Gianni Garco (Sartana) and Nick Jordan. His first Western was ¨Johnny West¨ and later on , he directed the ¨Sabata trilogy¨ . It's followed by ¨ Return of Sabata¨ with similar artistic and technician team and ¨Indio Black ¨ with Yul Brynner , Dean Reed and , of course , Pedro Sanchez . And several imitations and rip-offs as ¨ Arriba Sabata¨ (70) by Tulio Demichelli with Anthony Steffen , Peter Lee Lawrence and Eduardo Fajardo ; ¨ Open the tomb arrives Sabata¨ (71) by Juan Bosch with Richard Harrison and Fernando Sancho and ¨Attento Gringo e Tornato Sabata¨ (72) by Pedro L. Ramirez with George Martin , among others .
mgtbltp Compared to the great Spaghetti Westerns this was a waste of time, glad I didn't have to pay for the box set. Rent firstI saw this years ago in the theater when it came out upon release and my first impression still stands. Crap compared to Leone, Corbucci, Sollima, Petroni, Damiano, and Castellari. Watch it solely for Lee Van Cleef and Linda Veras, Berger who usually can be good is terrible, its just a mindless flick. Blame the scriptwriters, two of the top villains come off looking very gay. Mental note to all, any Western where you have acrobats stay away from. Its just a piece of fluff made to cash in on the popularity of the Spaghetti Westerns. My biggest regret is that Lee Van Cleef who should have had a career boost in the US just like Eastwood didn't get one and he was forced to go with a career making some forgettable crap like this in Italy. I'm glad that he was able to become a top box office star in Europe but come on they could have made better movies. Lee Van Cleef's best films for anybody interested:Great starring roles-For A Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad And The Ugly, The Big Gundown, Death Rides A Horse, Barqueroflawed movie but good-Day Of AngerFilms with supporting roles to check out- The Tin Star, Ride Lonesome, High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Gunfight at the OK Corral
MartinHafer I would watch practically any "Spaghetti Western" with Lee Van Cleef because even though the writing was not always great in all the films (such as his two Sabata films), his menacing screen presence was amazing--making him one of the most frightening characters in Westerns. While I definitely preferred him in his films he did with Clint Eastwood (FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY), there is enough eye-popping Van Cleef action to make his fans satisfied. Here, he looked and acted much like the characters in these great films with his piercing eyes, black outfit and amazing skills that were super-human.Unfortunately, at the same time, there were a few major impediments in this film. First, the weird and distracting characters such as 'Banjo' and 'the Alley Cat' did not help improve the movie but detracted from Van Cleef's menacing persona. It's hard to keep focused on the demon-like Van Cleef when these other two are chewing every scene they are in and their on-screen antics are just plain weird. Second, the plot is very convoluted and more complicated than was necessary. Much of this was because of all the weirdos, but much of it was just poor writing relative to the great Italian Westerns made both immediately before and after SABATA. Finally, while it wasn't always bad, the musical score was certainly not up to the standards of an Ennio Morricone score (he did the music for the more famous Italian Westerns). Instead, it ranged from really awful (the opening song in particular) to reminiscent of Morricone--but never his equal.So what you have left is a slightly better than mediocre film thanks only to the screen presence of Lee Van Cleef. Otherwise, try some other Italian Western--almost all of them are better.