Sabata [Ehi amico… c’è Sabata. Hai chiuso!] **** (1969, Lee Van Cleef, William Berger, Ignazio Spalla) – Classic Movie Review 9110

Producer Alberto Grimaldi admired Gianfranco Parolini’s work on the 1968 hit first Sartana Spaghetti Western If You Meet Sartana… Pray for Your Death [Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte] and hired him to direct The Sabata Trilogy, so the four Sartana sequels are directed by Giuliano Carnimeo.

Lee Van Cleef stars memorably in the 1969 Spaghetti Western Sabata [Ehi amico… c’è Sabata. Hai chiuso!] as the title character Sabata in the invigorating first film in The Sabata Trilogy by Parolini. It is one of Van Cleef’s iconic roles. Master gunfighter and man of few words Sabata comes to Daugherty, a Texas small town, to stop a $100,000 bank robbery, and finds it was plotted by the town bosses, who want to use the money to buy land to sell it off to the railroad. Sabata blackmails the leader Stengel (Franco Ressel), who sends thugs to kill him, among them conflicted killer Banjo (William Berger), who carries a banjo hiding a rifle.

Also in the cast are William Berger as Banjo, Ignazio Spalla (billed as Pedro Sanchez) as Carrincha, Aldo Canti (as Nick Jordan) as Indio/Alley Cat, Linda Veras as Jane, Franco Ressel as Stengel, Antonio Gradoli (as Anthony Gradwell) as Ferguson, Claudio Undari (as Robert Hundar) as Oswald and Gianni Rizzo as Judge O’Hara.

The chatty Italian title Ehi amico … c’è Sabata. Hai chiuso! translates are Hey buddy … that’s Sabata. You’re finished!).

Sabata was released in Italy in September 1969 and 22 April 1971 in the UK.

It is followed by Adiós, Sabata (1970) and Return of Sabata (1971), with Wanted Sabata (1970) a Spin-off Part of the Sabata franchise.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9110

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