If You Meet Sartana… Pray for Your Death [Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte] *** (1968, Gianni Garko, William Berger, Sydney Chaplin, Klaus Kinski, Gianni Rizzo) – Classic Movie Review 9109

Gianni Garko [John Garko] stars memorably as Sartana in director Gianfranco Parolini [Frank Kramer]’s busy, exciting, fairly violent 1968 Spaghetti Western If You Meet Sartana… Pray for Your Death [Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte]. Sartana is described as ‘The gunman with the deadliest arsenal in the West’. Klaus Kinski is also in the first official entry of the Sartana movie series, playing Morgan.

It started a franchise and is followed by I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (1969), also with Klaus Kinski, Sartana’s Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin (1970), Have a Good Funeral, My Friend… Sartana Will Pay (1970) and Light the Fuse… Sartana Is Coming (1970). As with Django, there are also several unofficial cash-in sequels.

Also in the cast are William Berger, Sydney Chaplin, Gianni Rizzo, Fernando Sancho, Andrea Scotti, Carlo Tamberlani, Franco Pesce, Heidi Fischer, Sal Borgese, Maria Pia Conte and the director Gianfranco Parolini playing Gambler (and billed as J Francis Littlewords).

It is written by Luigi De Santis (story), Fabio Piccioni (story) and Adolfo Cagnacci (story), and Renato Izzo (screenplay) , Gianfranco Parolini (screenplay) and Theo Maria Werner [Werner Hauff] (screenplay). In their story, double-crossing bankers hire a Mexican gang to steal the bank’s gold and hire killer Lasky (William Berger)’s gang to kill the Mexicans.

It features a notable musical score by Piero Piccioni.

It was shot at Manziana, Rome; and Villa Carpena, Forlì, Romagna, Italy.

If You Meet Sartana… Pray for Your Death was premiered at a cinema in Rome that had a Western set complete with horses and a carriage, and it was released in Italy on 14 August 1968, with a sequel announced shortly after.

Producer Alberto Grimaldi admired Parolini’s work here and hired him to direct The Sabata Trilogy, Sabata (1969), Adiós, Sabata (1970) and Return of Sabata (1971), so the four Sartana sequels are directed by Giuliano Carnimeo instead.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9109

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