Best of the Sabata series

SMK-3

Several spaghetti westerns inspired a number of sequels focussing on a particular kind of shady hero.  Beside the widely known "man with no name" there are (amongst others) Django, Sartana, Ringo, Spirito Sancto and this one, Sabata.

Sabata is partly inspired by 'For a few dollars more', since Lee van Cleef plays the bounty hunter Sabata as a character with similar features to his Colonel Mortimer.  Especially noticeable is his collection of shooting gadgets.  Western fans are used to the never-reload always-hit one-mile -range magic revolvers of classic westerns.  In this film, Sabata wins a shoot-out by simply staying out of the range of his opponents revolver and shooting him with one of his long-range weapons.

Despite being a bounty hunter, Sabata has his peculiar code of honor, as opposed to the villain of the piece, the sleazy rich land owner Stengel, played superbly by Franco Ressel.  As you might expect there is little doubt how it will all end but director Parolini keeps us guessing about Sabata's next moves.

A superior spaghetti western.

score /10

SMK-3 2 September 1998

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0108923/