SABATA

Although not as impressive a film as his previous western Sartana, Parolini nevertheless crafted a mighty fine genre entry with this, the first of what was to become a trilogy of extremely varied films. Like it's predecessor it displays an 'anything goes' attitude that manages to remain enjoyable rather than becoming tiresomely frenetic - a fault that is evident in many of the later, more light hearted Spaghettis.

An army safe containing $100,000 is stolen from the bank in Daugherty. Unfortunately for the thieves, they soon run into Sabata (Van Cleef) - who promptly shoots them down and returns the booty to it's rightful owners. This is rather onerous for the town bigwigs who planned and bankrolled the robbery, most notably Stengel (Franco Ressel), a cravat wearing villain much given to spouting pseudo-Nietzschen mumbo jumbo.

It doesn't take Sabata too long to figure out their devious plan, so he promptly sets about blackmailing them. As he continually rises his price, they set a succession of crap killers after him - all of whom are, of course, staggeringly unsuccessful. Meanwhile, a shifty banjo-playing traveller (William Berger) is also observing matters with a more than casually interested eye.

When Parolini's films work best (and this is particularly true of his westerns) they manage to walk a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous. The quality of the photography and direction is incontestable. Certain scenes - particularly the gothic opening - make clear the debt that the Hong Kong 'new wave' directors such as Tsui Hark owe to Italian popular cinema. At the same time, however, the willingness to throw any particular plotline into the narrative mix, enthuses the whole enterprise with a gleeful spirit that is simply infectious.

You can almost imagine a scripting session for this: 'Okay, how can we have them break into the bank, Gianfranco?', 'How ? How ? Acrobats of course! Acrobats with trampolines!' As well as this complete disregard for logic and common sense, other Parolini standards such as deadly games, elaborately attired saloon girls, inexplicable gadgets and a complete absence of any characters who aren't entirely over the top are much in evidence.

Fortunately Van Cleef is slightly more restrained than he was later allowed to become in such howlers as Bad Man's River. He always seemed to work best as someone whom other, more energetic actors could react against. In this case he is ably partnered with a very dirty Pedro Sanchez, one of those entertaining actors who made a living playing grungy banditos at the time. Franco Ressel and Gianni Rizzo make a duo of particularly camp villains.

The whole thing is stolen, as with Sartana, by William Berger - one of the most under appreciated actors of all time. Born in Innsbruk in 1928, he quickly became a Spaghetti Western staple after an early performance in Elio Scardamaglia's gothic horror film The Murder Clinic (66). He eventually made about eighty films up to his death in 1993, the most notable of which are probably Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (67), Enzo Castellari's Keoma (76) and Mario Bava's classic Five Dolls For An August Moon (70). It is a true shame that he never really got the leading role that he deserved and which could have propelled him into greater renown. As it is, this remains one of his best performances in one of his best films.

Matt B