Sabata

Sabata (1969)

Well I’m back with the review of another Spaghetti Western. Here we have the great Lee Van Cleef in the starring role of Sabata. The movie opens up with a gang of outlaws killing some soldiers and stealing a safe with 100,000 dollars in it! Unfortunately the night they choose for the heist is also the night that Sabata rides into town. He figures out what is up and the next day rides back into town with the safe and the bodies of the gang (he did ask them nicely to turn around!). The army is very happy and gives him a reward, but Sabata isn’t making any friends. Several of the powerful and legitimate businessmen were involved in the robbery and Sabata knows it. He offers to keep that information to himself for a price. This sets up a series of attempts to kill Sabata by all kinds of hired guns. Each time they fail his price goes up just a bit more. In the end there is a big showdown (hey it is a Western after all) and a funny twist before Sabata rides off into the sunset.

I’m kind of torn on this review. The movie is a pretty kick ass Spaghetti Western. You have a great character in Sabata. He really isn’t a hero by choice and seems to be motivated only by the chance to make as much money as he possibly can legally. Not because he is moral or anything, but because he doesn’t want the law or the army chasing after him. The character actually seems to take some pleasure in killing the men that come after him and then rubbing it in the faces of those who hired them. Of course this is a pretty typical type of character for a Spaghetti Western, but what makes Sabata stand out is the wonderful performance of Lee Van Cleef. I’ve never really understood why he has gotten so much love in the past from some of my friends. But now after watching this movie I totally get it. I mean I’ve always liked him in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but he pulls off a great character in Sabata and carries the whole movie himself.

So you might be asking yourself why I’m torn on this review. As much as I enjoy the character of Sabata and the performance from Van Cleef I do have a problem with the movie. The movie is awfully long at 111 minutes and there are a ton of random gunfights. For a while it is introduce bad guy, kill bad guy, introduce another bad guy, kill him off. This gets a bit repetitive and as much fun as the gunfights are they do get old. I started off being really into the movie and it’s characters, but then it lost me for a while. Though the last big gunfight is entertaining.

I was on the fence between 2 ½ and 3, but I think that I’ve talked myself into giving Sabata a solid 3 and my recommendation.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer