Have a Good Funeral, My Friend ... Sartana Will Pay Review (Scherpschutter)

Director: Giuliano Carnimeo - Cast: Gianni Garko, Antonio Vilar, George Wang, Daniela Giordano, Ivano Staccioli, Franco Pesce, Helga Liné, Luis Induni, Franco Ressel, Federico Boido, Roberto Dell'Acqua, Aldo Berti - Cinematography: Stelvio Massi - Music: Bruno Nicolai

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The third Sartana movie, the second by director Carnimeo. With a rather straightforward script and a more down-to-earth Sartana, it looks closer to the first Sartana movie, If you meet Sartana, Pray for your Death (directed by Gianfranco Parolini) than to Carnimeo's other Sartana movies. At the same time it sends the series further down the path of parody and comic-strip violence, with a set of lethal playing cards, a shooting Bible, and a Chinese casino owner quoting Confucius.

Apparently the discrepancies were caused by a few differences of opinion between Garko and Carnimeo in relation to the Sartana character. To Garko, Sartana was an ironic version of the Leone-style anti-hero, the proverbial man in the middle, the kind of person who knows that quibbling between two parties, leads to opportunities for a third party. In collaboration with Gianfranco Parolini, Garko had turned the cynical, poncho-clad gunslinger into a conjuror, a sort of Mandrake the Magician out West, equipped with gadgets and fun weapons in the style of 007 (1). Garko thought this daring mix would only work within a tongue-in-cheek context, and would become ridiculous if they turned the whole thing into a farce. Carnimeo, on the other hand, preferred a more spoofy approach to the material, and would eventually admit that Hilton (who took over the role in Sartana’s here … Trade your Pistol for a Coffin) suited his plans with the character better than Garko (2).

The film opens, as usual, with Sartana witnessing a massacre. A group of gold prospectors is slaughtered and (of course) the murderers are killed by our Angel of Death. He reckons the men were paid to do the dirty job and therefore starts nosing around, looking for the person who masterminded the crime. He eventually offers his services to the young woman in posession of papers that identify her as the lawful heiress of the property. Everybody tries to convince her that the land is worth nothing, but Sartana tells her to bide her time and not to sell the property to anybody. But then the heiress is kidnapped by the corrupt banker Hoffman, a man who would stop at nothing …

Not scripted by Tito Carpo, Carnimeo's favorite screenwriter, the narrative is not as sinuous as in the other Sartana movies. There’s the obvious web of deceit, with a series of back-stabbings and double-crosses, but it’s not too hard to follow. The movie is also a bit darker than the previous one and the one to come. Garko sports a heavy moustache which gives him a real badass look, especially in the opening scene, when he tells the hired killers that he will pray for them before he sends them to hell. Within this darker context the oddball jokes may become a little distracting. There’s a bizarre chase scene in which Sartana shoots his opponents as if they were pins in a bowling game, deposing the bodies in coffins. It’s probably a reference to Blondie shooting Angel Eyes in The Good, the bad and the Ugly, deposing his body (and hat) in an empty grave on Sad Hill, but it all feels a little too weird, too farciful.

Some think this is the best Sartana movie (3). The opening scene is tremendous and the well-conceived finale is delightful, turning the familiar premise of the seemingly worthless piece of land upside down. There’s a plethora of familiar spaghetti western faces, but most of them only make a brief appearance and are quickly shot or otherwise taken care of. It’s a real come-and-go, and it’s a miracle that Klaus Kinski isn’t in it with one of his "take the money and run" cameos. The Sartana movies are not known for their impressive location work and we get some of the worst looking sandpits and country lanes here, but cinematographer Stelvio Massi comes up with a few remarkable angles and compositions (especially during the town scenes). Unfortunately he was more busy with his camera angles than with Daniela Giordana’s body curves. She looks as beautiful as ever, but her scenes are all deceptively chaste. And when she finally starts taking off her clothes, Sartana blacks out the wax-candle with one of his playing cards. Damn Sartana. Bruno Nicolai’s score is very Morriconish, but I don’t see that as a liability. It’s an absolute delight.

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'Notes:'

• (1) See my review of the first Sartana movie: If you meet Sartana, pray for your Death Review. See also: Kevin Grant, Any Gun Can Play, p. 255-260
• (2) Marco Giusti, Dizionario del western all’italiano, p. 88
• (3) See Stanton's review of the movie: Have a Good Funeral, My Friend ... Sartana Will Pay Review

The SARTANA series: If You Meet Sartana... Pray For Your Death (1968) with Gianni Garko as Sartana, directed by Gianfranco Parolini I Am Sartana, Your Angel Of Death (1969) with Gianni Garko as Sartana, directed by Giuliano Carnimeo. Have A Good Funeral My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (1970) with Gianni Garko as Sartana, directed by Giuliano Carnimeo. Light The Fuse... Sartana Is Coming (1970) with Gianni Garko as Sartana, directed by Giuliano Carnimeo. Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin (1972) with George Hilton as Sartana, directed by Giuliano Carnimeo.

--By Scherpschutter