Return of Sabata Review by Scherpschutter: Difference between revisions

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=='''Return of Sabata''' (È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta!)==
=='''Return of Sabata''' (È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta!)==


<div style="border:1px solid #AAAAAA; padding:2px; margin:0px; font-size: 90%; font-weight:bold; text-indent:0.5em;">[[Sabata review by Phil H|Sabata]] (1969) | [[Adiós Sabata Review|Adios Sabata]] (1970) | '''Return of Sabata''' (1971)</div>
<div style="border:1px solid #AAAAAA; padding:2px; margin:0px; font-size: 90%; font-weight:bold; text-indent:0.5em;">[[Sabata Review (Scherpschutter)|Sabata]] (1969) | [[Adiós Sabata Review|Adios Sabata]] (1970) | '''Return of Sabata''' (1971)</div>


[[È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta|View Database Page]] | [[È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta/DVD|Available DVDs]]
[[È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta|View Database Page]] | [[È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta/DVD|Available DVDs]]

Revision as of 21:16, 31 August 2012

Returnofsab.jpg
RETURN OF SABATA (1971)
Cast:
  • Lee Van Cleef
  • Reiner Schöne
  • Annabella Incontrera
  • Giampiero Albertini
  • Ignazio Spalla (Pedro Sanchez)
  • Jacqueline Alexandre
  • Aldo Canti (Nick Jordan)
  • Karis Vassili
  • Gianni Rizzo
  • Giovanni Cianfriglia

Music:

  • Marcello Giombini

Director:

  • Gianfranco Parolini

Return of Sabata (È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta!)

Sabata (1969) | Adios Sabata (1970) | Return of Sabata (1971)

View Database Page | Available DVDs


"If you wanna get money, if you wanna get rich. If you want a good life, you gotta be a sonnova…
Pom pom pom, pom pom"

If similar words are sung over the main theme, you know you have arrived in the declining years of the spaghetti western genre. The first Sabata movie had become an unexpected hit, but for some reason Lee Van Cleef had rejected the offer to appear in the sequel, and Yul Brynner had taken over the role. Lee himself had tried to convert his spaghetti western fame into Hollywood cash, but none of his films had been particularly successful, so when he was asked again to play Sabata, in yet another sequel, he went back to Italy.

Sabatareturnreview 01.jpg


Return of Sabata opens with a wonderfully ambiguous scene, with Van Cleef, bathing in spooky green and red lights, eliminating several opponents. The proceedings are witnessed by a tribunal. What is this? Has Sabata become a state executioner? When the opponents are all down, a door opens, clowns come in, and … it becomes clear that we have witnessed a circus act. The postmodernist aspects of the genre had never been expressed in a more double-dyed way. If only the rest of the movie had been as witty and clever …


The first Sabata had been a gimmick-ridden, fast-paced fun movie, tongue-in-cheek, but not yet slapstick, and still quite violent. The second, starring Brynner instead of Van Cleef, had been a more straightforward action movie. By the time Return of Sabata was put in production, the comedy westerns had infested the market, and for most part, this third entry doesn’t know which direction to take. It tries to mythologize both Van Cleef and the character he plays. The theme song goes on: Sa-baaaha-ta, fastest gun in the West, nine-fingered men, four-barreled derringer. Another fantasy weapon is added to Sabata's bizarre collection, a sort of “squeeze gun” (1). At the same time, Lee is given a ridiculous toupee, and the character is betrayed: the black-clad, almost spectral gunman from the Parolini movies – whether he was called Sartana, Indio Black or Sabata - had always been an a-sexual character, only interested in money (one of his associates was therefore characterized as a womanizer), but this movie has him flirting with a newly arrived prostitute, a tart with a heart (and an ample bosom), played by the gorgeous Annabella Incontrera.

ReturnOfSabata GermanLobby02.jpg


The premise is roughly the same as for part one: Sabata arrives in a Texas town and stumbles upon a case of corruption and extortion, involving a local dignitary and (in this case) a clan of Irish immigrants. As usual, he tries to get some order out of the chaos with the help of a few eccentric assistants, three of them members of the circus that also hired him, Sabata, for their wild west attraction. That sounds all very Sabata, all very nice, but I had the impression the film was made without a finished script, so a lot had to be improvised on the set. In the first Sabata movie, Van Cleef had played a sort of cross between Colonel Mortimer and James Bond, a gunman as fast as lightning using all kinds of circus tricks; the character had no depth, not even a sketchy background, but the script kept him so busy, that nobody cared. In this sequel, the story only picks up after forty minutes or so; until then, it’s no more than a mishmash of half-baked, often terribly unfunny scenes, as if Parolini is literally offering us a circus western, that is : a series of circus acts. Return of Sabata shows how fragile the attraction of postmodern cinema is. There's nothing wrong with it as such, but if it’s not supported by a strong narrative vertebrae or strong characters, it easily glides off into sheer silliness (2).


An unfinished script wasn't the only problem. To put it mildly, the film was not born under a lucky star. Van Cleef had asked a caravan with a bath (not for himself, but for his wife, who had accompanied him to Europe), but his request was not granted. Parolini had an eye (or both eyes) on Anabella Incontrera, and was busier with her than with his movie, and Nick Jordan (Aldo Canti) - the acrobat - caused a lot of trouble on the set. He was evasive about what was bothering him, and could ‘explode’ from one moment to another (3). Furthermore the movie seems to lack an appropriate villain and a worthy ‘friend or foe’ for Sabata. Apart from his dyed hair, Albertini is a rather colourless villain, and Reiner Schöne tries hard, but fails. For one thing his acting style is too hyper-active; a more laid-back style would have suited the role better, there's enough circus, there's no need for the actors to play the clown.


Return of Sabata had the (of course dubious) honour to appear on Harry & Michael Medved's infamous list of The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (4). I don’t think the film deserves this dishonour. Okay, it's not good, the first half is excruciating, but it manages to straighten its back along the ride and the final thirty minutes or so, aren’t bad at all. They offer a few great stunts involving Jordan and Karis (a human catapult) and a fairly spectacular shootout, set in and around the familiar Villa Mussolini. A genre icon like Van Cleef inevitably nourishes high hopes, and I think it’s (ironically) his presence which owns the film its bad reputation. I still remember how I felt after watching it upon its initial release, in the early seventies. I could not fathom how a film starring Lee could be so lousy. But all things considered, it’s not that bad. If you take it for what it is, a campy fun movie, it might indeed procure some campy fun. Pom pom pom.



Notes:


--By Scherpschutter

Page layout by dicfish

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