BY FRED BLOSSER
“Sabataâ€
(1969; U.S. release, 1970), “Adios Sabataâ€
(1970; U.S. release, 1971), and “Return of Sabata†(1971; U.S. release, 1972)
are often referred to as “The Sabata Trilogy,†thanks to clever marketing by
MGM, which originally released the three Italian Westerns theatrically and on
home video here in the States. Technically, “trilogy†is a misnomer. As I noted in an article review on this site in 2014, “Adios, Sabata†was released in Italy
in 1970 as “Indio Black, sai che ti dico: Sei un gran figlio di...,†with
Yul Brynner as the title character Indio Black. It was rebranded for distribution in the U.S. and some European markets
when “Sabata,†starring Lee Van Cleef, turned a profit for MGM and producer
Alberto Grimaldi. Commercially, it was a
smart move, keeping the Sabata name on marquees until the true Van Cleef
sequel, “È
tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta!,†followed in American theaters as
“Return of Sabata†in the Watergate summer of 1972. For a longer analysis of the first Van Cleef
movie, not included in the review that follows, see the 2014 review.
Only
Mr. Magoo would mistake Yul Brynner and Lee Van Cleef for each other, but
reviewers had an “Oh, well,†attitude about the casting, simply assuming that
Brynner had stepped in for Van Cleef between the first and third movies. Audiences didn’t seem to notice or care. Anyway, many of the same credits appeared on
all three films, ensuring some continuity of style: producer Grimaldi, director
“Frank Kramer,†actually the Americanized alias of Gianfranco Parolini,
scriptwriters Parolini and Renato Izzo, and supporting actors Pedro Sanchez,
Nick Jordan, and Gianni Rizzo. The
strategy probably benefitted the three films over the long haul, as well. With genre pictures, series tend to have more
staying power than stand-alone titles. On DVD, MGM Home Video released the three movies in 2006 both as
individual discs and as a boxed set under the “Sabata Trilogy†label. Kino Lorber Studio Classics produced a
Blu-ray edition of “Sabata†for the U.S. market in 2014, and now has completed
its set with “Adios, Sabata†and “Return of Sabata,†released simultaneously as
individual discs.
In
“Adios, Sabata,†Brynner’s title character signs up for a caper to steal the
Emperor Maximilian’s imperial gold from murderous Col. Skimmel (Gerard Herter)
and turn it over to Juarez’s good-guy Mexican revolutionaries. The “inside man†for Sabata at Skimmel’s
military post, and alternately his rival for the gold, is Ballantine (Dean
Reed), a portraitist and con artist. Lots of explosions ensue, along with chases, battles, gunfights, and
trick weaponry (like Sabata’s rifle magazine that also serves as his cigar
holder). As a “gringos south of the
border†action-fest, it’s better than any of the sequels to and reboots of “The
Magnificent Seven,†including last year’s dour remake.
In
“Return of Sabata,†Van Cleef’s character comes to Hobsonville, Texas, as the
star of a Wild West sideshow in a traveling circus. Sabata tells his old Army subordinate from
the Civil War, Clyde (Reiner Schöne), now the proprietor of a local
gambling house, that he plans to stick around long enough “to collect the
$5,000 you owe me.†Actually, Sabata has
a bigger score in mind, related to his reason for traveling with the circus,
and to the money being raised by town boss McIntock through exorbitant sales
taxes to fund “civic improvements†in Hobsonville. Where Van Cleef’s original Sabata was a
steely man of mystery, his character in “Return of Sabata†is more relaxed, to
the point of mugging for the camera in a couple of scenes, having a gorgeous
hooker girlfriend, Maggie (Annabella Incontrera), and indulging in
what today’s viewers might regard as a couple of sexist comments. Some reviews unfairly conclude that the plot
makes no sense. If you pay close enough
attention, it does, but “Kramer†makes the narrative hard to follow, inserting
details and events in rapid succession and seemingly at random. Only later do they pay off with verbal or
visual punchlines. It’s hard to tell if
he was being intentionally disruptive to keep viewers guessing about Sabata’s
motives along with Clyde and McIntock, or if he couldn’t resist adding every
gag that he and Izzo thought of.
Like “My Name is Nobody†(1974), the next-to-last Spaghetti
produced by Sergio Leone, “Return of
Sabata†indulges in too much noisy, surrealistic circus business for anybody
but the most avid Cirque de Soleil groupie. Where “Sabata†had one acrobat in the protagonist’s entourage (Nick
Jordan), the sequel has two (Nick Jordan and Vassili Karis). An opening “shootout†in a weirdly lit room
between Sabata and a passel of gunmen turns out to be part of the sideshow
act. It concludes as the stage lights
come on, the gunmen get up, wipe off their fake blood, and joke with each other,
and a noisy troupe of clowns runs in. Viewers allergic to clowns may be tempted to punch “stop†or “fast
forward†at that point. The first of the
gunmen “shot down†by Sabata appears to be played by actor and stuntman Romano
Puppo, Van Cleef’s stunt double in several Spaghettis, even though Puppo
doesn’t appear in the cast credits for the picture in IMDB and the Spaghetti
Western Data Base.
Licensed from 20th Century Fox and MGM, the KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray editions of “Adios, Sabata†and “Return of Sabata†have sharp hi-def
clarity and a strong color palette, nice upgrades from the previous DVD
discs. Extras are scanty, limited to
reversible case sleeves with the American poster artwork for the films on one
side and the Italian on the other, and trailers for the Sabata films and “Barquero,â€
an inferior 1970 American Western starring Van Cleef. Unfortunately for aging fans, the audience
most likely to remember Van Cleef and Brynner, no SDH subtitles are
provided. The German Blu-ray editions from Explosive Media that
preceded the KL releases are superior in this respect, including both audio and
captioning options not only in English but also in Italian and other
languages. Too, it’s unfortunate that KL
didn’t spring for the rights and the costs to port over and translate the
attractive, informative insert booklets that Explosive Media’s Ulrich Bruckner
included with the German discs. Regardless, fans will appreciate Kino Lorber for making “Adios, Sabataâ€
and “Return of Sabata†readily accessible in the U.S. market in good hi-def
prints.
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