Return of Sabata

source: Return of Sabata

Lee Van Cleef is Sabata, a cool character who is brilliant, an amazing shot as well as incredibly dexterous with his hands. In this film, he and his group of freaks enter a town where the townspeople have been paying taxes through their noses in the promise of an all-new and beautiful town. However, the town's boss is actually planning on substituting the money with counterfeit and absconding with all of it. So it's up to Sabata and his odd team to expose the lie and return the money. I was prepared to like this movie far more than I did. The first SABATA movie was pretty good and I particularly liked watching the ultra-slick Lee Van Cleef in Westerns, as he was super-cool and menacing. Here, however, in the final appearance by Van Cleef in the Sabata series, he is pretty dull and the film seems to be more a parody of Italian Westerns instead of a serious or well thought-out film. Ultimately, the film is sunk by a horrible script--with strange and anachronistic characters, an incomprehensible plot and a lot of magical hocus-pocus that gets in the way of the characters. So what, specifically, did I dislike? Well, the two circus performers made no sense. They could tumble and jump and spin and jump on and off roofs at will as well as shoot more accurately at great distances with a giant slingshot than anyone could with a gun and all this had absolutely no place in a Western. It was just silly and confusing. Unfortunately, too much of the film focused on them and other secondary characters and Sabata was relegated to a more secondary role. Also, the plot really, really went all over the place and it was exceptionally hard to follow. And, to top it off, the film had one of the worst soundtracks I've heard in years. Usually, with a so-called "Spaghetti Western", you have haunting tunes by the great Ennio Morricone, but here some knucklehead Italian composer came up with songs with horrid 1970s backup singers (something NOT needed in these films) and in the title song, half the words are "boom, boom, boom, boom, boom" and this is heard again and again throughout the film! Yecch! This film was listed among the chosen few in the great book "The Fifty Worst Films" (1979) and I could see why, though I don't think it was quite bad enough to make the list. It was, however, the worst Spaghetti Western ever made and perhaps helped to kill the genre. It's a shame, as some of the best Westerns ever made were made by the Italians--and many even starred Van Cleef before he agreed to appear in this sort of bone-headed film. By the way, was it just me or did you, too, think it was pretty funny that Sabata had such a tiny, stubby little gun? I just kept thinking how Freud might have enjoyed laughing at or analyzing this movie character!

THE RETURN OF SABATA (sequel to SABATA) Excellent score by Marcello Giombini, I'd own the CD of it if I could find it. Don't know who sings in the opening title theme, though. The credits in the film didn't list the singer. There are lot's of little tricks in this one, more so than even in the first Sabata film. Different kinds of derringers, small pistols, blowpipes and magnets are up his sleeve in practically every scene. Sabata also refuses to pay the outrageous taxes the McClintocks have imposed on the townspeople for everything from getting a haircut to the gambling & hotel tax, and almost having a showdown with the weak-willed sheriff over it. Lt. Clyde (Reiner Schone) manages to not be too obnoxious, grinning all the time, except when he's continuously caught by Sabata from stealing or ripping somebody off. He's such a slimeball that he hides in the rafters while his lover Jackie McCIntock (Jacqueline Alexandre) is gunned down by husband Joe (Giampiero Albertini) over his catching her stealing his gold. The acrobats are back too, jumping off buildings, over fences and trampolines as they help Sabata out in his quest to return the gold stolen by McClintock from the townspeople, in return for the counterfeit money McClintock was using to deceive them. There's a good shootout towards the end at the McClintock compound, using Bronco's bass drum as a hiding place for storing a lot of pistols. Plus we get a spectacular mine explosion when the McClintock's try to kill Sabata during the money exchange. The vast majority of the film takes place in the town with little being filmed out in the Spanish countryside, yet it isn't claustrophobic like some other westerns come across when the sets are that static. All in all, I enjoyed it and consider it a good example of the spaghetti western genre. 7 out of 10

"The Return of Sabata" is not quite as bad as some reviewers make it out to be, nor quite as good either. It's not quite funny enough to be a comedy, or dark enough to be a drama. Its primary characteristic is the confusion of the plot; it's not that there are many twists and turns, as much as the basic points of the plot never make much sense. Some reviewers suggest watching it a couple of times to unravel the strands of disorder – but it is not really good enough to watch more than once. If you read this before watching the movie, here is what you should think about as you view it: the bad guy, Joe McIntock, has three sets of hard assets: the real money, the counterfeit money, and the gold. How are they related? What exactly are McCintock's and Sabata's goals and plans regarding them? I was not able to figure it out in one viewing. But I did not even realize these were the issues until it was too late. All spaghetti westerns are deliberately odd, but there are some noteworthy things to look for here: 1. In the original Sabato, Lee Van Cleef is bald, his natural look. In the one scene in which he appears without a hat here, though, he has a lustrous head of silver hair. 2. Pedro Sanchez, who appears here in his third Sabata movie (he is Van Cleef's chubby sidekick), was dubbed in the first two Sabatas by an actor with a Mexican accent. Here, however, he has an American-Western accent, but occasionally slides back into a slight Spanish accent. It is all very disconcerting. 3. The theme song states emphatically that Sabata is "nine-fingered". IMDb suggests that this is not quite accurate, that actually he was missing the "last joint of his middle finger". 4. The movie features the most beautiful dance hall girls of any western I have ever seen. McIntock's wife, played by Jacqueline Alexandre, an only occasional actress, is also stunningly beautiful. In sum, "The Return of Sabata" is nothing great, but watching Lee Van Cleef is never a waste of one's time.

This is a slightly hippyish and silly western of the cool 9 fingered gunslinger crafty Sabata. He is looking for an angle in a new upcoming town which is being heavily taxed by the town's land baron for supposed improvements but it's just a form of legalised theft. Sabata is a wily old fellow, as you are shown in the opening scene. He has all sorts of guns up his sleeves even one under his shoe. His grinning sidekick Lt Clyde is constantly caught out by Sabata for pulling a fast one and it signals that the film will contain some form of double crossing. There are also two acrobats helping along who jump off buildings, stage fights, steal and do all sorts of somersaults in the gangs quest for some gold coins. In fact these two were fantastic, with one of them used his legs like a slingshot as well. It is a strange film, rather hard to follow, maybe because of the poor dubbing and the plot is complicated. A spaghetti western shot in Spain. Lee Van Cleef though is shot on with his performance.

Well, I've done things about-face this time. I usually try to watch a film series in order, but when I caught THE RETURN OF SABATA on TV one afternoon I ended up watching it despite the fact I hadn't watched the first two in the series. No need. Although there are a few references and returning characters in this outing, for the most part it's a stand-alone adventure. Those expecting a straight spaghetti western will be disappointed. This is a comedy through-and-through, of a similar, exaggerated kind to those made by Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. The shoot-outs are portrayed in funny ways, there are larger-than-life characters throughout and Sabata himself isn't too serious. I have to say, I was disappointed. I find this type of comedy usually dates very badly and the humour of THE RETURN OF SABATA is a case in point. Only the affectionate theme music was any good. Van Cleef sleepwalks through the role of skilled gunslinger, one he must have been able to play in his sleep. A rather undistinguished supporting cast don't do themselves many favours, with boring villains and uninteresting, although pretty, women. The only characters I liked were the pair of acrobats who inevitably help Sabata out of various scrapes. I'd rather the film had been about them and them alone rather than having them as supporting characters. Production values are generally stable and the choreography is okay, but the plot is fairly muddled and too much of it involves minor characters betraying each other and getting betrayed in turn. There are no really stand out or memorable moments here, just lots of light-hearted jokes and comedic interludes. I guess your liking of this film really depends of your taste for comedy, but this is one western I wish I hadn't bothered with.

Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) is working as a trick-shooter in some sort of psychedelic sideshow, when he runs afoul of a local big-wig by refusing to pay the town's excessive sales taxes. Also, there's a lady-killer lurking about and Sabata's shifty war-buddy hanging around. The production values are good, as is Van Cleef and his assortment of wonderful toys. However, the whole movie is pretty silly and the script a rambling, sometimes confusing mess (Who killed the girl and why?), with a plot that takes too much time to develop. In all, Return Of Sabata is mostly forgettable, with a few good moments surrounded by way too much talk. As a fan of Lee Van Cleef, I wanted very much to like this more than I ultimately did.

Apparently THE RETURN OF SABATA made the 50 Worst Films Of All Time book by Michael Medved but does it really belong there ? From a analytical film student point of view you can claim it's no different from the films of Sergio Leone in that it contains a Marxist slant as to what is the root of all evil . From the outset the audience are told via one of those songs so terrible and yet so infectious it stays in your mind for days: " if you want to make money if you want to be rich you have to be a son of a Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb " Wow what a great idea it would be if we abolished currency , wealth and conditioned people in to not being greedy . What's that you're saying ? It's been tried and it didn't work . Ah yes I remember . One other thing that doesn't work is the plot mechanics of this movie which left me totally confused as to where it might be going . Something to do with an Irish gang wanting to get their hands on some gold and Lee Van Cleef as Sabata trying to stop them because he wants the gold . Why should Sabata get the gold instead of the Irishmen ? I have no idea The difference between this and Sergio Leone is in the use of humour . At least Leone could make use of black comedy . Here there's no similar feel and it has an overbearingly silly light hearted air to it including a couple of circus acrobats . In many ways it resembles one of those Westerns featuring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer rather than gritty spaghetti Western fodder . It is watchable which stops it from being one of the worst films ever made

A Fellini movie about the circus wandered into a Sergio Leone picture and the result is a total train wreck. I'm 30 minutes into this and I literally have no idea what the hell is going on.

I have to be honest and say I didn't really like the first Sabata film, but I decided to see this one anyway. I would say that, actually, The Return of Sabata is slightly better than the first film in the series - although slightly is the operative word as both are rather poor Spaghetti Westerns. It's obvious that this film wasn't meant to be completely serious - as shown by the opening score, which is rather silly. The plot focuses on gunslinger Sabata. He rides into Hobsonville and discovers that the locals are being taxed by a man named McIntock. Sabata don't pay taxes to no man, so he decides to do something about it. The plot is not really all that interesting and there doesn't seem to be a great deal of point to it either. The film is also rather strange and features plenty of things you wouldn't expect to find a film like this; which is great for originality, but not so great considering most of it doesn't work. Naturally it's Lee Van Cheef as the master gunslinger who is the main standout, and he provides the best thing about the film with his role; although I'm not surprised he didn't come back to do the third film. Overall, this is a rather poor Spaghetti Western and I wouldn't recommend this - or the first one - to anyone (unless I didn't like the person, in which case I'd recommend they skip Leone and see these films!).