Return of Sabata (1971)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This has to be one of the most entertaining, funniest and fun to watch movies I've seen in a while! As a lover of spaghetti westerns and a big fan of Lee van Cleef, I was excited about catching this on TV. Not the kind of movie you have the chance to watch usually, at least where I live. I expected just one more SW, but no -"É tornato Sabata" offers something more. It is quirky, it is sometimes bordering the realms of surreal; and it's a lot of fun to watch. But funny, also -in fact, it's something of a comedy-western, with the agreeable bit of cheesiness that you can find in some of these movies -movies made only to entertain people and provide a good time. This movie does that not only by way of the plot -the charismatic and mysterious hero Sabata arrives in a town ruled by a local tyrant who imposes abusive taxes, with the action that ensues- but also and especially thanks to the amusing dialogues and performances of the whole cast, of which I especially enjoyed Lee van Cleef -once again showing what a talented, sadly underrated actor he was, but also how much he enjoyed his work-, and Pedro Sánchez, here listed as Ignazio Spalla.Gianfranco Parolini directs the movie, paying very good attention to most of the unwritten rules or principles of spaghetti westerns, following Sergio Leone's extreme close-ups or sometimes slightly overdone facial expressions or sound effects.Going back to the plot, I have to add that it contains enough fun and clever twists to be quite original and worth watching closely.I rate this 9/10. Enjoy!

You better believe that if there's a lot of gold around, Sabata(Lee Van Cleef)will be near. The setting for this spaghetti western is Hobsonville. Being built from the dream of McIntock, an Irish immigrant whose empire is burgeoning thanks to his power within the town of Hobsonville, incorporating taxes on everything to help pay for construction so that the community can flourish(..which would, in turn, make him very rich, beyond the wealth he had already accumulated from the citizens). McIntock, at one time, was a simple miner, and it's believed(..by Sabata)that he may've found gold, and lots of it. As I said, if there's gold to be had, Sabata wants his share. Sabata discovers a soldier which fought along side of him in the Civil War for the South, Clyde(the handsome Reiner Schöne, with a charming smile), whom he calls Lieutenant(Sabata was a Major, for which Clyde calls him throughout), a scoundrel who operates a saloon, which cheats it's customers(..and, amusingly, Clyde attempts to swindle his ole war pal, to no avail). Clyde and Sabata "partner up" in a plan to uncover McIntock's loot, wherever it might be. Joining up with Sabata is the blubber-belly Bronco(..renowned spaghetti western star Ignazio Spalla, in a rare non-heavy role), who was, at one point, banging his drum(..literally)for McIntock's tax plan, along with pickpocket specialist team, Angel(Aldo Canti, who keeps a mirror inside his hat to be on the lookout for potential victims!)and the elastic gymnast Bionda(Vassili Karis).Giampiero Alberti is Joe McIntock, the man of prominence, who everyone targets, but only Sabata has the true talents to succeed in finding his gold. The movie isn't much different from 'Sabata' in that it allows Lee Van Cleef the luxury to defy those who would wish for him to bugger off and out of the town of Hobsonville, either by stagecoach or grave. He remains one step ahead of everyone, and every time it seems like he's painted in a corner, with no way of either escaping or surviving, Sabata comes up with some miraculous, incredibly clever way of doing just that. LVC outsmarting those that oppose him is why I watch these movies, I won't deny it, and I enjoy them if just as simple guilty pleasures. Is the plot to 'The Return of Sabata' all that ingenious or original? Not in the slightest, but if you have a desire to see LVC constantly evade trouble on every turn, then I think you might just enjoy this. His Sabata knows what others are planning before they do, it seems, and perhaps that is the case because he's the master at the art of taking from other hustlers. I think that's why you can look past his criminal proclivities because he essentially "removes assets" from those that take from others too naive or helpless to stop Sabata's targets. McIntock is an interesting heavy because he doesn't like violence, and actually has religious convictions, with us seeing how it pains him to resort to unpleasant means in dealing with those that cross his path in a negative way. He just wants to have control over the town, with no one interfering with his plans to build it into a place of prosperity and commerce. Ultimately, 'The Return of Sabata' is a star vehicle for LVC, allowing him to be quicker on the draw than everyone else..this fan wouldn't want it any other way. The stunning Annabella Incontrera is a high-class whore who "stops by" for a couple weeks to earn some extra cash and takes a shine to Sabata(..of course!). How Sabata deals with Clyde(..and how Clyde is working over McIntock, such as bedding his gorgeous fiancé, who is the sister of Hobsonville's mayor and banker!)is part of the fun of this western. Clyde, whose cat-like grin makes it so obvious the kind of snake-in-the-grass turncoat he is, has his eyes set on nabbing the gold on his own, seemingly planning to "opt out" of his partnership with Sabata when the time is right. The beauty of a Sabata movie is the fact that our titular anti-hero always gets the upper hand, knowing who is friends are and aren't.

Return of Sabata casts Lee Van Cleef back as the cunning and ruthless sharpshooter, Sabata. Similarities between the first Sabata movie where Van Cleef also played the same role are more than abundant: acrobats, comical sidekicks, greedy villains, double-crossing allies, Sabata shooting off with his cool 4-barreled Derringer and so forth. Lee Van Cleef rocks. He's as cool as ever, and all the other actors do at least fairly decent jobs supporting him.Everything seems to be as well as in the first movie. Except that this time the plot is more complicated and filled with twists and turns (and plot holes). Unfortunately this is not entirely good thing: in time you lose track of the plot twists and begin to wonder the motives and the logic behind some of the characters behavior. Why did he do that? Wouldn't it been more logical to behave or act some other way? Much like Ocean's 12 or any other snotty "cleverer-than-thou" sequel, Return of Sabata drowns you with twists and turns just for the sake of confusing. This leads to the point that you actually have to watch Return of Sabata at least couple of times before the main plot fully unravels. Of course you do get the big picture in the end of the movie after the first watch, but in order to get all the nuances and small details in place you might want to give it another go. Not that the main plot would magically turn out to be any better: it just rewards you a little bit more since the second time you have a small grasp *why* somebody did something that seemed illogical or strange before. This time you know what's in that characters mind and you also know something about his motives. Then again, I strongly believe that these kind of character traits should have been portrayed clearer in the script (or acting) so you would have realized them during the first view time already.In short? Return of Sabata offers great characters, but lousy and confusing plot. Still, it's worth a watch. Or two.

Return of Sabata marks the last outing for Lee Van Cleef.This time he's up against a slaezy Colonel who has a million dollars in gold in which Sabata pulled off from his earlier assignment.Determined to get it back, teams up with Clyde and another hordes of his team in order to fight back McLintock get his gold back.Although this spaghetti western proved almost as good as the first two, it was really entertaining, especially the amount of guns Lee had to use in this film..Well, at least Sabata rides off into the desert, but I'm hoping someday if by chance somebody might do a remake..