Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Lee Eisenberg Gianfranco Parolini's "Ehi amico ... c'è Sabata, hai chiuso!" ("Sabata" in English) is essentially a story in which there are no good guys. The bank robbers have no qualms about breaking the law, but the town's leaders are also up to no good. And then they have to face the laconic gunfighter Sabata (Lee Van Cleef). This man doesn't care about being on the right side of the law. If there's a chance to fire a few bullets, he's in! One could interpret this as a metaphor for the Old West in general.The movie is pretty typical of spaghetti westerns: limited dialogue, a depiction of the Old West as a dismal world, and a director billed with an Anglo name for the anglophone world (Frank Kramer in this case). I found it to be an enjoyable flick. As it turns out, producer Alberto Grimaldi - no relation to Monaco's royal family as far as I know - also produced "Last Tango in Paris" and "Gangs of New York".

TankGuy Sabata is a gem as it is unique among other spaghetti westerns. Lee Van Cleef gives probably his best performance and the film is high on action.The action never stops as the film begins with a bank robbery, then about twenty minutes later shows sabata killing all the robbers and returning the money. A few scenes later banjo shoots dead several unknown goons who are out to kill him. Other action includes excellently choreographed fist fights and brawls, small shooting and a large shootout at a ranch. The killcount is very high.As with most spaghettis, sabata is extremely cheesy and includes several funny, comedic and weird moments. The theme tune is excellent as well.A must see for western and action movie fans.

lastliberal There is nothing like a good spaghetti western to pass a Sunday afternoon, especially when Tiger has little chance of winning.This one is particularly good, as it stars the great Lee Van Cleef as a bounty hunter who foils an attempt to rob $100,000 from the army.Filled with lots of interesting characters like Banjo (William Berger), Carrincha (Ignazio Spalla), and Indio (Aldo Canti); more than a few laughs; and some amazing tricks and gun play by Van Cleef; it is just the thing for fans of the genre.I have to note that it is a good thing that the bad guys led by Stengel (Franco Ressel) have unlimited resources, because they drop like flies at every attempt to kill Sabata.

Poe-17 Not that they will alter your enjoyment of this film but ...POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!! There were three of them up for grabs back then; Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and Lee Van Cleef. Of course, Clint won the star and then history went its way. Charles went on to reign in the beautiful "Once Upon a Time in the West" alongside of Henry Fonda who did the best "against type" in cinema history. Lee Van Cleef followed Clint through "For a Few Dollars More" and the great but not-as-good-as-"Once Upon a Time In The West" classic "The Good The Bad and the Ugly".Clint had the squint but Lee Van Cleef was the actor all spaghetti westerns wanted. His eyes, the physical features of his face, his poise and delivery of lines (when the lines weren't way way dumb - he had a director, remember).Way up over the top bounty hunter, good-guy/bad-guy, supernatural marksmanship, mysterious even when the mystery isn't resolved ... he played the same character in many films, even a "shouldn't have been done" Magnificent Seven" outing."Sabata" gave him his role, three years after Clint's squint.With "Sabata", Lee found his role that Clint Eastwood found with his "Man with no name". "Sabata" was more tongue in cheek and visually energetic but it played exactly into the era. The "Sabata" series missed their chance the same way all those Country and Western singers missed their opportunity when Garth Brooks took things over.The second "Sabata" starred Yul Bryner as "Indio Black" ??!! and Lee stepped in for other sequels but the momentum was gone A lost possibility for cinema. It died on the vine.But "Sabata" remains with all its potential and presentation as a viable series of films whose history just wasn't to be.From the theme (catchy), to Banjo's music (so fitting) to Sabata's accuracy when tossing coins (which resolves a critical point in the movie) this film stepped outside the traditional western ( as overseas films about the American West were doing those days - check out the saguaro cactus in filmed-in-Spain films ... planted plastic).A mis-timed mythology that should have made its mark."Sabata" is the origin that wanted and could have become a set of movies to be cherished by western cinema lovers.it didn't. Our loss.But this seminal film is around for us to revisit and remember.On a personal note there is a couple of lines of dialog that have perplexed me from my first viewing - which came from out of the blue. They are at the end of the film. A companion of Sabata asks "Who the hell are you?" and Sabata says; "Didn't I ever mention it?" End of movie.I would love to know if that was just an enigmatic piece of dialog inserted into things, or if that statement addressed a specific intent of the movie.I don't know how to resolve that question.Any insight would be appreciated.