The session: Viva Sabata!
Four Movies featuring Sabata, a James Bond of the wild West
Week 3: Return of Sabata (1973)
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini
My Level of Prior Knowledge
I may have heard of it. Maybe. I dunno. I certainly didn't really know much about it except that there were several films with the Sabata character. Sort of like Sartana or Django.
Plot:
Master gunman Sabata comes out of hiding to expose and dismantle a powerful gold-smuggling conspiracy run by corrupt officials and bankers, outwitting rivals with gadgets, disguises, and razor-sharp strategy.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
Before getting into the movie itself, a small sidenote about something that annoyed me more than it should have: there’s a character named McIntock who is very frequently referred to as “McClintock.” I realize this is not a major sin, or even a particularly interesting one. But once I noticed it, I couldn’t not notice it, and it became one of those tiny irritations that just sat there, tapping me on the shoulder for the whole movie.
Stepping back for a moment, Sabata Returns also marks the end of the official Sabata trilogy, and Keith deserves thanks for guiding us through all three films. I found that they form a neat little case study in how quickly a character can drift into self-parody, depending on tone, direction, and how much the filmmakers trust the audience versus how much they feel the need to mug for it. I acknowledge that that wasn't Keith's intention. He (and most of the others in the room) like Sabata more than I do. I guess there's no accounting for taste.
This time out, Lee Van Cleef is back after sitting out the second film, where he was replaced by Yul Brynner. One might think this was a in for me, but I realized after the second Sabata film, I prefer Brynner's serious interpretation of the character. This movie leans hard into broad comedy—much more than the first two—and for me that’s the single biggest reason it didn’t work. I’m increasingly realizing that I prefer Van Cleef when he plays it straight: not necessarily as a villain, but as a controlled, intimidating presence. He’s terrific in For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and Death Rides a Horse—all performances built on stillness, menace, and restraint. Here, he’s asked to be a comedian far too often, and it just doesn’t suit him.
The opening scene didn’t help. The whole dinner-theater-meets-circus setup felt less like a western and more like a particularly campy episode of Batman, complete with winking theatrics and exaggerated villainy. That tone more or less sets the agenda for what follows.
Once again, the film relies heavily on familiar faces in familiar roles, giving the whole thing the feel of a repertory theater company endlessly remixing the same parts. Some people seemed to enjoy that sense of continuity. I didn’t. Maybe if there had been more here that I genuinely liked, I would have found it comforting instead of repetitive.
Gimmicks also return in force: more acrobatics, and now an elaborately deployed foot-operated slingshot, just in case you were worried the movie might go five minutes without reminding you how clever it is. We also get, yet again, the slimy Mexican character and the untrustworthy associate who’s only in it for the money—familiar beats, hit once more.
Add to that a score I found actively annoying, and a runtime that felt far longer than it needed to be, and I spent a good chunk of the film thinking, Jesus Christ—when will this end?
And, of course, Joe gave it a ten -- no surprise there. But at least this time he limited his review to a movie that actually exists.
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