Indio Black, You Big Son of a...!! (Adios, Sabata (DVD))

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	Adios, Sabata (DVD)
Date:	04/05/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great and fun ride much like the original Sabata was

Disadvantages: A bit of a loose plot and more akin a guilty pleasure than a masterpiece

The Italian filmmakers always loved a success. It didn't even matter whether the success was their own. They'd still take full advantage of this, no matter where it came from. In that way, one could almost look at the popular Italian spaghetti western genre of the 1960s and 70s as a direct parable of the film industry itself. When the historical epic craze suddenly died in the early 1960s, the formerly booming Italian factory that produced a lot of these, both their own and the American ones who came to shoot in Italy, were suddenly faced with a dead industry and plenty of people basically unemployed. That is until the market hole was found from the Italians love of westerns, and from the fact that the Americans were getting bored with them, meaning less westerns were being made. So in came the Italians and started doing their own westerns for the hungry audiences, and soon enough it was the most blossoming film genre in the whole country. And just like the opportunistic and exploitative heroes of the films, so did the filmmakers themselves use whatever means they had to benefit from this popularity. Never mind copyright, as it basically didn't exist, so if a success came around for somebody, then you could be sure there'd be 10 copycats right behind. That's how Corbucci's smash-hit Django got over 30 in-name sequels, and the same fate was also afforded to other popular successes. When Gianfranco Parolini made Sabata in 1969, he suddenly found he had a hit on his hands and others started making Sabata films too soon after. Now, Parolini wasn't exactly planning on making a sequel to Sabata, but he certainly wasn't above it.

In 1971 Parolini was planning on making a new series of films starring a new hero called Indio Black, and in many European countries the single film that arose from this intention is still referred to with the title of Indio Black, Sai Che Ti Dico: Sei un Gran Figlio di... (Indio Black, You Know What I'm Going to Tell You: You're a Big Son of a...). But following his Sabata success, he quickly went off to rename the film as Adiós, Sabata, wanting to cash in on the film himself like others were already doing. Therefore Indio Black unwittingly became a sequel to the 1969 film, though it had one problem with it in this regard. The original Sabata, Lee Van Cleef, was not cast in the main role due to being engaged with another film at the same time, namely The Magnificent Seven Ride, where he played the role of Chris Adams. So, instead of Van Cleef, Parolini hired Yul Brynner in the leading role, who ironically had actually played the part of Chris Adams in the original The Magnificent Seven. The film itself tells of Sabata being hired by a Mexican revolutionary leader to help capture a shipment of gold dust for the revolutionaries from the Austrian army who are roaming around the Emperor Maximilian controlled Mexico. However his, and his companions, plans are thwarted when a pompous Austrian colonel Skimmel has instead hid it for himself and now Sabata, along with a bunch of revolutionary oddballs, are coming after the gold with guns blazing.

Adiós, Sabata by its subject matter of Mexican revolutions is not a pure spaghetti western and is more akin to the popular Zapata western sub-category. Therefore it also features a lot of political subtext to it, though this is still first and foremost an action film and a lot of the politics involved is on the level of "Austrians bad, Mexicans good". This is hit over your head in the very early scenes where Skimmel is seen shooting a bunch of captured Mexicans with one rifle after another as if he were shooting ducks, effectively telling the audience that the Austrians are a really rotten bunch of people. Filmwise, the movie is very Parolinian, featuring a host of tricks, James Bondian gadgets, and odd sorts of bizarre characters, while Brynner's Indio Black alias Sabata is a very traditional sort of main character for Parolini, particularly in him using a lot of special weaponry and being essentially a rather tongue-in-cheek take on the traditional western hero. Brynner himself acquits the role competently, with an attitude of sure-footedness and action panache, though at the same time he lacks a certain sense of charm to make him go that one step beyond and into the realm of somebody like Van Cleef in the previous film. But regardless of this he still has a certain sense of coolness to him with his imposing presence, sure hand with a shotgun and the capability to fire oneliners every once and while, though this last one isn't necessarily his strongest ability.

Complementing Brynner is another host of unique characters who provide a lot of the flavour to the movie. Taking essentially the place of the previous film's Banjo character, is the completely untrustworthy, selfish, and cultivated gambler-type Ballantine (Dean Reed). Ballantine provides a lot of the good humour to the film with his antics of wanting to get the gold for himself and not bothering with the means. Therefore you'll never know really when he's being serious and when not, and any good alliance is one where you can just backstab the other to get your way. And he certainly always has an ace up his sleeve even when you think it's all up with him. Working for more comic relief is once more Ignazo Spalla as the Mexican general Escudo, reprising a fairly similar role from his previous appearance as Carrincha in the first Sabata, though here he is more burly as a revolutionary leader, offering a lot of the more over-the-top performances in the film with his melodramatic wailings and brusque laughing fits. As the main foe, Gérard Herter as the Austrian Colonel Skimmel is likewise a fun character, looking as over-the-top as befits a 19th Century Austrian military guy, moustache and all. And Herter's performance is also a lot of fun to watch as he certainly laps on a lot of the pompousness into the role for a great comic book villain, even if his last scene was a bit anti-climactic to be honest. Rounding out the main characters are the sidekick characters Septiembre (Sal Borgese) and Gitano (Joseph Persaud), the former being mute, easily mesmerized by music boxes, and flinging metal balls at enemies with his shoes as a special trait, while Gitano is more like an acrobat who often does the "flamenco of death" as a dance before Escudo shoots the recipient of the dance.

So, once more Parolini laps on a host of unique characters to a story that this time around is considerably more sober and straight-faced than the original, more light-hearted Sabata was. The plot itself is considerably more episodic in nature, and a lot of the film seems to comprise of individual, self-contained scenes with a clear beginning, middle and end, while at the same time it still doesn't descend into the dubious realm of being too disjointed to not work together. Again the film is a very enjoyable one, and for any action junkies should prove to be a pleasant experience. Once more there's a lot of shooting of people in the naturally un-gory style of a lot of these westerns, while the pacing is generally fluent enough despite the plot's structure, so one never feels bored at any time. Parolini's direction is still just as competent as in his previous film, and he uses the 2.35:1 widescreen to its fullest capacity with several very nice camera angles, while the production design of Pier Luigi Basile and costume design of Claudio de Santis are quite attractive. The music of Bruno Nicolai is one of his best compositions and takes a lot of cues from his usual collaborator Ennio Morricone's compositional techniques for a fun, catchy and suitably operatic score. The dubbing is also considerably better than it was in the first Sabata, with the mixing being a lot more natural than in its predecessor. Overall, Adiós, Sabata is a fun film, full of action and a tongue-in-cheek attitude that makes it a fun ride just as the first film was. And even if the plot is not as taut as it could be, it doesn't really bother one too much. Not a deep movie, but it's just simply a whole host of fun. A guilty pleasure at the very least, Adiós, Sabata aka. Indio Black is certainly a good addition to any spaghetti western fan's collection.

© berlioz, 2009

Summary: Spaghetti Westerns Vol.12