BÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ.... (Return of Sabata (DVD))

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	Return of Sabata (DVD)
Date:	05/05/09 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None really

Disadvantages: Even Lee Van Cleef thinks it sucks

There's a joke I've read:

- How do you transform a previously incredibly fun spaghetti western into tedious garbage?
- Get Gianfranco Parolini to direct the sequel.

Okay, I never said it was a funny joke, but in a way it fits with the subject at hand. Gianfranco Parolini's Sabata from 1969 was a witty, fun, light-hearted film with a good cast of characters, a tongue-in-cheek attitude and a nice feeling to it throughout that simply begged itself to be taken as a good ol' entertaining movie for a Saturday night's enjoyment. In 1971 it was then followed by the unofficial sequel of Adiós, Sabata (originally titled Indio Black), and in an effort to maximise the money-earning potential of the character, Parolini immediately followed Adiós, Sabata that very same year with È Tornato Sabata... Hai Chiuso un'Altra Volta! (Sabata is Back... To End Another Time)... or Return of Sabata in short. This time Sabata is facing circus clowns, a wily old friend, and an Irish Bible-reading crook as he attempts to gather as much money for himself as he can, as usual. And the results this time around are dire indeed. Now, while the original Sabata was not exactly a blow-your-mind-away masterpiece, it was still a film that was simply a great pleasure to watch, and the same also applied to the following Adiós, Sabata. However, it is almost incredible for one to realise how far wrong Parolini decided to go when he produced Return of Sabata, the real official sequel to the original film. The movie sets off on the wrong foot almost from the get go as we enter the almost surrealist setting of Sabata stalking and shooting a bunch of white-shirted barber-types around a barn maze, while a group of judges sit at a longtable in the shadows, looking like they had escaped from the final episode of The Prisoner. It is, however, a ruse as we soon find out that it's all for play, as Sabata has joined the circus! I don't know a sillier opening for a movie where the tension breaker, after all the shooting is done, is for a bunch of circus clowns to burst through doors, laughing their heads off. I was doing the same... out of incredulity.

It is seriously embarrassing and definitely no way to start a film of this kind. Unfortunately, it doesn't get much better from this. Whereas the first Sabata, like I said, was a fun action romp that didn't take itself too seriously, Return of Sabata is pure purile comedy; basically a joke of the original film. It is perhaps a show of the times where these types of over-comic westerns started to gain ground and in essence completely ruined what once was a promising genre of films. No signs of Leone in these anymore, that's for sure. Parolini, instead of blending the light-hearted atmospheres together with a narrative that never completely stepped over the border to absurdity, does the opposite here with slapping together all the most ridiculous aspects of his past movies, from his love of sideshow freaks and acrobats, odd-looking guns, to stupidly comical characters who cannot for the life them be taken seriously. Lee Van Cleef returns here for the role of Sabata, being a lot more talkative than normal and as sure on the trigger as always (question: why does opening doors and turning on machines and stuff always have to be done with guns?), but it is clear that even Van Cleef isn't taking the film seriously for a second. Such is his performance that he seems completely aware that he's making a complete turkey. Reiner Schöne here takes over the usual Banjo/Ballantine double-crosser character, but comes across as a wimpy substitute. What was great about those previous characters was that they actually had a very clear air of likeability to them, but Schöne just comes off as a buffoon, who's incompetent traitorous actions can be seen coming a mile away. Ignazio Spalla also makes his third return, here as a drum-banging announcer Bronco, but who doesn't really offer anything new to the role of burly comic relief.

The great adversary this time around is the Irish land developer/taxman/gold hoarder Joe McIntock (Giampiero Albertini), but unlike either of the larger-than-life comic book-like villains of the other two films, McIntock is weak in comparison, both in Albertini's acting as well as being a formidable villain. He has nothing interesting about him and the only particularly notable thing he does in the whole film that sticks in the mind at all is him turning into an Irish leprechaun (figuratively speaking) with him running around yelling "You're not going to get my gold! I know where my gold is. Well, you won't be getting my gold!" etc. as if he was a reject of a Conan O'Brien skit. And what's the deal with his vision, without any particular reason, suddenly going all kaleidoscopic in his last scene? I don't get it. Parolini's favourite acrobatic characters also make a return, with Vassili Karis and Aldo Canti jumping around as usual pretty much just because Parolini likes this stuff, no matter how unflattering it actually is. Van Cleef even gets a minor love interest in the form of the cabaret dancer Maggie (Annabella Incontrera), but this is not made much of... not to mention it's hard to picture Van Cleef as a viable sexy stud for a second. Other minor characters like Jacqueline Alexandre's lovelorn floosie and the director's regular Gianni Rizzo offer nothing too much to an already poor film, where even more dependable actors struggle to make ends meet. Plotwise the film fares no better. To be honest, the movie makes little to no sense at all. There seems to be no real cohesiveness to the story at all, and plot elements are dished out almost at a whim. Brief fight scenes litter the movie with a steady regularity without making much particular impact overall, other than to kill time and try to hold the audience interested for the full 100 minute running time, which frankly is too much to ask from anybody.

Parolini's direction is surprisingly haphazard and inconsistent, the cinematography is wasted on the 2.35:1 widescreen, and attempts at inventive camera angles just feel silly. Even the music of Marcello Giombini, whose work in the original film had a great impact in making the film feel as fun as it did without loosing the dramatic aspects, is so utterly ridiculous with not a dramatic bone in its notes, making you rather laugh whenever another musical cue comes about. Even the opening song is so dorky that one just has to wonder how Parolini could jump into making so many utterly foolish decisions in wake of his considerably stronger entries in this series, even during the same year. And what is even more mind-boggling is the fact that the creative team behind the film, from the co-writer Renato Izzo, cinematographer Sandro Mancori, and many of the actors, as well as some other staff, were the same from the previous films. Yet, the results border on the nightmarish. The film is simply so utterly silly and arbitrary, with a lot of poor physical humour, and unconvincing performances and characters, that this movie descends so far beyond from the realm of good taste or artistic finesse, making it hard to recommend this film to anybody really. And the choppy and confusing script certainly doesn't help matters along one iota. In conclusion, I can't recommend Return of Sabata to anybody but the very die-hard spaghetti western fan, or for people wishing to complete the so-called "Sabata Trilogy". Other than that, you'd be wise to forget the whole thing even exists. Van Cleef was laughing his whole way to the bank.

Ironically, at £7, it's the most expensive of the Sabata films sold separately at Amazon.uk currently. But pay this price only if you are so hammered to not know what you're doing, and under no circumstances watch it sober or not high on something at least.

© berlioz, 2009

Summary: Spaghetti Westerns Vol.13