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".

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.

Lee Van Cleef made his Spaghetti Western name under Sergio Leone in 1965 with a role in the masterpiece For a Few Dollars More, and a follow up as the villain in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. However, he was only a co-star in those films; whereas Sabata gave him the chance to take the lead...and the result is rather disappointing. Not because of Van Cleef's performance, which is imposing and memorable as always - the problems with this film are more down to the lukewarm plot and rather boring execution. The story begins with a bank robbery in which $100,000 is stolen from an army safe; money that was to be used to buy the land for a planned railroad. However, the thieves haven't banked (ho ho) on a man in black named Sabata turning up and foiling the robbery. He gets the money back and returns to town; where he hooks up with his two sidekicks and proceeds to get in the way of other people in town, which results in plenty of gunfights...although a lot of the plot itself is messy and it's not easy to tell what's going on.The messy plot is of course the main problem with the film, and it really does kill the entertainment value of it. Director Gianfranco Parolini must have had an inkling of this as he packs his film with plenty of gunfights, which are kind of entertaining but not enough so to paper over the many cracks created by the messy plot line. The lead character is of course the main draw and Lee Van Cleef leads every scene he's in and successfully portrays the classic Spaghetti Western anti-hero. However, the same positive things can't be said of the supporting characters, which would at best be described as unwelcome distractions and don't fit the film hardly at all. The film runs for about one hundred minutes, and although many of the best westerns are much longer; this runtime also feels overlong and the overall experience of watching this film is generally not a fun one. Overall, Sabata might be of interest to die hard Spaghetti Western fans; but unfortunately it's not one of the best that the genre has to offer and I don't recommend it.

Compared to the great Spaghetti Westerns this was a waste of time, glad I didn't have to pay for the box set. Rent firstI saw this years ago in the theater when it came out upon release and my first impression still stands. Crap compared to Leone, Corbucci, Sollima, Petroni, Damiano, and Castellari. Watch it solely for Lee Van Cleef and Linda Veras, Berger who usually can be good is terrible, its just a mindless flick. Blame the scriptwriters, two of the top villains come off looking very gay. Mental note to all, any Western where you have acrobats stay away from. Its just a piece of fluff made to cash in on the popularity of the Spaghetti Westerns. My biggest regret is that Lee Van Cleef who should have had a career boost in the US just like Eastwood didn't get one and he was forced to go with a career making some forgettable crap like this in Italy. I'm glad that he was able to become a top box office star in Europe but come on they could have made better movies. Lee Van Cleef's best films for anybody interested:Great starring roles-For A Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad And The Ugly, The Big Gundown, Death Rides A Horse, Barqueroflawed movie but good-Day Of AngerFilms with supporting roles to check out- The Tin Star, Ride Lonesome, High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Gunfight at the OK Corral