È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta! (1971) Reviews

• Second of the Sabata series starred by Lee Van Cleef and directed by Frank Kramer

  ma-cortes2009-09-13

  This follow-up deals about Sabata who finds combating a mean businessman named McLintock( Albertini). The major Sabata unites forces with a Saloon owner, the lieutenant, (Reinar Schone). Furthermore his misfit and strange team : two acrobats , Nick Jordan and Vassili Karis and of course the old rogue with a drummer , Ignacio Spalla or Pedro Sanchez . Meanwhile Sabata gets involved with a Saloon girl ( gorgeous Annabella Incontrera) . This offbeat Western comedy results to be the genuine sequel to ¨Sabata¨ (with Cleef, William Berger,Linda Veras and Franco Ressel), and it's full of intriguing touches, action Western, shootouts and is very amusing. This entertaining picture gets the humorous remarks from Western parody combined to features of Spaghetti such as violent antiheroes, excessive zooms, extreme nasties, violent gunfight with numerous murders. Appear usual secondary actors , habitual in Italian Western such as Gianni Rizzo, Alberto Dell'Acqua, Rick Boyd, Fortunato arena, Franco Fantasia , among others. And Pedro Sanchez who acted in the Sabata trilogy and which played in similar roles to the S.W. idol Fernando Sancho. The movie is well produced by Alberto Grimaldi ( Sergio Leone's Trilogy of dollars as producer). Atmospheric cinematography by Sandro Mancori. . Lively and jolly musical score with Ennio Morricone influence by Giombini. The motion picture is professionally directed by Gianfranco Paraolini, alias Frank Kramer. It's followed by ¨Indio Black¨ with Yul Brynner, Dean Reed and Gerard Herter. The flick will appeal to Lee Van Cleef fans and S.W. buffs.

  More

• Sabata's back! This time to get more gold from another sleazy villain..

  smiley-321999-08-29

  Return of Sabata marks the last outing for Lee Van Cleef. This time he's up against a slaezy Colonel who has a million dollars in gold in which Sabata pulled off from his earlier assignment. Determined to get it back, teams up with Clyde and another hordes of his team in order to fight back McLintock get his gold back. Although this spaghetti western proved almost as good as the first two, it was really entertaining, especially the amount of guns Lee had to use in this film.. Well, at least Sabata rides off into the desert, but I'm hoping someday if by chance somebody might do a remake..

  More

• Good tricks that even James T. West could use...

  westerner3572003-05-01

  THE RETURN OF SABATA (sequel to SABATA) Excellent score by Marcello Giombini, I'd own the CD of it if I could find it. Don't know who sings in the opening title theme, though. The credits in the film didn't list the singer. There are lot's of little tricks in this one, more so than even in the first Sabata film. Different kinds of derringers, small pistols, blowpipes and magnets are up his sleeve in practically every scene. Sabata also refuses to pay the outrageous taxes the McClintocks have imposed on the townspeople for everything from getting a haircut to the gambling & hotel tax, and almost having a showdown with the weak-willed sheriff over it. Lt. Clyde (Reiner Schone) manages to not be too obnoxious, grinning all the time, except when he's continuously caught by Sabata from stealing or ripping somebody off. He's such a slimeball that he hides in the rafters while his lover Jackie McCIntock (Jacqueline Alexandre) is gunned down by husband Joe (Giampiero Albertini) over his catching her stealing his gold. The acrobats are back too, jumping off buildings, over fences and trampolines as they help Sabata out in his quest to return the gold stolen by McClintock from the townspeople, in return for the counterfeit money McClintock was using to deceive them. There's a good shootout towards the end at the McClintock compound, using Bronco's bass drum as a hiding place for storing a lot of pistols. Plus we get a spectacular mine explosion when the McClintock's try to kill Sabata during the money exchange. The vast majority of the film takes place in the town with little being filmed out in the Spanish countryside, yet it isn't claustrophobic like some other westerns come across when the sets are that static. All in all, I enjoyed it and consider it a good example of the spaghetti western genre. 7 out of 10

  More

• A bit confusing... but enjoyable

  ariakos2006-03-27

  Return of Sabata casts Lee Van Cleef back as the cunning and ruthless sharpshooter, Sabata. Similarities between the first Sabata movie where Van Cleef also played the same role are more than abundant: acrobats, comical sidekicks, greedy villains, double-crossing allies, Sabata shooting off with his cool 4-barreled Derringer and so forth. Lee Van Cleef rocks. He's as cool as ever, and all the other actors do at least fairly decent jobs supporting him. Everything seems to be as well as in the first movie. Except that this time the plot is more complicated and filled with twists and turns (and plot holes). Unfortunately this is not entirely good thing: in time you lose track of the plot twists and begin to wonder the motives and the logic behind some of the characters behavior. Why did he do that? Wouldn't it been more logical to behave or act some other way? Much like Ocean's 12 or any other snotty "cleverer-than-thou" sequel, Return of Sabata drowns you with twists and turns just for the sake of confusing. This leads to the point that you actually have to watch Return of Sabata at least couple of times before the main plot fully unravels. Of course you do get the big picture in the end of the movie after the first watch, but in order to get all the nuances and small details in place you might want to give it another go. Not that the main plot would magically turn out to be any better: it just rewards you a little bit more since the second time you have a small grasp *why* somebody did something that seemed illogical or strange before. This time you know what's in that characters mind and you also know something about his motives. Then again, I strongly believe that these kind of character traits should have been portrayed clearer in the script (or acting) so you would have realized them during the first view time already. In short? Return of Sabata offers great characters, but lousy and confusing plot. Still, it's worth a watch. Or two.

  More

• Sabata Numero Tre

  Witchfinder-General-6662007-08-28

  "È Tornato Sabata... Hai Chiuso Un'Altra Volta" aka. "Return Of Sabata" is the third, last and sadly also least interesting of Gianfranco Parolini's "Sabata" films (if "Adios Sabata" aka. "Indio Black", which wasn't originally intended to be a Sabata flick, and in which Lee Van Cleef was replaced by Yul Brynner, is counted as a Sabata movie). While the first "Sabata" (aka. "Ehi Amico, C'e Sabata, Hai Ciuso!") of 1969 is an excellent and immensely stylish Spaghetti Western that deserves its cult-status, this "Return Of Sabata" goes far over the top with slapstick elements, and even though Parolini obviously attempted to copy the original "Sabata" in many parts, it is not really a worthy sequel. Nevertheless, "Return Of Sabata" is an entertaining Spaghetti Western, Lee Van Cleef is great as always in the lead, and the coolness of his Sabata-character saves quite a lot. I won't give too much of the plot away, but it resembles the first movie a lot, only that its not as violent and witty, but more slapstick-ish and confusing and not as interesting. Sabata (Van Cleef) arrives in Hobsonville this time, a town controlled by a rich and religious Irishman, Joe McIntock (Giampiero Albertini). Sabata decides not only to free town from McInrock's tyranny, but also to gain some profit himself... There are several highly entertaining scenes, some good action and many amusing gags, and, as mentioned above, the great Lee Van Cleef is always worth the time. Apart from Lee Van Cleef's performance as Sabata, one of the trickiest antiheroes of the Italian Western, the movie is sadly far away from the greatness of its predecessor. While the first movie had an excellent score, the score is one of the biggest flaws in "Return Of Sabata", the music often sounds like the soundtrack of a slapstick comedy instead of a Spaghetti Western. The body-count is also disappointing, it really takes quite a while until somebody is finally killed. Apart from Lee Van Cleef, two other actors from the first movie are also in this one, Ignazio Spalla and Aldo Canti. Spalla's and Canti's characters resemble their characters from the first movie a lot, but they are not the same. It is beyond me why Parolini didn't just let them play their old characters, who could have had a reunion with Sabata. Still these two sidekicks for Sabata fit in very well, especially Ignazio Spalla is highly amusing and a great enrichment to the movie. Giampiero Albertini also delivers a good performance as the villain. Another character, Clyde (played by Reiner Schöne), is an attempt to copy William Berger's 'Banjo' character from the first movie, which is not too convincing either, since the role doesn't have the wit, and Schöne is not nearly as great an actor as Berger. Overall, "Return Of Sabata" will be a disappointment if you expect another movie as great as the first "Sabata". Knowing that this is an inferior sequel, however, it should certainly be fun to watch for my fellow fans of the Italian Western. It has many flaws, and it doesn't come up to its predecessors, but it is still an amusing film and Lee Van Cleef is never to be missed. I recommend the entire "Sabata" series to a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, but one should certainly see the great original, as well as "Indio Black", before watching "Return Of Sabata". 6/10

  More