I still don’t like it, but great review scherpschutter. I wasn’t aware it had been on someone’s “50 worst films of all time” list. I guess I’m not alone. But there are far worse films and I would give Return of Sabata another viewing.
It’s not every day that you see films of Sam Peckinpah, Sergei M. Eisenstein, Alain Resnais and Michelangelo Antonioni considered to be amongst the “Fifty Worst Films of All Time”. Some controversial choices in this book, although maybe they defend their points very well, I haven’t read it (I’m curious though).
That’s of course part of the trick: you need to have great names on your list, otherwise nobody would be interested in what you have to say.
If you would write a book called The Fifty worst Albums of all Time, it would be foolish to list albums from groups nobody has ever heard of. You gotta have names like Radiohead, King Crimson, Pink Floyd or Madonna. Then you have people’s attention, then you piss fans off - and that’s how you draw attention to your book.
I read the book, it was a much talked about book when it came out, but long time ago and I don’t remember too much of it (but I remembered that Return of Sabata was in it, that’s why I went looking for the title on the net). I guess it could use a revision. I’m sure if both authors - if still alive - would write an updated version, they’d come up with a few other names.
Ah yes, it’s imperative to get people’s attention one way or another in order to sell, but it’s still something that bothers me. “Fifty Awful Films” doesn’t exactly pack the same punch has the original title, but it’d probably be more truthful.
not good not bad something in the midle you can say… :-\
Just saw this over the past weekend and have to say that I enjoyed it. I was very apprehensive after reading the comments and reviews but I couldn’t really see any difference between this and the other two Sabata films. The plot was just as meandering as the other two and again I found myself wondering if I was actually enjoying the movie for the first half an hour or so. Once I had relaxed into the weird scenario/vibe that Parolini seems to have created full of so many twists and turns and double and triple crosses then I was able to just kick back and enjoy some great scenes and Lee Van Cleef in fine form!
Loved the final gun battle and, even though I knew that Sabata hadn’t been killed, was impressed that it referred back to the stunning opening scene.
The theme song was extremely cheesy but I’m still humming it now! 8)
8/10 for me
^ Yeah, another fan of The Return of Sabata! Little by little we’ll rehabilitate the film’s reputation! ;D
Don’t overdo these things guys.
Haha, I´ve watched this film a couple of times. Always when very inebriated. The opening is great, but then I lost it. And perhaps not only because of the excessive consumption of both alcohol and weed.
I just realized my last three posts where about this film, he!
What do you mean? I honestly think the movie needs a little reappraisal, to me it’s hard to believe the first Sabata was once in the top 20, yet Return gets so much flack (not that it’s a great film or anything).
I wonder if the Sabata(s) are not more annoying inebriated, I don’t think I’d be able to stand Ignazio Spalla when drunk! What did you think of the other two?
So true …
[quote=“I love you M.E. Kay, post:90, topic:98”]I just realized my last three posts where about this film, he!
What do you mean? I honestly think the movie needs a little reappraisal, to me it’s hard to believe the first Sabata was once in the top 20, yet Return gets so much flack (not that it’s a great film or anything).
I wonder if the Sabata(s) are not more annoying inebriated, I don’t think I’d be able to stand Ignazio Spalla when drunk! What did you think of the other two?[/quote]
for me it’s hard to believe that 'django kill if you live shoot ’ it’s in the top 20 stupid movie and stupid title as well
sabata deserve to be in
I was joking a bit. But I honestly think that’s what this movie needs: a little reappraisal, not too much
I don’t think the first Sabata is by any means Top 20 work, but it’s a gentle relax movie, this one has its moments, but that’s it
Sabata is in my personal top 10, while Sabata Returns is somewhere in my bottom top 20. I don’t know, it just didn’t work for me, even the opening. Maybe because of the incoherant script, or LVC’s toupee, or the fact that Sabata acts so different in this film.
Yeah the wig is a bit of a shock lol - haven’t seen much of LVC’s 70s movies so that rug was a bit of a surprise
(Although knowing how many gadgets Sabata has, I like to think that he may have kept another derringer under it) ;D
The wig seems that big he may have been able to keep two derringers under it 
.
;D
This is the first spaghetti western I ever really watched. I had seen snippets of the the Leone ones but none from beginning to end. This one, aged about thirteen, I saw straight through. It was so damned odd that I’ve had a soft spot for the movie ever since and couldn’t help watching when it was on the TV last week.
I still think it is odd and it’s not great but it is very well made, which is something you can’t say about a lot of spaghetti westerns. Granted he relys on a few personal tropes such as acrobats and er… one plot but I think Parolini is one of the best SW directors. He approaches the level of the three Sergios for me. This movie looks so good and has such interesting camera angles and shots. Granted it’s all in the service of a spoofy, nothing plot but it still has original elements like the circus, the gold forgery and the Irish villian. Van Cleef just grins his way through it it but he is very watchable, and I’ve never understood the criticsm of Reiner Schone. Sure he is no William Berger but he is perfect in the role!
Maybe it’s dumb but it is also one of the most professionally mounted lookings SWs ever produced!
Regularly credited Dante Cona (black and white pic) and Carmelo Reale are kind of hard to find in this one…
Contrary to what reported on IMDb there is no Mario Brega cameo, unless he appears in the background for ten frames or so. I have not noticed Funari and Severini, listed among uncredited actors.
The horny boy is played by Gérard Boucaron and not by sex comedies actor Stefano Amato. Maybe this character is called Higgins in the English dub?
The circus gunfighter with a gray front tooth is not Mimmo Maggio: this guy also appears in Wanted Sabata (in which he plays a character called Pedro Sanchez!), Kill the Poker Player and Durango Is Coming Pay or Die, in which is part of Manuel Bienvenido’s gang…
Blond Irishman was a misleading description for Vittorio Fanfoni, I changed it in bearded Irishman.
It’s just a hypothesis, but the Alberto Dell’Acqua look-alike who appears in a couple of scenes could be the fifth brother (named Luciano or Franco, for the moment there are two possibilities).
Curiously, the here uncredited actor who plays the 2nd Braddock brother was credited as Alfonso Sarlo in movies (for instance In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Colt) and Nando Sarlo in photonovels.
Master of arms on this one is Giuseppe Mattei, who plays the tallest of the Virginian brothers in the first Sabata movie.
In the English version, the credits erroneously give his name as “Bucaron Gerard.” He played small roles in Bertrand Blier’s Les Valseuses (1974) and in Damiano Damiani’s pseudo-remake Un genio, due compari, un pollo (1975).