A very entertaining fun film! Lee van Cleef is great as Sabata(there aren’t much actors where sitting down on a chair always looks cool) and the film contains plenty of cool action-sequences. 7.5/10
When I 1st saw Sabata way back in the 90s, I thought of it only as a mediocre film.
But now that I got much deeper into the SW territory, my taste has obviously changed, for good or bad, I don’t know any more, whatever, I surely began to like the way Parolini made his SWs.
Of course he was no genius, but he had his own style, and his 4 Sabata / Sartana westerns present him as an accomplished craftsman.
And Sabata is a good example for all this over the top - tongue in cheek - one double cross after another - anything goes type of SW, in which the well armed hero always has another trick (or weapon) in store to get him out of every trouble, which he clearly is looking for all the time. The money as reward for all his efforts is only of minor matter, but nevertheless indispensable.
For Sabata as for Parolini the way was the destination.
Sabata benefits from a bunch of colorful characters, a good soundtrack and an increased budget , which makes the film, even if it mainly was a town film, look quite good. (I wished If you Meet Sartana… had also gotten all this money, and with it the almerian landscapes)
But astonishingly LvC is not as good as one might think. He had lost quite a bit of the very special charisma of his early SWs, by acting basically with an ironic meant enduring grin. For this type of SW, Garko was the superior choice.
A major flaw is that the story fails to develop in the middle of the film, instead there is only a series of useless assaults on Sabata’s life. Generally said the film loses some of it’s quality in the 2nd half, which is less well structured.
Overall a good and enjoyable western.
(And I don’t see why Return of Sabata should be a weaker film than this one)
Ten years ago I thought Sabata was a bit silly, but I have also changed and the film is an enjoyable ride.
I just got off the phone with Parolini and he just informed me that his “prized stuntman” was killed in the Mafia just recently.
Anybody have any idea who that was?
5 stars from me.
An absolute classic and sw’s don’t come anymore fun and entertaining than this.Sad to hear about the stuntman , i always thought the acrobatics were a great element in the series.
Okay, Mr. Betts cleared up the stuntman thing for me.
It was the actor that played Alleycat.
BTW. This film gets 4 stars from me.
Oh, that’s a shame. RIP.
Imdb has some info but not much:
Aldo Canti, aka Nick Jordan, was a Roman stuntman at Cinecittà who gradually became a minor leading man in a few Italian B-movies. He was reportedly linked to the Italian underworld, and was found murdered in the early nineties at Rome’s Villa Borghese park.
I personally like his Alley Cat character in the Sabata. Weird guy jumping around the roofs, so crazy and funny.
Lee Van Cleef looks call as fuck in this movie 8)
great soundtrack too ;D
Hey, new to the boards.(check out my post under the “My Name Is Nobody” thread for a detailed history of my Spaghetti history, if you like)
I for one wasn’t in a big hurry to watch this film but I watched it a few nights ago because there was nothing else to watch and I was plesantly surprised. Its actually pretty damn cool. Parolini’s direction works well, the cinematography is excellent and while the script is far from perfect and Sabatas gimmicks are a little silly the cool characters and awesome individual scenes more than make up for it.
Banjo is a great freaking character and the finale is great fun. The flashes of light coming from the shots of in the distance…excellent touch!
Not the most serious film and not a masterpiece but well worth checking out.
This one is one of my favorite spaghetti westerns. Action filled and with likeable anti-heroes and hateable bad guys.
My main remembrance of Sabata from some 35+ years ago was one of disappointment. Taste and tolerance changes with time, I guess, because I quite enjoyed this visit. Of this type, it follows closely the Sartanas. Maybe I should give Trinity another chance. 
In the scene of Berger in bed, Linda Veras changes into a robe and lies down across him, he lays his arm across her chest while she is talking wistfully, seems exactly shot for shot like one from another SW. I can’t place it and it’s driving me nuts or maybe already am! Any ideas… ?
Influenced by Silence pic choice, put this one in the office dvd player, and now I got company, some got nothing to do loosers instead of staying at coffe all day like they use to, come to my working place to watch films, and even make demands and requests, gonna start to charge 20 euros for film ;D
Well i have to say that it’s not my LVC favourite westen (Non Leone onesof course) not even my LVC Sabata fav that will be È tornato Sabata…, the best ones are for me to choose between death rides a horse, I giorni dell’ira, and La resa dei conti, i also like Barquero but I think that it does not count as SW. LVC it’s best actor in westerns in terms of screen presence for me, but in this films he’s some how in auto mode, but still great fun very good soundtrack not so imponent like others, but goes very well with film, the good thing about the Sabata characters it’s that we never can quite say what’s on their minds what’s their moral. Get’s also a plus for pioneering the all Parkour stuff
He sure does !
Top-10 stuff for me for sure, great entertainment made with style and endless coolness!
I’m not a fan of these “Circus Western”. 
But Sabata is naturally good.
For me, not in the top 20, probably not in the top 50 but my rating anyway 7 / 10.
I think at the level of similar Sartana movies.
Some Sartanas are even better and at least three of them are in my top-20.
Classic Spaghetti Western one of the BEST!!!
Similar characters and films for sure. Sartana and Sabata, both the brainchild of F Kramer. They are all in my top 20.
There is a novelization of Sabata on sale at Amazon.com. Although it is tagged as “Return of Sabata”, (somebody must be trying to appeal to me) the cover seems to indicate it’s the first one, I sure didn’t know that the book even existed.
Also, out of curiosity, does anybody knows if the French DVD has Italian and French or English and French? I’ve read some contradictory information.