Lee Van Cleef makes an appearance in another spaghetti western (and boy was he churning them out during this period) as a solider of fortune Sabata looking to squeeze out $100,000, which was contained in an army safe that was stolen. To only be retrieved by Sabata. There's nothing new here to make it a classic of its inflated sub-genre, but it's an earnestly competent spaghetti western with outlandish flashes of style and an ideal star in the steely glare of actor Lee Van Cleef. Quite comedic in parts, but the old-hat story is the usual collection of ideas, clichés and developments that sees characters teaming up, while also trying to outwit each other. It's a card game of sorts, as who can out bluff who and gain the upper hand. It's a coin toss to which way it can go. The pacing is laid-back, but the camera smoothly follows the action with dramatic zooms and some rousing, if familiar sounding music cues. While it might not be as thrilling in its projected action set-pieces, it does bestow some hardhearted instances and agile illustrations like the frenetic opening and closing sequences with the traditional standoff. Then you got the igniting combination between the actors. William Berger (who's deadly with a banjo), Ignazio Spalla and the acrobatic Aldo Canti. These three make an interesting rapport with Cleef's honourable character. The villains are played with starch by Franco Ressel, Claudio Undari and Gianni Rizzo. Systematic, but lively Italian western.
"Finally his luck ran out".
"Finally his luck ran out".