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Se Incontri Sartana Prega per la tua Morte
If You Meet Sartana... Pray for Your Death
Sartana / Sartana - Bete um Deinen Tod
Italy / France / West Germany 1968
produced by Aldo Addobbati, Theo Maria Werner for Parnass Film, Paris Etolie Films
directed by Gianfranco Parolini (as Frank Kramer)
starring Gianni Garko (as John Garko), William Berger, Sydney Chaplin, Gianni Rizzo, Fernando Sancho, Klaus Kinski, Andrea Scotti (as Andrew Scott), Carlo Tamberlani, Franco Pesce, Heidi Fischer, Gianfranco Parolini (as J. Francis Littlewords), Maria Pia Conte, Sabine Sun, Sergio Jossa, Antonietta Fiorito, Ugo Adinolfi, Rossella Bergamonti (as Patricia Carr), Arrigo Peri, Sal Borgese
story by Luigi De Santis, Fabio Piccioni, Adolfo Cagnacci, screenplay by Renato Izzo, Gianfranco Parolini, Theo Maria Werner (as Werner Hauff), music by Piero Piccioni
Sartana
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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A "secret" gold shipment is passing the prairie - and it
seems every has gotten wind of it: A gang of Mexican bandits led by
Generale Tampico (Fernando Sancho), slick knife thrower Morgan (Klaus
Kinski), ruthless killer Lasky (William Berger) - and a mysterious
stranger called Sartana (Gianni Garko), who always seems to have an ace up
his sleeve, both literally and figuratively. Thing is, after a shoot-out
that leaves the gold strongbox in Lasky's hands, he has to realize it was
filled with nothing but stones, and he and whoever else was allowed to
know about the shipment was set up. Thing is, everybody knows the gold is
real, but nobody seems to know where it is, but everybody is quick to
suspect everybody else, while slick Sartana plays one against the other
and soon his trail leads to local politicians Stewal (Sydney Chapman) and
Alman (Gianni Rizzo) and the woman between them (Heidi Fischer) - and to a
system that't rotten to the core. But that said, the more players in the
game, the harder it's for him (or anyone else) to stay on top of things
while everything's basically heading for disaster ... Now
basically director Gianfranco Parolini was more of a craftsman than a
visionary, and his output was uneven at best (though even many of his
worse films are entertaining at least) - but not only taking this into
account, this film is darn close to being a masterpiece, and that despite
the fact it shouldn't be: It's plot is pretty much made up of genre
mainstays and shows its fair share of plotholes and gross suspensions of
disbelief - but maybe that actually helps to make If You Meet
Sartana... Pray for Your Death work like something close to pure
cinema, where pictures, action and atmosphere oftentimes speak louder than
words and plot and manage to involve the viewer in the on-screen action
despite a lack of (narrative) understandings of the actual goings-on -
which is especially evident in the first half hour or so when the audience
is kept guessing about the macguffin of the piece or character motivations
even, but can't help "feeling" the action. Likewise, the almost
spooky finale might not make the most of sense but sure packs a punch. Quite
an awesome movie indeed, and one that would deserve a lot more recognition
outside of genre fan circles! By the way, despite Gianni Garko
playing a character called Sartana in both films, this movie (and the
ensuing series) has nothing to do with Blood
at Sundown, which was/is at times also marketed as a Sartana
movie.
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