Ms. Spenser is a big fan of Yul Brenner - especially in Westerns. So we didn't mind that only the second Sabata film, Adios Sabata (1971) was available on Netflix. This one has Brenner in the title role, the other two have Lee Van Cleef (who she kind of likes as well, so we'll watch those if they show up).
This is a spaghetti Western, filmed at Cinecitta and directed by Gianfranco Parolini. It takes place in Mexico under the Austrian Emperor Maximillian, and starts with someone looking for Sabata to do a job (Ignazio Spalla). When Brenner comes out and wins a quick duel, he figures he's come to the right place. Spalla wants Sabata to help steal a wagonload of gold from the Austrians for the revolution. Dean Reed shows up a little later, looking possibly to latch onto this caper. He seems pretty shady.
Spalla has two colorful henchman: One dances a flamenco of death before killing someone. The other has shoes with a little socket on the top. He drops a round stone into the socket, gives a kick, and propels the stone into whatever target he wants. Silent and deadly.
I'll skip over the rest of the movie until the end, when they need to infiltrate a fort to get to the gold. This is a longish set piece which starts out silently. The rock kicker's skills come in handy, knocking off sentries before they know what's happening,
Other than this, this is a pretty ordinary spaghetti Western, with a faux Morricone soundtrack. It had the cool henchmen, the shady outsider, and Brenner had a cool weapon - a Winchester with a magazine for twelve bullets - but he keeps a cigarillo in the last slot. The flamenco boy and rock kicker were cool, and the attack on the fort was nicely done. But it was mainly Yul Brenner, looking ultimately cool that we were there for.
Not that we won't watch Lee Van Cleef's Sabata if we get a chance.
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