This original Spaghetti deals about the master gunslinger Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) taking on some owners and various pillars of society as a baron land (Franco Ressell) and authorities (the judge played by Gianni Rizzo) of a little town called Dougherty . They have stolen an Army safe containing $100,000 so they can buy the properties upon which the coming railroad will be built , but they haven't reckoned on Sabata presence . Sabata is accompanied by a rare group , as a grumpy fat (Pedro Sanchez or Ignacio Spalla who played similar roles to Spaghetti idol, Fernando Sancho),an Indian acrobat (Nick Jordan) and Banjo (William Berger) , a troubadour-alike wielding a guitar that has a extraordinary surprise.

This Western parody is plenty of action , humor, shootouts and is quite bemusing . Sabata is a bounty hunter but his aim isn't vengeance like Django , Ringo or Mortimer but the loot . Sabata bears a similar presence to ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨'s Colonel Mortimer , as black clothes and is equally infallible on arms and holds a wide weaponry , furthermore in a James Bond style . It appears habitual secondary actors from Spaghetti Western such as Robert Hundar , Spartaco Conversi , Fortunato Arena, and Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins , also named the Italian Peter Lorre . Luxurious production design is created by Carlo Simi , Leone's ordinary , with lush interiors of the nasty's housing full of medieval furniture and armors . The picture was lavishly produced by Alberto Grimaldi and his PEA productions (producer of Leone's trilogy of dollars). Lively and sympathetic musical score by Marcello Giombani with Ennio Morricone influence . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography by Sandro Mancori .

The film was well directed by Gianfranco Parolini or Frank Kramer . He began directing muscle-men epics as ¨Rocha¨ , ¨The Macabeos¨ with Brad Harris and ¨The ten gladiators¨ with Dan Davis and Gianni Rizzo , Parolini's usual actor . After that , he continued with ¨commissioner X¨ series with Tony Kendall , fantastic with ¨three supermen¨ and warlike movie as ¨5 per l'Inferno¨ with Gianni Garco (Sartana) and Nick Jordan. His first Western was ¨Johnny West¨ and later on , he directed the ¨Sabata trilogy¨ . It's followed by ¨ Return of Sabata¨ with similar artistic and technician team and ¨Indio Black ¨ with Yul Brynner , Dean Reed and , of course , Pedro Sanchez . And several imitations and rip-offs as ¨ Arriba Sabata¨ (70) by Tulio Demichelli with Anthony Steffen , Peter Lee Lawrence and Eduardo Fajardo ; ¨ Open the tomb arrives Sabata¨ (71) by Juan Bosch with Richard Harrison and Fernando Sancho and ¨Attento Gringo e Tornato Sabata¨ (72) by Pedro L. Ramirez with George Martin , among others .

SABATA is a stylish, well-made and action-packed spaghetti western, almost but not quite up there with DJANGO. The excellent Lee Van Cleef gives an assured performance as the gun-toting man in black who makes short work of various bad guys and henchmen pitted against him.

The plot is simple stuff: a wide-ranging criminal gang, whose members occupy all levels of society, rob a bank and steal a sizable haul. Sabata foils the plot and returns the money, only to fall foul of the men responsible. He thinks he deserves a reward, but the only thing they want to reward him with is death. The stakes increase until an all-out war ensues.

There's virtually no story in this film, just one big set-piece after another. Gianfranco Parolini handles the whole thing with aplomb, and the action is perfectly shot. Alongside Van Cleef, we get William Berger as a mysterious guitar-playing drifter, and Nick Jordan playing the amusingly acrobatic Indio. Franco Ressel makes for a delightfully slimy villain and overall there's little to dislike here; it's just an action-packed western that delivers everything you'd hope for.

Lee Van Cleef introduces the sardonic Sabata character in this film where he plays the title role. This man always kills with a twinkle in the eye and he twinkles like a star in this film as the bodies pile up. Most of them are chalked up to him with a few to spare for his sidekicks, Ignazio Spalla a porky Mexican bandit, Aldo Conti a most athletic Indian, and William Berger named banjo who makes some mighty interesting music on it.

Sabata is up against the good city fathers of Daugherty, Texas who have the chutzpah to rob an army payroll and who want to use the money to buy up a lot of land so the railroad coming through has to pay them big time. The gang is led by a most epicene villain Franco Ressel. He seems to have a limitless amount of gunslingers, but Sabata and company whittle them down considerably, some in wholesale bunches.

Nothing to take too seriously here folks. Western pasta now being served.