From the folks over at Eureka Entertainment here’s a recent three Blu ray set bringing together the three films in the classic ’60s/ 70’s spaghetti western Sabata film cycle. Featured on the set is  1969’s Sabata, 1970’s Adiós, Sabata, and 1971's Return of Sabata- the first and last films feature Lee Van Cleef as the largely silent, cool as a cumber and fast as a bullet gunslinger Sabata, with Yul Brynner stepping into the role on the second film. All three films are nicely pacy, playful/ fun, and action-packed examples of the spaghetti western form. 

This three-disc set offers up new HD transfers of all three films, new commentary tracks on all three pictures, and a few other extras All three of the films in the Sabata trilogy were helmed by Gianfranco Parolini (as Frank Kramer)- a respected and versatile genre director who between the early ’50s and mid-’80s helmed a total of twenty-nine films. These went from run of the mill sword & sandal fare. Onto more than a few spaghetti westerns, through to Thai set adventure. He made slick-if-cheapie euro spy capers, muscle-bound action-comedy, and a giant bigfoot when monsters attack feature. 

Each film gets its own Blu Ray, and first up we have 1969’s Sabata (aka Ehi amico... c'è Sabata. Hai chiuso! ). And the film kicks off in a fairly classic western manner- as we have mysterious gunslinger Sabata (Van Cleef) going into a small western town- though he’s one of the more dapper and sleeker-looking of his kind, with a black wide-brim hat, black suit, waistcoat, and trusty doctors’ case. When he first hits the dusty night-time streets of the town, he comes across Carrincha (Ignazio Spalla) a tubby Mexican trump who was once a great fighter, and his deaf dumb Indian buddy Alley Cat aka Indio (Aldo Canti) who is somewhat of an acrobat- and these two become key to films unfold. Sabata ambles into the saloon, uncovering cheating on the gaming table with his gun, and flipping a coin from a distance into the automated piano- so it’s clear he’s fast and accurate with both his gun and his hands.
Meanwhile, the town bank has been robbed, with its safe been pulled out on rail track into the back of wagon- with the gang riding away with their loot. The town is of course in a panic, so Sabata without a word goes hunting- finding the gang on a now baking sun cannon road- the gang's driver is sure they can’t be hit from the distance away that the gunslinger is but guess what he’s wrong- as Sabata coolly guns them all down, returning their dead bodies and the safe to town. Fairly soon he uncovers who is behind the robbery with the help of roaming thick red-haired musician Banjo (William Berger), and him Alley Cat, and Carrincha go to carry out justice, and hopefully make fists full of $’s too.

In the first film Van Cleef is great as the seemingly (just) on the right side of law gunslinger- with his quick shooting, steely if known & sometimes kind stare, and his clearly cunning intelligence- as he sets up traps, uses his large bag as both killer and saviour, and has a spot-on aim with his coin flicking. Spalla is great as the boozing and boasting bum, who later shows a great talent for knife throwing, and Canti is a good addition to the three- as he’s cool, silent in his acrobatic movements. Also worth a mention is Berger as the shifty, never sure whose side he’s on Banjo. With the films seemingly clever and cunning villain been Stengel (Franco Ressel) who has a comb-over, devious grin, and is also sleekly dressed. The film runs at the one hour and forty-five-minute mark, and remains pacy, exciting, and engaging throughout- it’s not the most brutal or bloody of the spaghetti westerns, though we get of course some great and skilful gunplay, explosion and action. 

On the extras side we have a commentary track from Italian film expert Barry Foreshaw and respected genre commentator Kim Newman- and as you’d expect this is a well-researched, even flowing, and entertaining track. They start off by discussing the true translation of the films original Italian title, moving on to talk about how Van Cleef star rose after he was in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. They chat about how that all of Parolini films feature acrobatic elements and his other filmography in general. They give bio info on key cast, talk about other spaghetti westerns, and point out this and the other two films are more on the fun side of the genre. They talk about how Sabata been a rather comic book character with gimmicks, discussing Van Cleef playing of the role. They discuss the locations, and town which was used in many spaghetti westerns, and much more- all in a great track, which is worth a play or two.
We get Austin Fisher on Sabata- this finds the academic/ author talking for eleven minutes about the film. He discusses how it uses the spaghetti western tropes and new additions Parolini added to the genre. He moves on to talk about how the film impacted in different territories- it was very popular in Italy been the 4th biggest grossing film of the year, but in the UK & US it was seen more cartoon-like in its portrayal of violence, and how it was marketed in the US as James Bond in a western setting. He finishes off by talking about how the influenced genre films since, and a general summing- it’s a most worthy featurette. There are seven minutes of promotional material from around the world, and trailers.
 

Moving onto disc two we have 1970’s Adiós, Sabata (aka Indio Black, sai che ti dico: Sei un gran figlio di..., The Bounty Hunters, Nebraska). And this sees Yul Brynner taking the part of Sabata- and it’s a fairly different take on the character- first off Brynner is wearing a sort of black tasselled two-piece, which is bear at the chest and flared with a horseshoe medallion- so very 70’s. Brynner’s still a Sharpe shooter, though it’s less a focus this time- though he does have a carriage like shotgun- that’s full with a line of bullets, with the last chamber having a small cigar in. Lastly folk seem a lot more familiar with the character than in the first film, so the edge of mystery is rather rubbed off. 
Story-wise we have Sabata teaming up with a group of Mexican revolutionaries led up Escudo played by Ignazio Spalla, who was Van Cleef’s knife throwing sidekick in the first film, though here he’s playing a different character who has no prior knowledge of Sabata. Also, in their posse is sleek dressed, but can’t be trusted artists Ballantine (Dan Reed), as well two Mexican sidekicks who have special skills- one is a fast-moving acrobatic and the other can flip metal balls to attack folks on his feet. The posse is planning to steal a wagon full of gold from the self-proclaimed Emperor of Mexico Maximillian (1864-1867), an Austrian archduke who tried to take control of the country. This film feels much more like a team caper than a stand-alone Sabata film- sure in the first film he had sidekicks/ help, but in this film it’s way more evenly focused on all the posse. Ballantine is painting a portrait of Maximillian, so he has the low down on his huge fort. As the film unfolds, we get gun flights, lots of explosions, and double-crossings a plenty.
 
Clearly, there was a larger budget here, as the emperor has a big band of men, and at times the film moves more towards a war/ soldier bound western. There are also more locations too, as well as a more turning plot.
Brynner is fine, though he’s not Sabata in my mind. The supporting cast are good too- we have Spalla, returning as a loyal and entertaining sidekick, Reed is effective as the slippery-as-they-come portrait painter/ con-man Ballantine. Also worth a mention is Gérard Herter, as the arrogant and unfeeling Emperor of Mexico Maximillian- really paying up his nastiness- in one memorable scene we see him using unarmed Mexicans as target practice. On the whole Adiós, Sabata is a passable/ entertaining enough western- and there’s more blood and brutality this time around, as well as a lot more explosions. It just doesn’t flow on from the first film, and at points, we seem to get a fair few dialogue-heavy dragging scenes- but it has its moments of rewarding action, it just feels less consistent to the first film, and has only vague character connections.

On the extras side on this disc, we get a commentary track from German filmmaker and historian Mike Siegel, and clear he has a lot of facts and figures to his hand, though the track feels a little muddled in places. He starts off by talking about how the film originally wasn’t meant to be a Sabata film, instead, it was meant to be a new character Indio Black- but was changed due to the popularity of the first Sabata film. He moves on to discuss Gianfranco Parolini, giving a good in-depth bio of the director. He talks about various cast and crew, comments on the filming locations, and how the actors apparently got on set. It’s an interesting enough track, though the muddled quality is somewhat off-putting.
Austin Fisher returns again to talk about the film to hand- his discussion runs just shy of the fifteen-minute mark. He starts by talking about the films revolutionary setting, and how this was used to appeal to different markets. He mentions films with similar themes/ settings, moving on to talk about how the film impacted in different territories- it went down well with the Italian audience, but apparently was widely criticised for its level of gruesome death- but as he points out it wasn’t really that extreme. Again, another most interesting featurette. The disc is topped off with the trailer and promotional material 

Moving onto the third and final disc in the set, and here we find 1971’s Return of Sabata (aka È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta!). This is a slightly muddled/ confusingly plotted film with some quite playful/ quirky touches- though it’s great to see Van Cleef back, and on the whole, it’s an enjoyable enough romp of a film- with neat gunplay, speed of hand action, fists fights, and yes explosions again. 
The film kicks off in a fairly trippy/ bizarre manner- with a group of judges in some sort of building with red and green backlighting- they bang their hammers, and a series of similarly dressed gunslingers appear- to start firing at each other- with dead ones been put in a coffin on a conveyor belt. Then through a bead curtain, in steps, Van Cleef who guns down each gunslinger, with flute lined doom playing in the background. All of a sudden, the lights go up, and up jump the dead gunslingers- who wipe red paint from their body faces- as a band of clown’s rush in. We find out that Sabata is now working in a travelling fair as an act. In the town he’s set down in, he meets Cylde (Reiner Schöne) who we find out severed in the army under Sabata- and he calls him major. And here is where the big confusion starts- as he discusses a nearby town called Hobsonville- where he runs a casino- though he also seems to run one in the town he’s already in, and when Sabata goes to Hobsonville it seems identical to the previous town the pair met. Anyway, Hobsonville is run by the shifty red-haired Irishman Joe McIntock (Giampiero Albertini) who is taxing the town highly, promising that he’ll develop it. Sabata thinks something seems fishy, so starts digging, and finds out that McIntock is planning to flee the town stealing the citizens' money.
Sabata Side kick wise we have the bulky, bearded, and jolly Ignazio Spalla returning again- this time he plays a drum banging town crier. We also have the return of Aldo Canti- who played the acrobatic alley cat in the first film, this time he plays Angel- a bowler hat and waistcoat wearing unable to speak acrobat, Bronco- he’s joined by a similar dressed bearded man- with the pair using catapults, and trampolines to help Sabata. There’s also a love interest for Sabata- sultry brunet Maggie (Annabella Incontrera) who often visits Sabata rooms.

The film plot unfolds in a fairly clumsy manner- with characters suddenly acting differently, and no-sensical things happening- and it sometimes feels like it’s all been cut together in the wrong sequence. But aside from this the films is another enjoyable ride, Van Cleef is once again great as Sabata- really shinning with his blend of cunning, fast of hand play, and playful coolness. His fancy gun in the handle weapon from the first film is back, he also has this neat round gun which can be easily hidden, with some great fast gunplay moments. We get a neat and entertaining fistfight in the town bar, with people being thrown out of windows, tables and chairs broken. And lastly, we of course have more than a few explosions, including an impressive mine car one. Oh, and the soundtrack is rather good too- going from the mention doom and flute works out, onto vocal Bomp Bomp chorus of the films head song with charts the heroic and sharpshooting gunslinger. For all, its structural/ plot issues Return of Sabata is a lot of fun, and it’s a pity there were no more Sabata films( with Van Cleef in).

Moving onto this final disc and we get a commentary track from feature-length audio commentary by authors C. Courtney Joyner & Henry Parke- and this is a wonderfully conversational and informed track. They start off by commenting on the Brava/ giallo lighting of the opening fake gunfight. Moving on they discuss how gunslingers of the period in history did go on to work in sideshows and give examples of a few of these real figures. Moving on the talk about the films DP Sandro Mancori, his work on this film, and his other camera/ DP work including a few other Parolini films.  They chat about other euro westerns of the time and the trends in plots/ themes. They talk about the films complex double-crossing plot, and much more. A great and interesting track.

We have Austin Fisher turns up again to talk about the film to hand- this runs just over eleven minutes and finds him talking about the films tongue-in-cheek feel and the way it plays with one’s expectation of the genre. He moves on to discuss popular westerns of 1971, and how well the film to hand did in cinemas. And how this film was really the final high watermark film of Van Cleef’s euro western career. Lastly, we get promotion material and trailers.
 

In conclusion, The Sabata Trilogy is another classy Eureka release- with a good selection of extras, nice clean and crisp prints for each of the films, and a general wonderful presentation. If you enjoy the more fun and playful spaghetti westerns this is most certainly a must-have release.