Sabata [DVD] [Import]

商品説明

In the grand tradition of spaghetti Westerns, Sabata is a hoot. Lee Van Cleef, who stars in this first of director Gianfranco Parolini's (screen name: Frank Kramer) three Sabata installments, was already familiar to fans of the mysterious stranger genre, having previously appeared in Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and For a Few Dollars More. But in those films he was second fiddle to Clint Eastwood. Here he's the star, portraying (with tongue at least slightly in cheek) the classic strong and silent type with no past and no identity save his one name, a natty dresser, an expert marksman, and an accomplished thief and gambler who nonetheless knows the difference between right and wrong and inevitably places his bets on the former. Within the film's first few minutes, when the cigarillo-puffing Sabata gives a handout to the town drunk (Pedro Sanchez, who soon becomes a trusty sidekick), foils some gamblers cheating with loaded dice, slays the seven bad guys who robbed the local bank and returns the stolen loot, we can see that this is no ordinary cat. Thereafter, Sabata and his pals (who also include Nick Jordan as an acrobatic Indian and William Berger as Banjo, a drifter who's either an adversary, a partner, or both) pursue the town fathers who were responsible for the original robbery--especially Stengel (Franco Ressel), whose fey manner and appalling comb-over are surefire signs of his villainous inclinations. In terms of production values, Sabata is second-rate at best; much of the dialogue is very poorly dubbed, resulting in a stilted, silly mien that the film never quite overcomes. Still, along with the twangy music and a surfeit of the kind of arch, cruel "I'm going to kill you now" cackling typical of such fare, it offers a few good laughs, plenty of cool shoot-outs, a nifty ending, and an obvious template for the sequels soon to come. There are no bonus features. --Sam Graham