Bom Funeral, Amigos... Paga Sartana

Garko and Carnimeo cooperated in some good Italo-Westerns in the late 60s/early 70s, most remarkable is the "Sartana"-Series. This is definitely one of the best Sartana-Movies; tough, cynical and with a lot of humor, seasoned with all herbs of an excellent italo-western. The plot has some twists, good shoot-outs and a decent body count. The soundtrack's fine, good work done by Bruno Nicolai. The cast is standard with lot's of Italian b-movie heroes (ruffini, dell' acqua...) I had a lot of fun with this movie and it's worth watching it more than one time. Check out "Gli fumavano le Colt... lo chiamavano Camposanto",another good movie with Garko.

Bemusing Spaghetti Western with Sartana as tough and stranger protagonist . Sartana is a fundamental archetype in Spaghetti genre as well as James Bond in spy-genre . Sartana ( Gianni Garco or John Garco ) is a freelance gunman who at the initiation of the film works as bounty killer . He's an efficient gunslinger acting as judge , jury , and executioner . Sartana arrives in a small town called Indian Creek . He settles a dispute between a band who killed a prospector . Garco also acts as protector of a young heir ( Daniela Giordano) , nephew of the murdered prospector . It follows the seemingly endless adventures of Sartana in search of a cache of gold buried in a mine . Sartana confronts an ambitious banker (Antonio Vilar ) and a Chinese Gambling House owner ( George Wang ) who is always telling Confucio aphorisms .

The first movie on Sartana as avenger hero is by Frank Kramer (Gianfranco Parolini) interpreted by John Garco , besides it was starred by Klaus Kinski and William Berger . As always , the mythic personage appears elegant and dressed in black and with a killer look . After being continued by Alfonso Balcazar ( Sartana non perdona or Sonora ). Miles Deem directed two Sartanas which are considered as awful . Anthony Ascott(Giuliano Carmineo) realized several movies with George Hilton who replaces to Garco . Hilton plays more natural and roguish than Garco who was cold and peculiar . Garco starred various Sartanas with Carmineo as ¨¨Sartana the gravedigger'(69) , ¨Light the fuse Sartana is coming¨(71), among others. The movie has the typical Spaghetti characters , as the violent facing , greedy antiheroes, bloody and spectacular showdowns, quick zooms , extreme baddies, and musical score with Ennio Morricone influence , it's composed and conducted by Bruno Nicolai, his usual collaborator who creates a fine and atmospheric score . In the picture there are the habituals Western's secondary cast played by the customary plethora of Italian and Spanish actors as the androgynous Franco Ressell, Luis Induni, Robert Dellácqua , Rick Boyd and the Chinese resident in Italy George Wang and ordinary old man Franco Pesce playing his role as gravedigger . Furthermore, two Eurotrash goddesses, the babes named Helga Line and Daniela Giordano . The picture is well set in Elios Film Studios and Cinecitta, Rome and finely photographed by Stelvio Massi . The movie is regular but professionally crafted by Anthony Scott or Giuliano Carmineo and is pretty entertaining . A cult Spaghetti , essential for the genre lovers.

Gianna Garko returns as Sartana in the fourth film in the series and its standard stuff; there's some good shootouts, a suspenseful scene in the mine and the cute Miss Giordono, however I didn't find this as engaging as the others and I felt the scenes were tacked on together. The story elements were more baffling than usual. Garko isn't as engaging as he was in the 2nd Sartana film. But it passes the time well enough, but it doesn't stand out too much.

Sartana is part of a series and is not meant to be on the level of Eastwood films. It does not have to be. All though there are 5 official films in this series 4 of then star Gianni Garko. This is the third one. Sartana does nothing more except want money money and more money. He can shoot and scheme is way out of anything. The throwing of cards is a wonderful idea if one really understands spaghetti westerns. The score by bruno nicolai is incredible, it is one of his finest scores. The gunplay is awesome. That is the idea, Sartana is not supposed to get hurt. He is somewhat of a mystical figure, and this particular film has more humor than the ones in the rest of the series. I highly recommend it. Other titles in the sartana/series are I AM SARTANA YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH LIGHT THE FUSE SARTANA IS COMING and the first one IF YOU MEET SARTANA PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH.

Here, I would like to refer to some artistic categories that are paid less attention to. First of all, I would like to praise the artistic contribution of the decorator, especially the clothing designer (Daphne Ciarrocchi, Luciano Sagoni) for the protagonists in the film, the set designer on the interior look (Giacomo Calo, Carducci), the director of photography (Stelvio Massi).

The music is at the level of Bruno Nicolai.

Director Giuliano Carnimeo, screenwriter and coauthor of the story Giovanni Simonelli with Robert Gianviti did a good job of introducing the character of Li Tse Tung / Peng. An unusual character. Otherwise the owner of the casino, of Chinese origin. The role of Li Tse Tung / Peng was convincingly played by George Wang.

On the whole, with the character of the murderous Sartana (Gianni Garko) and his deadly handling of cards, it seemed a very impressive innovation. From an aesthetic point of view, it is a successful, acceptably stylized spaghetti western, which makes it above-averagely watchable.