Light the Fuse… Sartana Is Coming (1970)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

SARTANA is a fundamental archetype in Spaghetti/Paella genre as well as James Bond in spy-genre , here Gianni Garco-Sartana stars an entertaining SW with lots of action , gun-play and fun . As always , the mythic personage appears elegant and dressed in black and with a killer look . Gianni Garco's Sartana is the standard by which every spaghetti antihero is measured along with Lee Van Cleef's Sabata and Franco Nero's Django . The film deals with a cache of gold and counterfeit money that has disappeared turning into several hands . The dark , elegant hero , a freelance gunman named Sartana (Gianni Garco or John Garco) appears to chase the nasty thief , discovers the robberies and settles disputes by shooting . Bemusing Spaghetti Western with Sartana as a tough and stranger protagonist , he's an efficient gunslinger acting as judge , jury , and executioner . At the beginning Sartana arrives in a small town named Sandy Creek where occurs a slaughter by two nasty deputies (Luis Induni and Dan Van Husen) who kill a judge (Francisco Sanz) and he then seeks vengeance . Sartana is taken prisoner and locked along with Grand Full (Piero Lulli) . It follows the seemingly endless adventures of Sartana in search of a cache of stolen gold . The confrontation will be inevitable among the town's ambitious sheriff (Massimo Serato) , an astute widow named Belle (Nieves Navarro) , a cruel murderous Mexican general named Monk (Jose Jaspe) and of course Sartana . At the end takes place a spectacular showdown in the streets of a town in which Sartana contends against all . This co-production Italian/Spanish is an exciting Sartana movie starred by Gianni Garco , it is plenty of action , shootouts , double-crosses , twists and loads of violence and blood . Sartana himself is like a crossover between Clint Eastwood's The Man with no Name and ¨Django¨, a black-clad amoral anti-hero ; adding the special characteristics from James Bond , his quirky gadgets and elegance . Sartana character is in equal parts mysterious , cool and deadly ; he is not out there to chase the bandits like a simple bounty hunter , he is just out for money and blood . His quirky gadgets often bring to mind the other similar character , Sabata played by Lee Van Cleef and Yul Brynner . The first Sartana was ¨Gunfighters Die Harder" or "If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death" a trend-setting film by Gianfranco Parolini with Gianni Garco , Klaus Kinski and Fernando Sancho . The best Sartana are directed by Giuliano Carmineo , alias Anthony Ascott, he realized various with George Hilton who replaces to Garco . Hilton played more natural and roguish than Garco who was cold and peculiar . The later "Sartana" movies directed by Anthony Ascott became increasingly cartoonish and humorous . It was followed by director Alfonso Balcazar with ¨Sartana non Perdona or Sonora¨ with George Martin , Jack Elam and Gilbert Roland . Miles Deem directed two Sartanas deemed lousy and cheesy . Furthermore , a string of sequels and rip-offs with other Z-series directors.The movie gets the usual Western issues , such as greedy antiheroes, violent facing off , quick zooms , exaggerated baddies and musical score with Ennio Morricone influence , among them . There appears as secondaries the habitual at Italian Western and Peplum genre , a cast played by the customary plethora of Spanish actors : Jose Jaspe , Maria Vico , Francisco Sanz , Frank Braña , Fernando Bilbao , Luis Induni ; and Italian players : Piero Lulli , Bruno Corazzari , Sal Borghese , Renato Baldini . Furthermore , the Eurotrash goddess, the babe named Nieves Navarro or Susan Scott as a cunning and killer widow . Special mention to Franco Pesce, Spaghetti's customary, and occasional comic relief as an old inventor who provides strange gadgets to Sartana . Very good Spag musical score , it's composed and conducted by Bruno Nicolai, Morricone's usual collaborator . Appropriate cinematography by Julio Ortas , photographed on location in Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid and Rome, Lazio . The film is well produced by Eduardo Manzanos Brochero with his company Copercines financed a lot of Westerns , he built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) , today disappeared , called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Chorizo Western and various ¨Zorro¨ films as well as Sartana movies . The picture is professionally directed by Anthony Scott or Giuliano Carmineo who made several Spaghetti as ¨The moment to kill¨, ¨Find a place to die¨ , ¨They call him Cemetery¨ , ¨They call me Hallaluya¨ , and the Sartana movies : "Have a Good Funeral, My Friend, Sartana Will Pay" , ¨Sartana the gravedigger'(69) ,"Sartana's Coming, Get Your Coffins Ready" , ¨Light the fuse Sartana is coming¨(71) . Overall, this is a must see for SW aficionados . A cult Spaghetti , essential for the genre lovers.

Wily roving gunslinger Sartana (a typically fine performance by Gianni Garko) kills three corrupt lawmen and has himself put in prison. Sartana escapes from jail with his equally shrewd partner Grand Full (well played by Piero Lulli), who knows where a fortune in both gold and counterfeit money is hidden. Naturally, several other treacherous folks also want to get their greedy hands on said fortune. Director Giuliano Carnimeo, working from a clever script by Tito Carpi, Ernesto Gastaldi, and Eduardo Manzanos Brochero, relates the tricky and absorbing story at a steady pace, maintains a suitably harsh and gritty tone through (the moments of sadistic violence and torture are pretty rough stuff), stages the exciting shoot-outs with considerable skill and brio, and further spices things up with a nice line in wickedly amusing sarcastic humor. The charismatic Garko truly shines in the lead; he receives able support from Lulli, the fetching Nieves Navarro as sly scheming widow Senora Manassas, Jose Jaspe as the vicious and unhinged General Monk, and Franco Pesce as a rascally, quick-witted old goat gambler. Moreover, this movie has a few nifty gimmicks which include a deadly organ and an equally lethal wind-up walking cigarette lighter. Both Julio Ortas' expansive widescreen cinematography and Bruno Nicolai's robust sweeping score are up to par. A very enjoyable film.

The fifth, and final if I'm not horribly mistaken, official entry in the Sartana series, sees director Giuliano Carnimeo (Anthony Ascott I'm looking at you) and regular Gianni Garko teaming for yet another spaghetti western mystery-cum-action extravaganza.The plot is crafted in typical Carnimeo fashion, occasionally makes no sense, but is fun to watch as it unfolds its twists and turns, with a myriad of people trying to get ahold of 500,000$ dollars and $2 million counterfeit money. The whole cast puts in a good performance, the gorgeous Nieves Navarro (aka Susan Scott, known from A Pistol for Ringo and giallo efforts) easily standing out, not necessarily for her acting abilities though.The final showdown in the empty streets of a town is as close to offering a monumental spaghetti western moment, the Sartana series will ever come. After Parolini's insurmountable original from 1968 that is. It's obviously, strongly influenced by Corbucci's Django (1966), but that doesn't detract from its psychotronic charm. Watch it and find out. Bruno Nicolai's score is like a second grade Morricone, but given Il Maestro's genius, even a second grade Morricone is a good thing. Combined with plenty of gunfights, greasy villains, conniving women and enough quirks and tricks to keep fans happy, this is a worthwhile second tier spaghetti western entry and Carnimeo's best in the Sartana series. Great for a Sunday afternoon...

Sartana comes around for another case of Wild West crime mystery. This time it's a search for a well-hidden cache of gold (and $2 million in counterfeit money) - and it seems that half the neighborhood is looking for all of it, too - including (but not limited to!) corrupt prison warden, sheriff, a bunch of his deputees, self-proclaimed general and his army for hire, brothers, wives, partners, lovers and friends of deceased gold/money owners, federal agents, false federal agents, elderly gamblers/inventors, gambling house owners and the Apache (well, at least, their cave is involved). As you can probably imagine, with such a ridiculously vast array of characters, the "mystery" gets so muddled that you simply don't care about all the double-, triple- and quadruple-crossings going on all the time. A more talented director and/or writer COULD have been able to pull this thing off (probably by making some plot elements less pronounced than the rest), but as it stands, unfortunately, the whole thing suffers from the lack of consistent pacing - and some order or structure to what's going on.Though certainly not a masterpiece, the movie is still watchable and holds a certain undeniable entertainment value - and has a lot of shootouts and a really large body count (just think about the sheer number of people competing to get their hands on that gold who are certain to get killed before the final confrontation), complete with Django-like multi-barreled gun massacre the likes of which you probably won't see anywhere else. Also, while perhaps not brilliant, the music - like in many spaghetti westerns - is quite good, and adds a lot of atmosphere to the proceedings.Strangely, some supporting actors from the previous Sartana movie ("Have a good funeral, my friend - Sartana will pay") - namely, the undertaker (now turned gambler?) and Chinese servant - make appearances here - though it isn't clear if they are supposed to play the same characters they did in the previous installment. And how the hell did Sartana get the Alfie back, what with all the exploding in sheriff's face Alfie did fifteen minutes earlier? Anyway, if you are looking for an easy (if not necessarily very intellectually stimulating) way to spend 90 minutes of your life, give this one a try; perhaps even if you are not a spaghetti western fan - as the whole thing sometimes resembles more a Sherlock Holmes mystery than a typical western.