Sabata

Sabata is a 1969 Italian Western directed by Gianfranco Parolini, who wrote the screenplay with Renato Izzo. Lee Van Cleef plays the title character, a gunslinger who arrives in a small Texas town around the time a bank is robbed. The trail leads him to respected local figures who arranged the theft to serve their own interests, and Sabata turns their scheme against them. William Berger plays Banjo, a rival who carries a rifle in an instrument case, while Franco Ressel appears as the landowner Stengel and Ignazio Spalla plays Carrincha. The story moves through pursuit, blackmail and repeated attempts by the men behind the robbery to have Sabata killed.

Parolini had directed several films before this one, and Sabata was followed by Adiós, Sabata, Return of Sabata and God's Gun. Alberto Grimaldi produced for United Artists and PEA, with 41 credited cast members and 48 credited crew. The film runs 106 minutes and was released on 16 September 1969.

Audience response has been consistently positive without being enthusiastic. On IMDb it holds a 6.7 rating from around 6,400 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.3 from roughly 125 votes. The larger IMDb sample points to a durable following among Western viewers, and the lower TMDB figure comes from far fewer voters. Both place the film as a solidly regarded entry in Van Cleef's European Western work.