Search - Sabata on DVD

5 stars for the film - 0 stars due to sound sync problem

Robert W. Grandcolas | Eatontown, NJ United States | 08/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Sabata is one of the very best Spaghetti Westerns. Unfortunately MGMs american version of this DVD is marred by a terrible sound-sink problem throughout most of the middle of the film. And I do not mean bad dubbing! Sabata was filmed with the actors speaking entirely in English so the sound should be perfect. The sound becomes and stays so out of sink that voices and all sound effects (footsteps, slaps, gun shots etc.) are noticeably off by about a whole two seconds. There is one scene where Sharky's mother is slapping him. The slap sounds occur every time she pulls her hand back. Characters continue to move their mouths long after their voices have stopped. This completely mars one of the greatest spaghetti westerns of all time and the very best of the three Sabata films! This is a problem with the MGM/Sony DVD pressing not with the original film.



Sabata is otherwise an excellent combination of western action, acrobats, fancy gadgets, humor, good music and clever camera work. The acting by Lee Van Cleef and the rest of the cast is top notch.



Van Cleef, a great character actor has incredible presence yet never upstages the other actors giving the cast an ensemble feeling rather then a one man show.



The clever editing, fluid camera work, and color photography in Sabata is super. The film is extremely stylish and purposely tongue in cheek, highly entertaining, imaginative, and funny.



The plot - A trio of city-big-wigs attempt to empty the bank. Sabata finds out and blackmails the buch. The trio sends more and more bad guys to dispatch Sabata (Blazing Saddles Style). With each attempt the henchmen are bumped-off (in increasingly funny and imaginative ways). After each attempt Sabata ups the anti. This continues until all hell breaks loose in a wonderfully filmed Indiana Jones style shootout.



Roger Greenspun of the New York Times accurately describes the film in his review: "As heroic fiction, it is stronger on colorful success than on noble character, but it is so energetic and at the same time so tactful about its achievements that I find it impossible not to credit most of its ideas at face value-and sometimes a little more... Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) is a black-cloaked mysterious stranger, with looks of Judex and the manner of Fearless Fosdick...Sabata is one of those rarities (even among mysterious strangers) who absolutely never makes mistakes, never is surprised, and always wins, usually by superior fire power, even when their enemies number an army. He is assisted (not that he needs it) by a Mexican ne'er-do-well (Pedro Sanchez) and an acrobatic Indian (Nick Jordan) whose leaps and somersaults wonderfully extend the meticulous agility that is central to Sabata's enterprise and to the film's style...style must be very nearly an article of faith with (director) Frank Kramer (his real name is Gianfranco Parolini) whose graceful camera performs elegant arabesques above the simplicities of a plot for which he is also partially responsible. "Sabata" keeps throwing out almost gratuitous pleasures in movement and design-like the lovely Mario Bava adventure films-and for this enterprising prodigality Kramer deserves praise. So do the cast members"

We have waited a long time for Sabata to come out on DVD. The sound problem on Sabata is terribly disappointing. I would have given this 5 stars if not for the sound problem.



Note - MGMs European PAL regon 2 version of Sabata has the sound in perfect sink with the film thoughout. If you have a PAL all-region DVD player this is the version of Sabata to get. [...] sells this version.

Its great - 5 stars!



"

Great film... no extras

Arch Stanton | London, UK | 09/26/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Sabata is a great adition to the Italian Western genre: the characters are well rounded, the plot is involving, the music is cool and, above all, it stars Lee Van Cleef and William Berger.



There are no extras, only a set of trailers for other westerns (Italian and otherwise). Sabata is a sadly neglected film which I think could do with a special edition.



At least it's uncut."

Not the best western

S. B. Holmer | Ohio, USA | 05/05/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, I bought this hoping for a performance like the one in "For A Few Dollars More", but didn't get it. At times this movie is silly, when you are expecting it to be something better. I won't be buying any of the other Sabata movies, as this was supposed to be the best one. I was disappointed."

Sabata 1969

John W . Ford | Los Angeles , California . U.S.A | 08/30/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When The Law can't be trusted , He'll even the odds . Who he is and where he comes from , no one knows . But the leading citizen of the Western town of Daugherty think he knows too much . And they want to silence him - forever . Get ready to fast-paced , explosive action as Lee Van Cleef (1925-1989) stars as SABATA , the mysterious , steely-eyed gunslinger who , after he discovers Daugherty's elite are the masterminds behind the elaborate bank heist , imposes his bullet-laced brand of justice on the town . Brides , bullets and even his turncoat best friend can't stop Sabata as he guns and gallops to a final spetacular shootout that's one of the biggest gunfight ever seen in the movies . Filmed in Spain and Italy , SABATA is another of producer Alberto Grimaldi's (1925-) * The Good , the Bad , and the ugly * (1966) hard-hitting Westerns , a series which began as an Imitation of the Hollywood genre but results in a creation of a new screen star -the Western "anti-hero" . Yes it's true about the bad sound syncro . High Quality Transfer ."