Sartana & Sabata: Two Halves of a Whole – Or a Consolation of One to the Other
Gianfranco Parolini (1925-2018), known by many film fans under his Anglo alias Frank Kramer, drew a consistent line between visually impressive films and impressive complex story driven films. His work in the German/Italian/French/Spanish co-production series Kommissar X (Agent Joe Walker: Commissioner X) highlighted visual aspects like locations and camera work and his late period Western Diamante Lobo (God’s Gun) had many twists and turns, making audiences constantly wonder what was going to happen. Two film characters that were able to embody both were the inaugural appearances of Sartana and Sabata. Both characters were ambiguous strangers who revealed little to nothing about themselves, but always managed to have a clear idea of what was really going on in the towns they found were concealing something crooked. Keeping them one step ahead of the game was wit, allies, and an assortment of tricks.
"I am your pallbearer" - Gianni Garko as Sartana in If You Meet Sartana…Pray for Your Death
When Parolini created Sartana in 1968, he intended for a character that was human, but had a cunning wit that surpassed most Heroes and Anti-Heroes of the Western at the time. Most Cowboy protagonists of the Italian Westerns were often drifters out for themselves, world-weary, and only believing in money and their guns. To keep the press and government from condemning these films as praising nihilistic and fatalistic opportunists, moderate, but necessary, scenes revealing a past incident that left these characters forever scarred, very often doing the right thing because someone made them realize there were still good people worth fighting to save. With Sartana, admirably embodied by Gianni Garko, these traits weren’t on display, but something in the character’s mannerisms, his personality, and way of speaking that gave the audience the feeling he was at heart a decent guy out to squash the dirty dealings of a town full of swindlers. Parolini’s adding of a supernatural element in the character seemingly popping up out of nowhere, and surviving being shot at led audiences to wonder just how human Sartana was, maybe even thinking he was a spectral figure. All of these elements made for an interesting new type of hero, not necessarily superhuman, but with abilities that weren’t generally found in your average gunman.
The success of the original prompted the producers to want a sequel, but in there laid a difference of opinion. Parolini wanted to keep the mystical, almost ghostly aspects of the character intact, maintaining the character’s mysteriousness, but the producers wanted more emphasis on the character’s usage of gadgets and trickery, wanting to re-cash in on the James Bond franchise after the Euro-Spy sub-genre failed to have the same lasting impact as the Westerns, Giallos, Polizioteschi, and Roman Peplums did. Parolini argued that his intention was for the character to be someone no one could figure out, specializing in stealth, weaponry, and deceit, not to have him end up as a James Bond rip-off. When the negotiations fell through, Parolini gave up all rights to the character and went on to other projects. The Sartana figure then went on to his more popular image, the gadget wielding, slight of hand artist created by Giuliano Carnimeo and Tito Capri.
"I’m on the right side. -Which side is that? -Not the side against the law." - Lee Van Cleef as Sabata and William Berger as Banjo in Sabata
The year after he gave up Sartana, Parolini and his regular co-writer Renato Izzo went on to create another cleaver trickster Cowboy in Sabata, a character memorably played by a great Lee Van Cleef. Sabata was another gunman of mysterious origins, little or nothing of his past ever coming to light, save for a few bits here and there. Sabata’s mastery of weapons and his skill and wit at staying one step ahead of his foes made him a popular icon within the genre, going so far as to make him a kind of superman. Parolini and Izzo added touches of light comedy to give the character a fanciful and playful approach that allowed spectators to sit back and have a good time, but still keep enough seriousness in it to keep the audience wondering what will happen next. Like with most Italian Western Heroes and Anti-Heroes, Sabata is clearly out for himself when he decides to blackmail Stengle, Judge O’Hara, and Ferguson, but there’s clear element that shows he doesn’t like the idea of breaking the law the way many of his contemporaries were clearly shown as not above.
A popular question that has risen with the release of both franchises on DVD and Blu Ray, and of course both series’ write-ups in many books on the genre, is just how similar are the characters of Sartana and Sabata. In one of Parolini’s last interviews, done by Arrow Video for their boxset of the series, before his death he commented about having retained a kind of bitterness at having not been able to continue on with the Sartana character, but made no hint whatsoever that the Sabata character was a sort of compensation to continue any ideas he had, though he did admit his period with Sartana helped him discover Sabata. Some fans (this writer included) believe full heartedly, given the basic similarities to the characters, i.e, very little being known about them, they seemingly appear out of nowhere to thwart a major conspiracy to commit fraud, and their dazzling display of tricks that these two do indeed share some commonality. To the naked eye, Sabata is a lighthearted take on the mysterious stranger prototype, but in many ways bears a resemblance, if only in the slightest degree, to the equally mythical figure of Sartana. Both owe their origins to Parolini and Rizzo, and are highly intelligent in both gunplay, being able to play the bad guys against each other, and very quick in the usage of guns and other aspects of Western qualities.
Now these similarities were likely not meant to be intentional, particularly in the former’s being done as a straight Western and the other playing more to the tongue and cheek aspect of the genre, but it’s hard to believe that Parolini wasn’t thinking in some way of the former when he was creating the latter. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as Sabata did provide some relief to Parolini after the Sartana debacle, but it’s a shame there isn’t some concrete evidence to show if this is merely a reworking of one character to another, or if Parolini was really looking to stick it to the producers for cheating him. If the latter is indeed true, Parolini deserves every bit of credit for outdoing the man trying to cash in on his creation with a character that was ten times the artist Sartana was, though to call the characters competitors would be unfair, as it would’ve been true ironic justice to have the duo team up had the chance been presented. Whatever the reason, both characters hold a special place in the history of the Italian Western and both haver become iconic for their ingenuity and abilities, making them far above average to the typical Italian Western protagonist.
While the Italian Western’s early 70’s period of internal cannibalism with characters and story outlines led to the genre’s quick fad out and many critics to disregard them for a time, characters like Sartana, Sabata, The Man with No Name, Django, etc., have managed to withstand the test of time and its varying obstacles associated with it, making them icons and symbols for future generations to enjoy and admire. The interest of these films with retrospectives starting in the 1980’s and the heavy influence on filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez on their own films led to the genre being recognized as the classics they were meant to be, and while all of them don’t have the markings of a Leone, Corbucci, Castellari, or even Parolini, many of them are still good, even with smaller budgets.
With age usually blurring the bad memories and only leaving the positives things, fans will never know what Parolini’s actual thought process had been, but what’s certain is that his name will be forever remembered for both characters, even if he only handled the former for one time only.
By Tony Nash, 2019
