6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After a stagecoach is robbed and the passengers murdered, a long and tangled series of surprise attacks and murderous double-crosses leaves the coach's strongbox in the hands of the killer Lasky. It is up to the legendary hero Sartana to track down the missing money and determine just who is ultimately behind the grisly robberies and killings.
Starring: Gianni Garko, William Berger, Klaus Kinski, Fernando Sancho, Sydney ChaplinForeign | 100% |
Western | 31% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of The
Complete Sartana.
One of the perhaps slightly humorous upshots of the incredible success of The Man with No Name Trilogy is that it at least contributed to an influx of often pretty similar properties featuring
mysterious (if not always laconic) characters with names. Some of these so-called “Euro Westerns” (of which the “Spaghetti Westerns”
were
a subset) were insanely popular in their day, even if that popularity didn’t always extend to the shores of the United States (though it quite often
did).
A cursory sampling of films in this kind of odd niche of genre outings with their putative hero’s name in the titles might include such offerings as
the Django films (Django, Django, Kill... If You Live, Shoot!, Hanging for Django,
Django,
Prepare a Coffin), the Trinity films (They
Call
Me Trinity, Trinity Is Still My Name!
),
the Ringo films (A Pistol for Ringo, The Return of Ringo), the Sabata films (Sabata, Adiós, Sabata, The
Return
of Sabata)
and/or the five Sartana films currently under discussion. What’s a little hilarious about this glut of named characters, all of whom owe at
least
something to the now legendary Leone - Eastwood collaborations, is that along the way character names kind of came and went, and in
various markets some films were marketed as a “named” feature even if that particular character actually wasn’t even featured in the film. In fact
one of the enjoyable supplements on Arrow's fairly recent A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari "double
feature" were the commentaries by Spaghetti Western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke, who kind of jokingly recount at one point
how one of the Ringo films was marketed as a Sartana film in some foreign market (Joyner and Parke are on hand for
these releases as well, and both describe themselves as diehard Sartana fans, and in one of their commentaries for this set also
joke about how Django also ended up in a bunch of titles where the character of that name was nowhere to be found). Also kind of
amusingly, the character name of Sartana was actually introduced in a "non-Sartana" film, the aforementioned The Return of Ringo, where the character was actually one of the bad guys.
But Gianni Garko's characterization was so memorable that the name, if not the actual character, survived as a hero, and as Joyner and Parke
recount in their commentaries on this set, Garko went to some lengths (including lawsuits) to protect his take on the character, down to the
clothes
Sartana wears in the various films.
If You Meet Sartana. . .Pray for Your Death is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:
If You Meet Sartana. . .Pray for Your Death is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono audio. A 35mm print was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan at OCN Digital. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios. The English-language soundtrack was sourced from the 35mm print and remastered at Deluxe Media. There are time in which audio synchornisation will appear loose against the picture, due to the audio being recorded in post-production. This presentation still exhibits some wear and damage to the picture and soundtrack, in keeping with the condition of the print elements. The Italian language soundtrack was remastered from an SD tape master source. There were instance of severe damage on this master where the English language track had to be substituted.This is the only film in the set not to be sourced off of a camera negative (as well as being the only presentation in 1.85:1), and there's a noticeable difference in quality, the most noticeable element being some rather large (and at times long lasting) scratches that show up. The first is kind of orange colored and occurs during the opening sequence (which includes some optically printed credits, where picture quality understandably degrades), but there are green tinted vertical scratches that accrue slightly to the left of center after about the one hour mark. Densitites are a bit variable here, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised overall with the vividness of the palette, though at times things looked just slightly brown/yellow to my eyes. Detail levels are quite good, especially in close-ups. While grain understandably tends to look a little ragged in opticals, otherwise it resolves without any problems and adds a nicely organic look to the viewing experience.
All five of the films feature DTS-HD Master Audio mono tracks in both Italian and English (the covers incorrectly state LPCM 1.0, for what that's worth). There's no significant difference in fidelity and overall sound between the five films, with a couple of exceptions noted below. I opted for the original Italian mixes, while also regularly toggling to the English language tracks for comparison's sake. There is surprisingly little difference in amplitude and general sound quality between the languages, with the possible exception of I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death, where the English language track sounds tinnier, especially with regard to music. All of the Italian language tracks have noticeable hiss, but no other really problematic elements. While sync is loose, as is mentioned in the booklet (due to the Italian tradition of post looping everything), fidelity is surprisingly robust in these films, offering good support for dialogue and effects, which can admittedly sound a little boxy at times (gunfire especially). All five films boast rather interesting music scores, not necessarily as "Morricone-esque" as one might expect, and in fact there's an almost Bacharach like 6/8 theme for I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death. Several scores feature potentially bright instruments like harpsichords, which sound clear without sounding strident. Some of the cues in Have a Good Funeral My Friend... Sartana Will Pay sound influenced by the then insanely popular music of Lalo Schifrin for television's Mission: Impossible, with bongos establishing tension. Interestingly, Light the Fuse... Sartana Is Coming's English language track has some underscore where the original Italian doesn't.
If You Meet Sartana... Pray for Your Death is a really fun introduction to the "real" Sartana, and it boasts a colorful supporting cast along with the charismatic Garko in what is arguably his signature role. I frankly found some of the sequels even more enjoyable (in a kind of gonzo way) than this first Sartana outing, but all of the elements that have made this franchise a cult item are here, and Arrow has provided a release with good (if occasionally problematic) video and audio, and some nice supplements. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana / Gunman in Town
1970
Buon funerale amigos!... paga Sartana / Gunslinger
1970
C'č Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara! / A Fistful of Lead
1970
Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino / Sartana the Gravedigger
1969
Ballad of Death Valley / The Angry Gun / Ringo the Killer / Una Pistola per Ringo
1965
Il grande duello / The Big Showdown
1972
La resa dei conti
1966
1967
E Dio disse a Caino...
1970
Goodbye Texas
1966
Blood at Sundown / Il ritorno di Ringo
1965
1970
Gli Specialisti
1969
Č tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta
1971
Special Edition
1966
The Reward's Yours... The Man's Mine
1969
Lo voglio morto
1968
Due once di piombo
1966
Se sei vivo spara
1967
Django, prepare ton cercueil / Preparati la bara!
1968