Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 3, 2018

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.

Somewhat amusingly, at least for those who take delight in the sometimes weird synchronicities that occur in the film business, a brief span of seven or so months saw two then popular franchises replace the star associated with the role with a “new, improved” (?) actor named George. James Bond fans had been flocking to theaters for years to see Sean Connery essay that iconic role, until he demurred any follow ups after You Only Live Twice and George Lazenby got his sole at bat as 007 in 1969’s On Her Majesty's Secret Service . While probably not in the same league as Bond, James Bond (despite this set’s supplement, which draw comparisons to the spy franchise), Sartana had been ambling along quite successfully for a couple of years with Gianni Garko in the title role, when George Hilton showed up in this third Sartana film for his sole assignment in the original series. (I'm calling this the third film in the series, since that's what Arrow does on this set, though it appears this film may have been released last of the original five in some markets.) Hilton certainly does okay as Sartana, and from certain angles (profile especially) at least somewhat resembles Garko, even if his hair is considerably darker. But as enjoyable as Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin undeniably is, some may feel there’s a whatever the Italian version of “je ne sais quoi” missing from this particular Sartana outing.

Sartana’s Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin has arguably one of the best (if goofiest) opening sequences in the entire original franchise. There’s a deliberate playfulness to things that starts off with a bit of a subliminal “callback”, where in previous films bad guys have been keeping tabs on goings on “down in the valley”, only in this film it’s Sartana himself looking over a big open prairie. The expected stagecoach shows up, and then (without posting spoilers) let’s just say carnage ensues, with an absolutely delightful “trick” performed by Sartana to keep dynamite from exploding. As fun and even inventive as this opening is, some of the rest of the film tends to work in fits and starts.

Once again Sartana is on the hunt for almost comically evasive gold, which leads to one of the first patently hilarious kills in the film, with Sartana disguised as a Mexican peasant. The plot involves Sartana infiltrating a town with a nefarious land baron named Samuel Spencer (Piero Lulli) who is behind some subterfuge in order to maintain control of the gold. Kind of interestingly, the putative love interest, saloon girl Trixie (Erika Blanc) may not be pure as the driven snow in true Western film tradition, something that gives this outing a bit of an edge.

There are some kind of fun stylistic weirdnesses in this Sartana, including a character who is always accompanied by his little white parasol, Sartana's obsession with eggs (there's a great opening vignette in this regard), and (in a visual trope that is repeated in subsequent Sartana film) a female character with almost cartoon bright orange-red hair. This may not be the most consistently enjoyable Sartana, but it has enough going for it that franchise aficionados will probably be willing to overlook occasional lags in energy.

Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sartana is Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet provides the following information on the transfer:

Sartana is Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono audio. All restoration work was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin- registered Arriscan and was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. The mono Italian and English soundtracks were remastered from the optical sound track negatives.

This is another great looking transfer, with really nice looking fine detail on elements like faces (the film, like many Sartana outings, features askew framings which often place a face ludicrously close to the camera). But fine detail is also often quite impressive on things like some the elaborate fabrics in costumes or props (see the poncho in screenshot 7). The palette is generally warm, but has a just slightly brown looking quality, especially in some of the outdoor material. There are also some slight variances in clarity, and I once again wondered if some lens problems may have contributed to this aspect. Some of the palette pops quite appealingly (see the hair and dress in screenshot 2). As with all the other films in this set, grain looks very natural and resolves without any problems whatsoever.

Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Sartana Shoots First (1080p; 20:12) is an interview with George Hilton. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Lady Colt (1080p; 29:21) is an interview with Erika Blanc. In Italian with English subtitles.


• A Very Good Job (1080p; 15:16) is an interview with actor and agent Tony Askin. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Gallery (1080p) is culled from the Mike Siegel archive.

Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sartana is Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin is undeniable fun, and it begins with a literal bang, but I found this particular film a bit more of a hit and/or miss enterprise than some of the others. Technical merits are strong and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.