I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (1969)

The second of the Sartana series—this time directed by Guiliano Carnimeo—clearly has a much higher budget (encompassing several different western towns), but is no less ridiculous plotwise.

Sartana is framed for a bank robbery, and has to clear his name by uncovering the identity of the real robbers, all while fending off various bounty hunters that are eager to claim the reward on his head. The bounty-hunter side of the film works well, particularly Klaus Kinski who has mysteriously come back to life since the first Sartana film (or, more likely is playing a different character). Kinski has a decent sized role here as a bad gambler driven into bounty hunting by his losses. Surprisingly, he doesn’t die. The investigation of the bank robbery works less well, and degenerates into a confusing series of characters, all of which seem only tenuously connected, with the final reveal of the perpetrator making little to no sense. As is common in the Sartana films, supporting characters are introduced then immediately shot, leaving the viewer constantly wondering who’s who and why they’ve just arrived.

The film is stylishly shot - although arguably overdone at times - better locations (although probably not Spanish, I think). A few bits look slightly cheap though, especially the race through some long grass (possibly stolen from The Big Gundown) and a stagecoach making serveral trips through the same short canyon. Other bits are also stolen from various Spaghetti Westerns: the intercutting of the wanted poster from For A Few Dollars More, and the reference to Judas and his $30 from Once Upon A Time In The West.

The music is largely forgettable, although the organ during the penultimate fight is a nice touch.

The video quality of the unofficial Franco Cleef DVD is good. The audio quality is variable and hard to follow in places, but this is probably just a reflection of the source material. Apparently there’s a small amount cut, where modern day neon signs had been used to indicate Sartana’s arrival in the gambling town; this is generally regarded as for the best.