If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death. (1968)
First in the series of Sartana films. Starring the excellent Gianni Garko as Sartana and the charismatic William Berger as Lasky, the villain of the film. The film about the quest for stolen gold, rival gangs and corrupt officials is nothing new to the western genre but the two leads ensure the story remains interesting and above all a lot of fun. Lasky's weapon of choice - a gatling gun and Sartana's four chambered miniature square gun - provide many of the bullets and a fair few deaths as well.
The film has a feel of The Good the Bad and the Ugly's characterization about it in that although Sartana eventually kills Lasky he clearly has a grudgingly strained relationship with him throughout.
By the time of this release the spaghetti western which arrived like a breath of fresh air four years earlier was getting stale and cliched. One or two scenes were quite slow and predictable and the beating Sartana receives to the horrendous chorus of laughter from the participants is a cliche i hate in the Spaghetti genre.
However the odd niggle aside If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death is an entertaining film particularly when Garko and Berger are on screen.
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