Spaghetti westerns can claim some essential classics among their ranks. For a handful of exemplars, and the way that westerns have largely faded as a genre since the 70s, I think it's often overlooked that of all the spaghetti westerns ever made, not all are equal. 'If you meet Sartana... pray for your death' is enjoyable, but I think it's safe to say that it's not one of the best examples of the style. There's a decided bluntness and lack of polish that characterizes the entirety of the picture, not least of all in its editing (brusque and tactless), cinematography, sound design (rather tinny), plot development (far less than fluid and natural), acting (quite overcooked), dubbing, and direction. All the solid bones are here of a concrete narrative, and one that should be compelling in and of itself, yet as it presents to us it feels like much of the fine detail has been sandblasted away, leaving blocky rough edges as one element of the feature ill-fittingly abuts another. This isn't to say that the movie isn't clever at points, but it seems like we're mostly getting the broad strokes, and only the crudest form of the tale as we could be seeing it.
In the fundamentals this is just as suitable as most of its brethren. The production design, art direction, costume design, and filming locations all serve to build a strong look and feel to the proceedings. Action sequences in and of themselves are done well, some better than others while some instances are undercut by curt or overzealous camerawork and editing. All this is well and good, but also only goes so far in securing a picture's favor. And more to the point, again, such quality is set against the wild dearth of subtlety that often strips the plot of coherence as the story advances. I'm not entirely sure that some scenes or beats have meaningful connective threads between them, for they've been worn away by the coarseness. And what is a movie, a western especially, without a distinct, united tale to impart?
'If you meet Sartana... pray for your death' is entertaining, and fairly worthwhile on its own merits. It's also notably flawed, and considerably weaker than many of its contemporaries. Just a little bit more of a delicate hand in any regard would have gone a long way toward improving the title as a whole. Opinions vary and no doubt other folks get much more out of this than I did; I also wonder if I'm not being too kind. One way or another this is a decent way to spend 90 minutes if you come across it, but don't go out of your way by any means.
In the fundamentals this is just as suitable as most of its brethren. The production design, art direction, costume design, and filming locations all serve to build a strong look and feel to the proceedings. Action sequences in and of themselves are done well, some better than others while some instances are undercut by curt or overzealous camerawork and editing. All this is well and good, but also only goes so far in securing a picture's favor. And more to the point, again, such quality is set against the wild dearth of subtlety that often strips the plot of coherence as the story advances. I'm not entirely sure that some scenes or beats have meaningful connective threads between them, for they've been worn away by the coarseness. And what is a movie, a western especially, without a distinct, united tale to impart?
'If you meet Sartana... pray for your death' is entertaining, and fairly worthwhile on its own merits. It's also notably flawed, and considerably weaker than many of its contemporaries. Just a little bit more of a delicate hand in any regard would have gone a long way toward improving the title as a whole. Opinions vary and no doubt other folks get much more out of this than I did; I also wonder if I'm not being too kind. One way or another this is a decent way to spend 90 minutes if you come across it, but don't go out of your way by any means.