What happened here? The first Sabata film was so fun, so over-the-top, so entertaining that there has never been a Spaghetti Western like it before or since. Here, in Adiós, Sabata, we have a watered down version of the first film, essentially stripped of all of the charm and joy that made the first film work so well. The first Sabata film was about a gunman who fought corrupt men and killers using his brain and clever tactics. In Adiós, Sabata, it's all about sheer gunpower and who can fire their weapon the fastest. Oh, sure, there are elements from the first film which make reappearances. Carrincha and Alley Cat are replaced by nearly identical characters. There are clever gadgets like a spring-loaded ship model which are used to dispatch hapless victims. But everything just feels ripped off from the first film. Yul Brynner, who plays Sabata, is a fine actor. But he doesn't capture the charisma of Lee Van Cleef. In this film, an almost uncomfortably stoic Sabata helps a group of revolutionaries steal gold from the Austrian Army currently occupying Mexico. But as I mentioned before, Sabata uses his brawn, not his brain, to defeat and overcome to odds. It's a real shame, too. Sabata was a fresh take on a tired genre. Adiós, Sabata is nothing more than a shallow rip-off of the first film that subsequently falls into tedious mediocrity.
6/10
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