Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (1971)

- Buon funerale, amigos!... paga Sartana
Not a bad example of what I'm going to call a lesser SW, 10 May 2009

Sartana blows into town just after a local prospector, Joe Benson, has been murdered. Suddenly, there seems to be no shortage of buyers for the old man's land that most describe as nothing more than a pile of worthless sand. The two men who seem to want the land the most are the local crooked banker and the Chinese gambling parlor owner. But why? With Sartan's help, Benson's niece and heir plays the two potential buyers against each other looking to get the most for the land. Will she succeed? The only thing that's certain is that Sartana's going to do whatever he cam to make sure he comes out ahead.

Certainly not what I would call a top of the line Spaghetti Western, Have a Good Funeral, My Friend . . . Sartana Will Pay (let's shorten that to Have a Good Funeral for the rest of this comment) is still an enjoyable enough installment in the Sartana series. Gianni Garko is back as Sartana. He's excellent in the role and provides the character with just the right amount of mystery to throw doubt on his motivations. Even among the super human feats of other SW heroes, Sartana's abilities with a gun, a deck of cards, or being in the right place at the right time are unmatched. The supporting cast features a number of familiar faces – Helga Line and Franco Ressel being chief among them. But I was most impressed with Daniela Giordano and George Wang - the latter seemingly enjoying himself as much as anyone. Giuliano Carnimeo's direction is more workmanlike than artistic, though he does provide a visual flourish or two as Have a Good Funeral progresses. The plot has enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. And even thought the man behind the killings is easy to spot for anyone who's seen enough of these movies, it's still fun to watch Sartana figure things out. Finally, Bruno Nicolai's score is definitely a high point of the film, even if it is eerily reminiscent of some of his other work. Overall, not a bad example of what I'm going to call a lesser SW. Trust me, you could do a whole lot worse.

7/10