Although far from a genre great, Sabata is an undeniably entertaining spaghetti Western. The film stars Lee Van Cleef as the titular Sabata, an honourable gunslinger who blackmails a bunch of corrupt officials. The story is as simple as they come but it works perfectly well here as it gives a legitimate reason for a series of assassins to be sent after our rat-faced hero.

Even for a spaghetti Western the characters are broad and colourful. The effeminate villain (who looks like Graham Chapman playing Oscar Wilde) is brilliant as is Cleef’s menagerie of friends. Cleef never looked the archetypal hero but this works in the film’s favour. The action is ridiculous with outrageous gun fights and melodramatic stand-offs. The opening bank heist was particularly memorable in its audaciousness. It can’t compete with Leone, Corbucci or even Sollima’s spaghetti Westerns but it is a lot of fun.