Sartana - Other Sartana Films

Other Sartana Films

Just like other Spaghetti Western characters like Django, Trinity, Sabata, and Ringo, Sartana inspired numerous sequels, hoping to cash in on the success and popularity of the character. In many cases, the Sartana in these movies bore little resemblance to Garko's (and Hilton's) interpretations in the original film cycle. In other cases, the name "Sartana" was used in the film title (at least in some language versions), even if there was no Sartana character in the movie itself. In some movies, Sartana teamed up or faced off with characters named Trinity or Django. All this was common practise in the Italian commercial cinema of the time, not only in Spaghetti Westerns.

The other Spaghetti Western films that have "Sartana" in their (Italian) title are:

• Sartana Does Not Forgive (Italian: Sartana no perdone) (1969) – played by George Martin, director Alfonso Balcazar
• Shadow of Sartana... Shadow of your Death (Italian: Passa Sartana... è l'ombra della tua morte) (1969) – played by Jeff Cameron, director Demofilo Fidani.
• Four Came to Kill Sartana (Italian: ...e vennero in quattro per uccidere Sartana!) (1969) – played by Jeff Cameron, director Demofilo Fidani.
• One Damned Day at Dawn...Django Meets Sartana! (Italian: Quel maledetto giorno d'inverno... Django e Sartana all'ultimo sangue) (1970) – played by Fabio Testi, director Demofilo Fidani.
• Sartana in the Valley of Death (Italian: Sartana nella valle degli avvoltoi) (1970) – played by William Berger, director Roberto Mauri.
• Django and Sartana Are Coming... It's the End (Italian: Arrivano Django e Sartana... è la fine) (1970) – played by Hunt Powers, director Demofilo Fidani.
• Sartana Kills Them All (Italian: Un par de asesinos) (1971) – played by Johnny Garko, director Rafael Romero Marchent.
• Django Defies Sartana (Italian: Django sfida Sartana) (1971) – played by George Ardisson, director Pasquale Squitieri.
• Lets Go and Kill Sartana (Italian: Vamos a matar Sartana) (1971) - "Sartana" does not appear in the cast list, director Mario Pinzauti.
• Trinity and Sartana... Those Dirty S.O.B.s (Italian: Trinita e Sartana figli di...) (1972) – played by Robert Widmark, director Mario Siciliano.
• Alleluja & Sartana Are Sons... Sons of God (Italian: Alleluja e Sartana figli di... Dio) (1972) – played by Robert Widmark, director Mario Siciliano.

Among these films the three films of Fidani make a total reversal of the Carmineo/Parolini Sartana character, turning him into an unselfish crime fighter, while the two films by Mario Siciliano makes him a blond Trinity-type hero fighting long and tedious brawls dressed in a buckskin jacket. Closest to the original is the city-dressed, money-oriented protagonist in Django defies Sartana who is paired with a Django character motivated by vengeance (and justice). In Sartana Does Not Forgive Sartana is an avenger while Sartana in the Valley of Death mostly plays out in a wilderness environment. You even find Sartana as a genre-typical Mexican bandit leader, played with usual gusto by Fernando Sancho, in Prima ti perdono…poi t'ammazzo (also known as Stagecoach of the Condemned).

The "other" Sartana films also lack the densely packed action and colorful array of characters that are found in the original Parolini and Carnimeo cycle. Generally, they also had far less success at the box office than the original Sartana films.

In Sartana Kills Them All Garko plays a character named Santana, who is dressed in a brown leather jacket with fringes, not a black suite and long coat. He kills people with an ordinary six-shooter in stand up duels and there is no aura of mystery surrounding him. He doesn't even end up with the money. In fact Garko put in his contract that "Sartana" couldn't be used as the name of the character. Despite this contract, "Sartana" was used as the name of the character in non-Spanish language and non-Italian language versions of the films.