Sartana comes around for another case of Wild West crime mystery. This time it's a search for a well-hidden cache of gold (and $2 million in counterfeit money) - and it seems that half the neighborhood is looking for all of it, too - including (but not limited to!) corrupt prison warden, sheriff, a bunch of his deputees, self-proclaimed general and his army for hire, brothers, wives, partners, lovers and friends of deceased gold/money owners, federal agents, false federal agents, elderly gamblers/inventors, gambling house owners and the Apache (well, at least, their cave is involved). As you can probably imagine, with such a ridiculously vast array of characters, the "mystery" gets so muddled that you simply don't care about all the double-, triple- and quadruple-crossings going on all the time. A more talented director and/or writer COULD have been able to pull this thing off (probably by making some plot elements less pronounced than the rest), but as it stands, unfortunately, the whole thing suffers from the lack of consistent pacing - and some order or structure to what's going on.

Though certainly not a masterpiece, the movie is still watchable and holds a certain undeniable entertainment value - and has a lot of shootouts and a really large body count (just think about the sheer number of people competing to get their hands on that gold who are certain to get killed before the final confrontation), complete with Django-like multi-barreled gun massacre the likes of which you probably won't see anywhere else. Also, while perhaps not brilliant, the music - like in many spaghetti westerns - is quite good, and adds a lot of atmosphere to the proceedings.

Strangely, some supporting actors from the previous Sartana movie ("Have a good funeral, my friend - Sartana will pay") - namely, the undertaker (now turned gambler?) and Chinese servant - make appearances here - though it isn't clear if they are supposed to play the same characters they did in the previous installment. And how the hell did Sartana get the Alfie back, what with all the exploding in sheriff's face Alfie did fifteen minutes earlier? Anyway, if you are looking for an easy (if not necessarily very intellectually stimulating) way to spend 90 minutes of your life, give this one a try; perhaps even if you are not a spaghetti western fan - as the whole thing sometimes resembles more a Sherlock Holmes mystery than a typical western.

In his very first line in the movie, Sartana paraphrases the Bible verse "I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent" before killing a corrupt sheriff and two of his deputies. If I wasn't already excited about the fourth Sartana film, I'm now fully ready.

Sartana turns himself in for their murders in order to get one of his old friends, Grandville Full, out of the corrupt jail, one so horrible that the wardens urinate onto men desperate for water. That friend I mentioned earlier - Grand Full for short - knows where a half million in gold and two million in counterfeit money is. But there are plenty of people after it too, like an evil widow (Nieves Navarro!), a one-eyed killer, another corrupt lawman and even a general gone deaf and mad.

Like every Sartana movie, the only person you can trust is Sartana himself. The entire town of Mansfield is looking for the gold and ready to kill one another and anyone else that comes to visit. Like Mara Krupp, who pretty much plays the same horny hotel owner that she played in For a Few Dollars More.

Well, maybe Pon Pon, an old friend and inventor, can be trusted. After all, he's invented a robot for Sartana named Alfie. Yep, in the middle of a spaghetti western, there's a robot. Welcome to the Sartana films! He's also building a giant organ for his dance hall, which he claims to be the reason why he needs the money.

The scene where Alfie the robot blows up the sheriff, spraying out burning counterfeit money that Sartana lights a cigarette with while laughing? That's exactly why I love the Sartana series. They've moved from him as an angel of death to a detective with James Bond gadgets over the four Gianni Garko films.

The finale, where the pipe organ is taken into the street, only for it to contain machine guns that mow down hundreds - if not more - soldiers and assorted killers, thieves and liars has to be seen to be believed.

The music, by Bruno Nicolai, is great. He also scored plenty of Jess Franco films, as well as The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, All the Colors of the Dark, The Case of the Bloody Iris and so many more. Here, he continually brings back the haunting theme of Sartana and ups the intensity at the close of the film.

Of the four Sartana films I've watched, this one is my favorite. Now, it's not the dark and realistic film that a Leone Western can be, but it has a charm and verve all its own. Also, I want a robot that lights my cigars like Alfie!