Nice Italian Western with sad atmosphere , marvelous musical score and elements of Greek tragedy about two brothers : Cain/Abel alike . It deals with an ex-con (Anthony Steffen) out of prison and seeks justice and vengeance against his brother who wrongly incarcerated him . His sibling is called Sartana (Gianni Garco or Gary Hudson who took this pseudonym based on Gary Cooper and Rock Hudson) , a violent bandit dressed in soldier clothes and including the usual poster : ¨Wanted 10.000 dollars , dead or alive . Sartana is a leader of a nasty gang (Sieghart Rupp of ¨Fistful of Dollars¨) who carry out blackmails and massacre against various locations as Campos , Wishville, and Blackstone . The unsettling and disturbing Sartana supported by the corrupt Judge Waldorf (Carlo A'Angelo) proceeds his activities at whatever cost , acting as judge , jury and executioner . The film ends in a sentence : ¨Non Odiare Il Tuo Fratello Nel Tuo Cuore , E Non Levanti Contra Al Tuo Sangue ; Levitico XIX¨
It is a typical Spaghetti Western including common scenarios , two-fisted antiheroes , rapid zooms and strong confrontations full of shots , crossfire and violence . Nice production design shot in Elios studios and Almeria , of course , and adding a peculiar Aztec temple where the villain Sartana lives , in similar style to ¨Requiescant¨ (Carlo Lizzani) temple . Italia/Yugoslavia actor Gianni Garco or Giovanni Garkovich and the Brazilian Anthony Steffen give their ordinaries performances . Support cast is pretty well , it is filled with familiar faces from Spaghetti such as Sieghardt Rupp , Franco Fantasia , Carlo D'Angelo and Carla Calò as tragic mother . Besides , brief appearances from Sal Borghese and Riccardo Pizzuti . Evocative and thrilling musical score by Michele Lanzeranza in Ennio Morricone wake .
Being decently filmed by Colmenar Viejo and La Pedriza , Madrid , Spain and El Lacio , studios Elios Rome , Italy . This Spaghetti Western was decently shot by the Italian professional Albert Cardone . Albert was a prestigious assistant director to popular films as ¨Ben Hur¨, ¨Purple noon¨, ¨Cagliostro¨ , ¨Carmen¨ , ¨Don Camilo¨ , ¨Return of Don Camilo¨. And shot some films , most of them entertaining Westerns such as : ¨¨ Blood at Sundown¨ , ¨Kidnapping¨ , ¨Il Lungo Giorno Del Massacro¨ , ¨20.000 Dollari Sul¨ , ¨L'ira Di Dio¨ and starred by usual genre stars as Brett Halsey , Gianni Garco , Peter Martell , Wayde Preston , Fernando Sancho and Anthony Steffen . Rating : Better than average 6.5/10 . Only for Spaghetti Western aficionados .
This ¨Mille Dolollari Sul Nero¨ was first movie in which showed up ¨Sartana¨ , but this Sartana has nothing to do with true Sartana who appeared in ¨Se Incontri Sartana Prega Per Tu a Morte¨(1968) by Gianfranco Parolini or Frank Kramer , along with screenwriter Renato Izzo . Here Garco performed an unforgettable role as the ¨Mantello Nero¨ hero , as Sartana is a cunning card player ,elegantly dressed in black , he looks like a magician -Mandrake- more than a gunslinger . Parolini gives this character a ghostly style , introducing cynicism and amorality . To be followed by other Sartana (his origin name seems to be Satan) starred by Garco such as ¨10.0000 Dollari Per Un Massacro¨ (1967) by Romolo Guerrieri and ¨Per 1000.000 Dollari T'amazzo¨(1967) by Giovanni Fago . Then , Anthony Ascott or Giuliano Carmineo filmed 4 Sartana entries , such as : ¨Soni Sartana Il Vistro Becchino (69) , ¨Buon Funerale Amigos , Paga Sartana¨ (70) , ¨Sartana arrives¨(70) and ¨Sartana Vendi La Pistola E Comprati La Bara¨ (71), most of them starred George Hilton . Giuliano Carmineo shot with Gianni Garco two similar roles to Sartana as ¨Gli Fumavano Le Colt , Lo Chiamavano Camposanto¨(71) and ¨Lo Chiamavano Spiritu Santo¨ (72) . Subsequently , Sartana was played by William Berger in ¨Sartana in valley of the gold¨ (70) and Peter Lee Lawrence performed ¨A dollar for Sartana¨(71) by Leon Klimovski .
