50th Anniversary of the premier of If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the premier of “Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte” (If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death), which was the first in a series of spaghetti westerns based on the character Sartana. It was followed by four other official Sartana films; I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death (Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino, 1969), Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (Buon funerale, amigos!... paga Sartana, 1970), Light the Fuse... Sartana Is Coming (Nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana, Una, 1971) and Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin (C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara, 1970), in which Garko was replaced by George Hilton.

The first Sartana film is about a group of town father, among them the bank director,  who organize an insurance swindle by hire Tampico and his Mexican gang, to steal a strong-box, and then an American gang, led by Lasky, to kill the Mexicans. After that is accomplished they pay Lasky to kill all his own men (and come back alone). Or maybe Lasky wasn't hired to do that, but just did it and obtained a fair price for it. To complicate matters, the strong-box is filled with rocks when Lasky opens it, and there's a mysterious stranger, called Sartana, who starts getting involved in the missing contents of the strong-box.

Even though the plot is a bit hard to follow it is worth the effort just to watch Garko in action. Is Sartana a spirit, a magician or just a clever bounty hunter.

Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte – Italian title

Yksinäinen taistelija – Finnish title

Sartana – French title

Sartana – German title

Sartana - Bete um Deinen Tod – German title

Sartana – Greek title

Sartana Reza pela tua morte – Portuguese title

Sartana – Spanish title

Si te encuentras con Sartana... reza por tu muerte – Spanish title

Two Bags of Gold – English title

If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death - U.S.A. title

Gunfighters Die Harder  - U.S.A. title)

A 1967 Italian, Monaco film co-production [Paris Etolie Films (Rome), Parnass Film (Monaco)]

Producer: Aldo Addobbati

Director: Frank Kramer (Gianfranco Parolini)
Story: Luigi De Santis, Fabbio Piccioni, Adolfo Cagnacci

Screenplay: Luigi De Santis, Fabbio Piccioni, Adolfo Cagnacci

Cinematographer: Sandro Mancori (Eastmancolor - Pariscope

Music: Piero Piccioni

Running time:

Cast: -

Sartana - John Garko (Giovanni Garcovich)

Lasky – William Berger (Wilhelm Berger)

Morgan – Klaus Kinski (Nickolaus Nakaszynski)

General Jose Manuel Francisco Mendoza Montezuma de la Plata Caressa ‘Tampico’ Rodriguez – Fernando Sancho (Fernando Les)

Jeff Stewall - Sydney Chaplin

Al Hollman - Gianni Rizzo (Giovnni Rizzo)

Carlos Perdido – Andrew Scott (Andrea Scotti)

Dusty – Franco Pesce (Francesco Pesce)

Evelyn Hollman - Heidi Fischer

Jane Randall – Maria Pia Conte (Maria Vaccarezza)

Meg/Maggie – Sabine (Sabine Sun)

Reverend Logan - Carlo Tamberlani (Francesco Tamberlani)

Gambler - John Francis Littlewords (Gianfranco Parolini)

Speedy – Arrigo Peri

Lieutenant Miguel – Remo Capitani (Renato Capitani)

El Moreno – Sal Borgese (Salvatore Borgese)

El Moreno henchman – Bruno Ukmar

Lasky henchmen - Gilberto Galimberti Bruno Arié, Gino Barbacane

Stagecoach passengers – Patricia Carr (Rosella Bergamonti), Lugi Antonio Guerra

Saloon patron - Augusto Funari

Old man in buggy Felippo Perego

Old woman in buggy - Anna Maria Perego

Poker players - Sergio Testori

Bandit - Franco Ukmar

Hollman maid – Lina Franchi, Fulvio Pellegrino

With Sergio Jossa, Antonietta Fiorito, Adinolfi Ugo (Ugo Adinolfi)