If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (...Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte)

The first film in the series built around the character Sartana, the 1968 spaghetti western If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death was released in Italy as Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte. Italy, France and Germany co-produced it, shooting in Italian, and it runs about 95 minutes. Gianfranco Parolini directed it under the pseudonym Frank Kramer, and he wrote the screenplay with Renato Izzo.

The story centres on Sartana, a mysterious gunfighter played by Gianni Garko, who is drawn into an intrigue of gold, greed and mutual betrayal. William Berger, Fernando Sancho and Klaus Kinski appear alongside him, and the wider cast includes Sydney Chaplin, Sal Borgese and Gianni Rizzo. Piero Piccioni composed the score.

Four official sequels followed: Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino (1969) and, all in 1970, Buon funerale, amigos!... paga Sartana, Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana and C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara. George Hilton replaced Garko in the fourth. Giuliano Carnimeo directed the sequels, while producer Alberto Grimaldi picked Parolini for the Sabata trilogy after seeing his work here. As with Django, directors such as Demofilo Fidani made unofficial follow-ups to cash in. The German-language premiere took place on 22 August 1969.