source: Barbarosa

A legendary outlaw(Willie Nelson) join forces with a youngest(Gary Busey) who converts his protégé. One was a legend the other would become one, both are usually on the lam and pursued by vengeful men caused for family blood feud carried out by Don Braulio (Gilbert Roland). This gentle western contains action-Western, adventures, pursuits and brief touch of comedy about the enjoyable relationship between master and pupil. Most of the action of this modest Western takes place on breathtaking outdoors similarly to marvelous landscapes of the majestic John Ford .Packs a light touch in the wake of ¨Paul Newman- Robert Redford's Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid¨ adding a little bit of violence.There are some good action scenes that can fit in the previous film.The straightforward screenplay and unglamorous production give a true feeling of the Old West set in Texas. The performances by outcast, free-spirited Willie Nelson and Gary Busey do bring pleasure. Nelson shows the many sides of his spirited character.Australian director Fred Schepisi has flavorfully directed a nice and interesting Western.His greatest hits took place in the 80s such as proved in ¨Iceman,Plenty,Roxanne,Cry in the dark¨¨and of course ¨Barbarosa¨.For sheer spirit-lifting entertainment you can't do better that watching this picture.

Has anyone but my wife and myself seen this film with at least one or more extra scenes. When Eduardo returns home and tells Don Braulio that Barbarosa is dead, the Don gets up and slaps Eduardo and yells at him. This scene, which I saw maybe twice but probably only once, just makes so much more sense to me than the normal one that it blows my mind that it was cut. Please someone tell me that I'm not crazy that the scene really did exist and why only the cut version is shown. By the way, in my opinion this is not only one of the finest westerns that I have ever seen, but one of the best movies of all time. I am currently a projectionist and I have seen many a film. I also used to be a counselor at a facility for youthful offenders and used many lines of dialog from Barbarosa to help my residents get over some problems they were having. Also simply plot elements. The film is a classic and deserves much more recognition than it has had. "If you're waiting on me, you're wastin time."

There is something genuinely sweet and innocent about Willie Nelson – even though he wasn't even fifty yet while filming Barbarosa he already has the worn, tough, aged face of a man twenty years older than he, and yet he has the eyes of a puppy dog. He is the perfect man to play the legendary thief Barbarosa, a man who is feared by many but whom the audience must like immediately. Gary Busey playing the farm boy Carl seems a little too old for this role (he was pushing late 30's) but is terrific as well. Barbarosa is a light, easy-going film, with some occasional moments of violence. That's really the best praise aside from the actors that I can give it. It's obvious where the film is headed once the two protagonists meet up; every step of the movie has been mapped out. Luckily the film only runs 90 minutes so it's never dragged out. Quite the opposite; Barbarosa tends to dabble in so many little thoughts that they all seem meshed together. Part of the film wants to have that mysticism about Barbarosa, that perhaps he is a ghost who cannot be killed, but the film never plays with it enough. The Spaniards all know of the the legend that they whisper his name with eyes wide as he rides by…and yet nobody in Carl's town mentions Barbarosa once. Barbarosa gets shot by a group of Spaniards who are out looking for him and Carl is the one who has to bury him. It's not surprise when Barbarosa rises from the grave, but even Carl isn't all that shocked. Instead of a 'Wow, you really are invincible!' reaction, we get a 'Oh that's good, you're OK.' Maybe that's the point – that Carl accepts Barbarosa as a person, not a fable or a legend. My problem is that Carl or his town never heard of this man before Carl meets up with him…why not? They're only a few days away apparently – does Barbarosa not like that part of the country – do his people never leave town? Barbarosa is a lot of back-story and not enough of a friendship tale. The scenes with Barbarosa teaching Carl are trite and unbelievable. Carl seems to know too much too soon about being out in the wild. Barbarosa is never exciting enough to be an adventure film and there aren't enough calmer moments for the film to develop the friendship between these characters. Instead of learning about the outlaws, each scene is about them being hunted or hated. You would think these characters would have a great deal to talk about! It's not until the very last bit of the film that we learn why Barbarosa became who he was, and it's no big surprise. The very end of Barbarosa should have worked – it's a obvious gimmick that's tried and true, but the friendship hasn't been solidified like it should and so the ending falls flat. Barbarosa isn't a bad movie, it's that so much of the movie is like the ending - it's a nice try, but it never hits the bullseye. **1/2 out of ****

Seeing a negative review (one of two posted here out of the 12 so far) at the top of the list for this tremendously moving work of mythical story-telling has moved me to post this. It would be redundant to say anything more than has already been stated in the many insightful and intelligent comments to be found in those ten other reviews, all of which are well worth reading. All I can say in closing has also been stated a thousand times before: there is no accounting for taste and thank goodness that in this case, if only for just once, I may happily throw my hat into the ring with the majority--even if it should first have to be stolen off the head of one of the Zavalas while he is sleeping. ;-)

This films drifts along through some absolutely gorgeous western scenery. The cinematography is beautifully done, and is one of the finer points of this movie. The storyline is pretty episodic, and many plot points are glossed over without much explanation. Willie Nelson (Barbarosa) has some good scenes, along with Gilbert Roland who plays his revengeful father-in-law, but Gary Busey steals the show as Carl, the hard luck "farmboy". It's not the greatest movie ever made, but I enjoyed watching it......more like a fable than a western. 6/10

The second half was an improvement over the first, but I never really could get into the movie. It bounced around too much, taking too long to give the viewer a grasp of what was going on. The Big Bend country was spectacular, but the film was an also ran.

I've seen this movie several times over the years, since it first came out on VHS. All of the people in and behind this movie should do more movies like this, again...Schepisi has the confidence to let this story tell itself at its in own pace. Although the plot may seem to skip over key details, I really feel that Schepisi was only trusting in the audience's intelligence and ability to piece the puzzle together. The way he presents the different approaches of the families' blood rivalries is particularly subtle . Busey is amazingly lively. Nelson and Roland each have great screen presences, are good throughout, but particularly in their one scene together. I enjoy this movie everytime I see it.

This obscure Western was one of my favorite movies as a kid. It was a box office sleeper, but with the advent of HBO, it achieved a cult following - at one point it was the most-requested movie on HBO. While this must mean that a large number of people watched the movie, everyone I know who has seen it saw it on my TV. Willie Nelson, not someone I think of as an actor, is excellent. Gary Busey, in the height of his coke-head days, turns in another wonderful performance. Truth be told, all of the actors are perfect. The story is different, as the previous reviewer pointed out, from all the other Westerns, and the cinematography is unbelievable. Definitely a movie to rent or buy.

The first time I saw this movie it had a scene in it where Don Brajilo berates the returning Eduardo for killing Barbarosa and explains that the feud with Barbarosa was his way of deliberately pumping up the family to make something of itself, and asks Eduardo what he will do to keep the family going when it is his turn to be patrone. Am I the only one who ever saw this cut? It makes the rest of the movie make sense. Otherwise why does Don Bralijo make such an terrible attack on his adoptive son and new son-in-law, Barbarosa? Why does Eduardo cry out "Barbarosa" at the celebration, when he knows that Barbarosa is dead---to keep the legend alive. I figure the censorship board cut it and I'm afraid there isn't a whole copy left. I didn't imagine this!