Barbarosa

Starring:Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, Isela Vega, Gilbert Roland, Danny De La Paz, Alma MartÃnez, George Voskovec, Sharon Compton, Howland Chamberlain, Harry Caesar, Wolf Muser, Kai Wulff, Roberto Contreras, Luis Contreras, Itasco Wilson, Bruce Smith (II), Sonia de LeÃ³n, Joannelle Nadine Romero, Michael O'Rourke (II), Bentley H. Garrett
Director: Fred Schepisi
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Description

Barbarosa (Willie Nelson), a gnarly ex-Texas Ranger turned bandit, lives by his wits and his prowess with a gun. Prowling the lonesome deserts of the Southwest, the wily fugitive meets Karl (Gary Busey), a young, eager farmhand out of his element, forced to run after accidentally killing his brother-in-law. Together, the outlaw and the outcast outwit their bloodthirsty pursuers in this legendary story of betrayal, misunderstanding, honor and dignity. Brought vividly to the screen by director Fred Schepisi ("Roxanne", "Six Degrees of Separation" and "I.Q.").

Customer Reviews:

Terrific little-seen western on an awful DVD.......2007-06-11

Fred Schepisi's "Barbarosa" was all but buried on its initial release in 1982, and has seldom been seen since. That's too bad, because William D. Wittliff's literate, poetic script shows genuine feeling for -- and an insider's knowledge of -- the American West. With memorable performances from Willie Nelson and Gary Busey, "Barbarosa" is worth seeing. Unfortunately, the full-frame video transfer here is awful. Given the poor quality of this DVD, the price comes as something of an insult.

Living inside a legend.......2007-03-29

Here's an unjustly overlooked film that's full to the brim with energy, gusto, humor & fascinating, larger than life characters. Willie Nelson's Barbarosa & Gary Busey's Karl make a perfect pair, mentor & student, father figure & son, as they live out the myth created by Don Braulio (a superbly intense, embittered Gilbert Roland).

What makes this especially interesting is Barbarosa's knowledge that he's living out a story, participating in its ongoing creation, even commenting on it at times: the legendary outlaw who is both the foe & driving force of an equally legendary family. Don Braulio's myth-making has raised his people out of poverty & given them pride & strength. He knows it, he knows how much he owes to Barbarosa's continued presence -- a presence he reinforces with consciously symbolic storytelling to the awed children destined to sustain the myth unto the next generation. In a story made up of intertwining lives & families, in many ways the strongest relationship is the one between Barbarosa & Don Braulio.

At one point we're even treated to a scene of Barbarosa eavesdropping on someone singing a new song about Barbarosa's latest exploit, already inflated beyond what we'd previously witnessed onscreen. Barbarosa is flattered, amused -- after hearing a particularly good line, he mutters in admiration, "Son of a b*tch can write!" -- until the song comes to the part where they kill Barbarosa. The way Nelson's face & voice both go flat speaks volumes. Barbarosa knows that he's trapped in his own myth, which he's help to perpetuate, and that he's got to play it out to the end.

And let's not forget the importance of the blistering, wide-open landscape, which is practically another personality itself. The cinematography gives us the desert, the mountains, the plains in heat-soaked color & grandeur, an eternal & timeless country strong enough to bear the weight of legendary men.

It's hard to believe this film isn't better known. It has everything you could want from a great story: romance, tragedy, picaresque humor, startling shifts from the everyday to the extraordinary. And the actors give it their all, with plenty to spare. To top it off, it has one of the best, most joyous, make-the-hair-on-your-skin-stand-up-straight endings I've ever seen in a film. Most highly recommended!

(The previous reviewers are right about the crying need for a widescreen version of this DVD. This film absolutely demands it. Preferably with commentary by Nelson & Busey.)

Barbarosa.......2007-01-15

Husband's fav movie. The story is pretty funny. Willie Nelson does great in this movie.

Barbarosa Review.......2006-11-10

I enjoyed Barbarosa vary much and it was a great western movie of star quality.

One of the great late Westerns on a poor DVD.......2006-09-10

Some movies are eternal victims. Case in point: Barbarosa, which had the best script and the worst luck of any of the late-70s-early-80s Westerns. Barely released to theatres after production company ITC went bust, little seen on TV and almost impossible to find on video, it turns up on DVD cropped from the impressive original 2.35:1 widescreen to a very cramped fullscreen 1.33:1, begging the question why bother to release a film in the wrong ratio this day and age?

Even awkwardly cropped it still holds up, managing to straddle the middle ground between the revisionist and the mythical, taking place in a landscape at once all-too real (parched Texas wilderness, ramshackle farmsteads) and stylised (the almost cave-like room where Gilbert Roland's bitter paterfamilias endlessly retells the legend of Barbarosa to each new generation who will grow up to hunt him down and die in the attempt). As the two unlikely partners caught up in pointless blood feuds with their in-laws, Willie Nelson isn't always as good as he should be and it takes a reel or two to get used to his style and Gary Busey is nobody's idea of a Western hero, but their very unlikeliness as movie icons helps sell them as closer to the reality of the old West. And the film is also blessed with one of the best endings of the 80s, as a supposed fiesta becomes almost funereal, the dead faces of the film's `victors' sapped of all purpose until... well, see it for yourself, it's worth it. Barbarosa! Barbarosa! Barbarosa!

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