Review of Barbarosa (1982) by Kendall I — 02 Apr 2012

Great western fun with plenty of grit.

PLOT:After farm boy bumpkin Karl (Gary Busey) flees home after accidentally killing a couple of people, he runs into the most notorious criminal in the area, Barbarosa (Willie Nelson), who also has family problems. They are an unlikely team, but they decide to ride together and become the legends of the west. It's a basic western plot, but it's executed in a way that it comes off as an homage to most past westerns.

ACTING:Willie Nelson isn't my favorite singer of all time. In fact, I can hardly stand him, but his acting is more worth it than I thought. I think he should have taken up acting over singing more often. Busey did a great job as well, adding a bit of fun charm to the role that could come off as a comic relief to some. Every other performance was decent, but not anything truly special. These two clearly own the show.

SCORE:Most of the score was played for comic effect, but it did have some nice Mexican mood-setting music at times.

OTHER CONTENT:This film resembles what I would call a worthy homage. This passes out a fine salute to the westerns of yesteryear with enough scenes of grit, camp, and toughness to make a western fan grin with nostalgia. Though it is pretty cheesy in some parts and pretty generic in plotting, it is a pretty fine western that can bring memories of the Man with No Name from its character backstories all the way down to its cheaply made effects.

OVERALL,a great western homage with a basically lovable plot, surprisingly good and decent acting, mood-fitting score, and enough grit and camp to be considered a rightful homage, but it was merely a western of ordinary proportions.