Barbarosa is a 1982 American Western film starring Willie Nelson and Gary Busey. It is about a young cowboy on the run from the law who partners with a famous bandido and learns about life from him. "One of the best overlooked westerns of the last 20 years" according to reviewer LG Writer,[citation needed] and featured on an episode of the television show Siskel & Ebert dedicated to uncovering worthy sleepers, it is "a tale of betrayal, vendetta, honor, and dignity". Barbarosa was the first American-made film by noted Australian director Fred Schepisi.
Young Karl Westover, a post-Civil War Texas farm boy, accidentally kills his brother-in-law and must flee to Mexico. Early into his flight he is met by the outlaw Barbarosa, who, seconds later, kills a man who was following him, whom he seems to know. Barbarosa takes pity on Karl and shows him how to find water, make a fire, and catch an armadillo for his supper. He leaves and tells Karl to go home to Texas.
Karl makes his way to a small pueblo and finds a grubby cantina. Barbarosa bursts in and robs everyone at gunpoint. Filling his sombrero with loot, Barbarosa instructs Karl to gather the rest, and steals away. Karl escapes, and Barbarosa and he ride together for the winter while Karl learns the life of an outlaw adventurer.
Karl is being pursued by Floyd and Otto Pahmeyer, the brothers of the man he killed, sent by their vengeful father. Karl and Barbarosa easily get the drop on them. To Barbarosa's disgust, Karl leaves them alive and tells them to go home. They say they cannot, being more afraid of their father than the bandidos. They hike off to replace their guns and resume the chase.
The bandidos encounter a poor old couple with a burro, and Karl refuses to rob them. Barbarosa and Karl are then captured by the outlaw Angel Morales and his gang, and as Angel is debating what to do with them, the old couple, Angel's parents, arrive in camp and tell Angel that Barbarosa wanted to rob them, but Karl wanted to spare them. The enraged Angel shoots Barbarosa in the belly. He spares Karl's life for restraining Barbarosa from robbing his parents, but sets him to digging Barbarosa's grave. While digging Barbarosa's grave, it is discovered that he isn't really dead. Barbarosa scuttles off into the brush when no one is looking, and Karl quickly fills in the empty grave.
Angel's gang capture the hapless Floyd and Otto, and Angel shoots them on a whim, again setting Karl to dig the graves. But in the morning, a stuporous Angel struggles awake to find himself buried to the neck in the desert sand, with the dead heads of Floyd and Otto surrounding him. Terrified, he screams fruitlessly for help and for the author of his demise, "Barbaroooooosaaaaaaa!"
Even outlaws must have someplace to call home, it seems. Barbarosa has an ongoing love-hate relationship with the Zavala family. He brings his accumulated loot every few months when he visits his loyal wife, Josefina de Zavala, who lives at the hacienda of her father, Don Braulio Zavala. Intensely bitter, Don Braulio hates Barbarosa for crippling him and killing his son in a drunken fracas, and every few years he sends another young Zavala son, nephew, or cousin to kill Barbarosa; none has yet succeeded, and most have been themselves killed in the attempt. Don Braulio's tales, stylized and heavy with symbolism, spur the young Zavalas to their best efforts to be worthy of such an adversary, and the Zavalas have become rich and powerful thereby. The songs recounting Barbarosa's exploits become longer and more celebratory each year, and recent verses also recount the adventures of Barbarosa's new sidekick, the "Gringo Child." Yet the chorus between every verse exhorts "all you men of courage to grease up your guns and knives . . . this is the part where they kill Barbarosa."
Barbarosa and Josefina have a nubile daughter, Juanita, who decides she likes the Gringo Child and hides Karl from searchers in her bed. Interrupted by her parents, Karl is kicked into the plaza by the enraged Barbarosa; the ruckus raises Don Braulio and the household, who rush to the plaza, guns blazing. Barbarosa twirls his Appaloosa horse in the gate, whooping, displaying his horsemanship and courage, and the bandidos escape at a gallop amid a hail of bloodless gun play. And when Karl too shows some backbone, telling Barbarosa that he liked Juanita and intends to visit her again, Barbarosa smiles and says that's fine with him.
In the spring, Barbarosa and Karl decide to return to Texas. Climbing out of the Rio Grande canyon, Karl attempts to lend Barbarosa a hand up the final ledge. Karl is hampered by the saddlebags he is holding, so Barbarosa says "Get rid of that!" To which Karl flings the saddlebags (containing the loot) back over the cliff. Terminally disgusted, Barbarosa yells at him, "I didn't say throw the MONEY down THERE! I've BEEN down THERE!!!". Karl makes the arduous climb back down the cliff. He disturbs a rattlesnake and falls into the river. When Karl struggles back to the canyon rim that evening he finds Barbarosa waiting beside a campfire. He dumps the saddlebags of money at Barbarosa's feet, but Barbarosa is still peeved: "Bet you didn't bring an armadillo for my supper!" But Karl reveals his other hand from behind his back, tossing a dead armadillo into Barbarosa's lap. Both look at each other and laugh; Karl is learning, and starting to give as good as he gets.
Barbarosa and Karl come to the Texas Hill Country and the German immigrant colony where Karl grew up, and ride into a stockmen's rendezvous. While enjoying eating barbecue and watching horse races, Karl mentions that horses are something he knows about and considers buying some broncos to take home to his father's farm. Suddenly a shot rings out — it is old Mr. Pahmeyer, still seeking to kill Karl for the death of his sons. In his rage, he misses. Karl covers him with his revolver and makes him stop trying to reload. "Go home, Mr. Pahmeyer. Just go home!" he orders, and Mr. Pahmeyer has no choice but to obey.
Karl buys his horses, but Barbarosa declines to accompany him back to lawful living. "To tell the truth, I'm worn out keeping you amused," he grumbles. The two part ways as friends.
Karl drives his herd to the farm and finds the farm very run down, his mother dead, himself given up for dead, and his father, Emile and his sister Hilda, despondent. He cheers them up, telling them that he "had a little luck down in Mexico -- me and another fellow." Next morning Emile steps outside to inspect "our horses." "OUR horses?" jokes Karl. "You'd best break a few before it's 'OUR horses'!", and Hilda laughs with them. But their laughter turns to screams as Mr. Pahmeyer takes another potshot from the woods, again missing Karl but killing his father.
Karl goes alone to the Pahmeyer farmhouse, calling Mr. Pahmeyer to come out and end the feud. Mr. Pahmeyer calls back that he is sorry about killing Emile, that he never intended to do that. Karl calls back that he knows that, and again offers to end the feud. But despite the cries of his wife, Mr. Pahmeyer calls, "I don't think I can do it!" and charges out the door with his gun. Howling, "NOOOOO!", Karl is forced to kill him.
Karl and Barbarosa reunite after some time (Karl's beard and hair have grown out). During a brief split, Karl aids Barbarosa in evading Eduardo Zavala, the most recent young would-be killer sent out by Don Braulio. Without Barbarosa's knowledge, he disarms Eduardo and strips him of his guns, his horse, and his boots. "WALK home! Git!" he orders Eduardo.
But Eduardo is made of sterner stuff than his predecessors. He hones his silver crucifix down to a dagger point, wraps his feet in rawhide thongs, and stalks Barbarosa on foot. He leaps upon Barbarosa from ambush and stabs him in the belly, then flees to the south.
As Karl sits with his dying friend, they discuss Barbarosa's life and death. "A man couldn't ask for better than what I had with the Zavalas," Barbarosa says. And then, "The little bastard's going back to tell everyone Barbarosa's dead. Barbarosa can't die!" Karl realizes, "He's afoot!" and may be caught before he gets back to the Zavala hacienda.
Karl cremates Barbarosa's body, and pursues Eduardo at the gallop. But Eduardo has learned, and knocks Karl out by hitting him with a branch. Taking Karl's horse, Eduardo makes it back to the hacienda and is greeted as a hero. A fiesta is planned in his honor.
Karl sits beside a campfire, defeated, nursing his headache. There is a rustle in the brush, and out comes Barbarosa's Appaloosa, with Barbarosa's saddle and enormous sombrero. Karl perks up.
The fiesta at the Zavala hacienda is the most funereal party imaginable. Don Braulio, Josefina and Jaunita look lost and bereft. The rest of the clan dances while contemplating directionless life without a Barbarosa to fight. Out of the night gallops a red-bearded man in an enormous sombrero on an Appaloosa, whooping and twirling and shooting up the sky. As Eduardo is about to be presented a black wreath of honor, Karl aims and shoots the wreath just before it is placed on his head. The Zavalas shout, "Barbarosa! Barbarosa! Barbarosaaaa!" and scramble for their guns and knives.
The film received critical acclaim. It currently has a 100% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on five reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10.[3] In a contemporary review, Pauline Kael called it "spirited and satisfying", and offered particular praise for Willie Nelson's unexpectedly "great screen presence".[4]
Related Research Articles
Gary Busey is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. His other starring roles include A Star is Born (1976), D.C. Cab (1983), Silver Bullet (1985), Eye of the Tiger (1986), Lethal Weapon (1987), Hider in the House (1989), Predator 2 (1990), Point Break (1991), Under Siege (1992), The Firm (1993), Drop Zone (1994), Black Sheep (1996) and Lost Highway (1997).
Juan Moreira is a well-known figure in the history of Argentina. An outlaw, gaucho and folk-hero, he is considered one of the most renowned Argentinian rural bandits.
The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club (RMMC) or Rock Machine is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1986. It has eighteen Canadian chapters spread across seven provinces. It also has nine chapters in the United States and eleven chapters in Australia, with chapters also located in 24 other countries worldwide. It was formed in 1986, by Salvatore Cazzetta and his brother Giovanni Cazzetta. The Rock Machine competed with the Hells Angels for control of the street-level narcotics trade in Quebec. The Quebec Biker War saw the Rock Machine form an alliance with a number of other organizations to face the Hells Angels. The conflict occurred between 1994 and 2002 and resulted in over 160 deaths and over 300 injured. An additional 100+ have been imprisoned.
Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award in 1952 and 1964 and inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
The Appaloosa is a 1966 American Western film starring Marlon Brando, Anjanette Comer, and John Saxon, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a Mexican bandit. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie, and shot in Techniscope in California, Utah, and Arizona.
The Shedden massacre involved the gang-related killing of eight men, whose bodies were found in a field five kilometres north of Shedden, a small village in the Canadian province of Ontario, on April 8, 2006. Four vehicles, with the bodies inside, were first discovered by a farmer. The day after the bodies were discovered, five people, including one member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang, were arrested for the murders, and three more people were arrested in June 2006. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said the killings were an isolated event and there were no fears for the safety of local residents. The name Shedden massacre is a misnomer. The killings took place at a farm outside of Iona Station and Shedden was the hamlet closest to where the bodies were discovered in a farmer's field.
Wayne Earl Kellestine, better known as "Weiner" Kellestine, is a Canadian outlaw biker, gangster, and convicted murderer, currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder for his killing six out of the eight victims of the Shedden massacre of 2006.
Bandido is a 1956 American western film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Robert Mitchum, Ursula Thiess, Gilbert Roland, and Zachary Scott. The film, set in the Mexican Revolution and filmed on location around Acapulco, was written by Earl Felton. Robert Mitchum also co-produced the film through his DRM Productions company.
The Big Sombrero is a 1949 American Western film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Gene Autry and Champion. Written by Olive Cooper, the film is about a singing cowboy hired as foreman of the Big Sombrero ranch by a man working against the interests of the ranch's absentee owner and workers. It was the last of two Autry Columbia films shot in Cinecolor, it was preceded by The Strawberry Roan.
"Destiny" is the first episode and origin story of the syndicated television series Queen of Swords, airing October 7, 2000.
"Vengeance" is the fourth episode of the syndicated television series Queen of Swords, airing October 28, 2000.
"Running Wild" is the seventh episode of the syndicated television series Queen of Swords, airing November 18, 2000.
La malquerida is a Mexican telenovela created for Televisa by Ximena Suárez and produced by José Alberto Castro, based on the 1913 Spanish play titled The Unloved Woman by Jacinto Benavente. The series originally aired on Canal de las Estrellas from June 2, 2014 to November 9, 2014. It stars Victoria Ruffo, Ariadne Díaz, Christian Meier, África Zavala, and Arturo Peniche introduced in the telenovela in the second part of the history.
Claus Barrit Bork Hansen, nicknamed "Karate Claus", was a Danish outlaw biker and gangster who served as the European sergeant-at-arms of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, as well as the president of the club's Hedehusene-based Mideast chapter. He was later expelled from the Bandidos and was murdered by members of his former club following an internal feud.
Michael James Sandham, better known as "Little Beaker", is a Canadian outlaw biker, criminal and convicted murderer currently serving a life sentence for his role in the Shedden massacre of 2006. Sandham, a former theology student, soldier, policeman and outlaw biker was described by journalist Jane Sims as "a control freak driven by bizarre ambition" to take over the outlaw biker scene in Manitoba.
Francesco "Cisco" Lenti is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster, best known as the co-founder of the Loners Motorcycle Club.
Giovanni "John" Muscedere, also known as "Boxer", was a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who served as the national president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Canada from 2002 until his murder in 2006.
Marcello Aravena is a Canadian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, outlaw biker and gangster serving a life sentence in prison following his conviction on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter for his role in the Shedden massacre of 2006.
George Kriarakis was a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who served as the last national secretary of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Canada and was one of the victims of the Shedden massacre of 2006.
M.H. is a Canadian former outlaw biker, gangster and police informer who played a key role in convicting the accused in the Shedden massacre trial of 2009. Due to a court order, M.H.'s name cannot be revealed and he is only known by his abbreviation.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
