Conference bookie::movies

533.0. "Barberosa" by DSSDEV::RUST () Thu Apr 28 1994 11:20

    This is a quirky Western that reminded me vaguely of "The Tin Star,"
    another film in which a wide-eyed youth longs to emulate some legendary
    hero of his, and finds that the reality doesn't match the myth. In that
    film, the hero was a lawman; in this one, he's an outlaw - ably played
    by Willie Nelson (who doesn't sing, but does fire off hard-earned
    wisdom at intervals). The youth who basically apprentices himself to
    Barbarossa is an uncouth farm boy played to perfection by Gary Busey. 
    
    The story is set in the deserts of the southwest, in or near Mexico,
    and the environment is uniformly dry, dusty, and hostile. Everybody's
    scruffy and watchful, trying to get the drop on somebody while avoiding
    being dropped on. And into the middle of this Busey appears, following
    Barbarossa around and trying to be a tough, fierce desperado.
    
    Alas for his dreams of riches: the first victims that his hero tries to
    rob are a pair of elderly Mexican peasants. They claim to have no
    money; Barbarossa states flatly that everybody claims that, and these
    folks probably have plenty hidden away, but Busey interferes and pleads
    their cause, asking why they don't go rob trains or something instead.
    The outlaw gives up in disgust and rides away, setting up a plot
    complication for later on, and leaving our erstwhile hero wondering
    whether outlawry is all it's cracked up to be.
    
    Nelson's Barbarossa is a crafty, leathery survivor with, apparently, a
    charmed life - and with a really bad reputation, and a number of
    long-standing feuds with local landholders. Much of the story features
    various attempts by the sons, nephews, or brothers of his previous
    victims to slay him, and the various ways in which he, with the aid of
    his bumbling apprentice, copes with these. While much of this is
    standard Western fare, I found it handled well here, emphasizing not
    only the perils of such a life, but the blank astonishment on the faces
    of those who meet sudden death - no "glorious last stands" in this one.
    
    But that's not to say it's depressing; the final plot twist has some
    charm of its own, and I got quite a kick out of it. (I'm not entirely
    sure that the landowner's explanation held up completely, but was
    willing to buy it for the sake of the story. What the heck.)
    
    Anyway, if you like watching movies that make you share that hot,
    thirsty, sand-in-the-mouth and an enemy-around-every-corner feeling,
    with a hint of Myth thrown in - try this one.
    
    -b