Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Oliver-50 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 ****

GEJKRS 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!

stefan899 As a western, this movie was so dull and tedious. It has none of the charisma of Young Guns nor the adventure of the Good, Bad and Ugly. There were no gunfire duals, in fact hardly any guns fired at all. What little action there was just showed people falling down after a few gun shots fired. No blood no wounds. Willie Nelson looked too old and too tired for his role. He looked nothing like the supposed "menacing and bloodthirsty" Barbarosa. My vote a 1 out of 10.

doghouse-8 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