Fresh and Exciting

Captivating movie !

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Frankly, this tepid and slightly mediocre spaghetti western is simply gorgeous to look at on blu-ray. The locales and the sets look so damn authentic. The setting is unique - a village on the bank of a river with a wharf and a barge. The village bank is robbed by a bunch of bandits lead by WARREN OATES. But the river stands between the bandits and freedom. And the only way they can escape is on the barge owned by LEE VAN CLIFF. But CLIFF is attached to his barge and wont let go. The villagers led by CLIFF and FORREST TUCKER escape to the other side of the river on the barge, leaving the bandits stranded in the village. Tensions run deep in both camps regarding the next plan of action.One of the reasons I bought the Blu-ray DVD was because the film had LEE VAN CLIFF and WARREN OATES facing off against each other. The muscular and sweaty CLIFF is terrific. I wonder whether the director had a soft corner for him because I'm sure the ladies would find him to be eye candy. WARREN OATES does not make much of an impression - his role is ill etched and he looks way too slight and wiry compared to CLIFF. And the supporting cast is poor - the gorgeous MARIETTE HARTLEY in the role of a posh woman coveted by CLIFF's character is irritating at best, the unremarkable MARIE GOMEZ plays CLIFF's girlfriend NOLA, JOHN DAVIS CHANDLER is a poor man's Klaus Kinski while the pudgy FORREST TUCKER and his torture of the bandits were a distraction at best. The dialogues and plot developments are uninspired. It could have been a terrific little film. It had so much going for it - the story and the location had a lot of potential. The final action scene was pretty cool. Everything in the film looks very authentic including the sweaty sex scene between OATES and a Mexican prostitute. It is sort of a huge opportunity lost. I guess its too late to wish for a remake. Nobody makes westerns anymore.

Over the top, cheesy performances by the actors who are walking, talking caricatures of Western villains and heroes. Watching this movie was like watching a cartoon. So bad it's good, but very very good. The town slaughter was literally unbelievable, but so ultimately predictable it was perfect and sped the plot forward. The standoff at the river was simple good vs evil, with goodness and evil on both sides. Saw this on TV last night and couldn't turn it off. My wife wondered what I saw in it. I couldn't believe how brilliant the colors were and how clear the picture was after all these years. It was good to see Mariette Hartley in such a naughty role talking DIRECTLY into the camera about what qualities constitute the essence of a REAL WOMAN. Wow, wow, wow.

Beautiful Colorado scenery and a fine attention to detail in this western set in the late 1860s.Several American attempts at a spaghetti western surfaced in the late 1960s: this one is a much more compelling film than Eastwood's "Hang 'Em High", in that all of the lead characters are well-drawn and mysterious. Van Cleef, in his finest lead, plays the title character, a man more interested in protecting his barge than in the well-being of the "squatters" who populate the town. Oates is a bit hammy as Remy, but an effective psychotic villain nonetheless.Tucker practically steals the film in a role that would have gone to Edgar Buchanan two decades earlier, that of Mountain Phil, a man loyal enough to put his life on the line for his best friend, and who holds the "squatters" in even more contempt than the barquero does.Should be on DVD by now. An overlooked gem that anticipated "Tom Horn", "Unforgiven", and other stripped-down westerns that would follow over the next 25 years.

Lee Van Cleef had already become an international star late in his career, following his success in the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns, when he starred in "Barquero", made in 1970. The film is clearly influenced by the Spaghetti tradition, most clearly displayed in the drugged-up, psychotic villain, Jake Remy, who bares similarities to the character of Indio in "For a Few Dollars More". However "Barquero" is far superior to the many "Spaghetti" imitators and deserves to stand on its own as a great Western.The plot is fairly simple, beginning with the massacre and plundering of a peaceful town by Jake Remy and his crew of assorted bandits. Their only escape from capture is to cross the river to safety but the only person who can help them is the Barquero, played by Lee Van Cleef, who refuses, and a violent stand-off ensues.The film is aided immeasurably by the performance of Warren Oates as Jake Remy, in one of his best roles. Remy makes even most the evil Western characters look saintly in comparison, as he kills and butchers anyone who gets in his path (check out the scene in which he sleeps with a woman and then casually kills her) and his only redeeming feature is his loyalty to his men. This is perhaps the only Western in which the bad guy is given more screen time than the hero and is one of the most complex villains ever seen on screen. Remy has a past which he is haunted by, and is slowly driven mad by his determination to cross the river and by the stubbornness of the Barquero.The film does not really have a hero, as the only two characters to resemble this are the Barquero and Mountain Phil, a truly bizarre character, excellently played by Forrest Tucker. The Barquero is prepared to help the endangered townsfolk against Remy, but only because he wants to bed one of the women and Mountain Phil does not help out of kindness but more so because he is slightly insane."Barquero" was directed by the undistinguished Gordon Douglas, although he did direct the classic 1954 Sci-Fi/horror "Them". Fans of Sam Peckinpah will be pleased to see the villainous pairing of Warren Oates and John Davis Chandler, although Van Cleef fans may be disappointed as he is given little to do, besides having to wear one of the worst shirts ever committed to film."Barquero" should be seen by anyone who is serious about Westerns and is required viewing for fans of the great Warren Oates.