I haven’t… it looks great, didn’t even know this was released until now, might get the UK dvd.
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,1492.0.html
The forum is always ahead of the time …
Ohh and amigos, don’t think too much about why Van Cleef and Tucker are swimming to the other side of the river for some guerilla work, whereas Oates and his watershy 60 guy bunch must be all nonswimmers.
Read about that one before in the DVD Times review, but not such a plot hole or a big deal in context. Travis and Mountain Phil are swimming across quietly, just two people, while director Douglas carefully shows Oates’ gang mostly partying at the time inside the store.
On the other hand, if Oates’ gang tried to all swim across, there’s 60 of them as you mention…easily noticeable, and since Barquero and the squatters are all armed, Oates and Company would be sitting ducks getting picked off one by one while swimming.
It’s airing on Encore Westerns again this month BTW. Here’s my review of the film from awhile back:
[quote=“Hal Horn, post:19, topic:1311”]Ohh and amigos, don’t think too much about why Van Cleef and Tucker are swimming to the other side of the river for some guerilla work, whereas Oates and his watershy 60 guy bunch must be all nonswimmers.
Read about that one before in the DVD Times review, but not such a plot hole or a big deal in context. Travis and Mountain Phil are swimming across quietly, just two people, while director Douglas carefully shows Oates’ gang mostly partying at the time inside the store.
On the other hand, if Oates’ gang tried to all swim across, there’s 60 of them as you mention…easily noticeable, and since Barquero and the squatters are all armed, Oates and Company would be sitting ducks getting picked off one by one while swimming.
It’s airing on Encore Westerns again this month BTW. Here’s my review of the film from awhile back:
http://hornsection.blogspot.com/2006/03/film-review-barquero-1970.html[/quote]
Good review, but why all these colors? It’s distracting rather then drawing your attention to a certain idea.
I agree it most probably was a parable for US presence in Vietnam. Those efforts to equate western action with the things going out in South-east asia often created anomalies such as Oates serving as a metaphor for the Americans. Usually those things work better as vague references, a sort of echo of things people were familiar with when the film was released. I think moviegoers got the idea, knew what the film was aiming at when they saw in in '70.
[quote=“Hal Horn, post:19, topic:1311”]Ohh and amigos, don’t think too much about why Van Cleef and Tucker are swimming to the other side of the river for some guerilla work, whereas Oates and his watershy 60 guy bunch must be all nonswimmers.
Read about that one before in the DVD Times review, but not such a plot hole or a big deal in context. Travis and Mountain Phil are swimming across quietly, just two people, while director Douglas carefully shows Oates’ gang mostly partying at the time inside the store.
On the other hand, if Oates’ gang tried to all swim across, there’s 60 of them as you mention…easily noticeable, and since Barquero and the squatters are all armed, Oates and Company would be sitting ducks getting picked off one by one while swimming.[/quote]
They could have crossed the river somewhere else and than come from behind. And it’s a river. There must be boats or canoes nearby.
Well, it’s a film and it wasn’t a problem for me, it doesn’t made the film for me better or worser. I just noticed it. And I didn’t thought about it when I saw the film for the 1st time.
It’s for me not one of these logic holes which are so ridiculous, that you have to laugh about it, or which kill the film.
Logic loopholes aren’t too much of a problem to me in a film like this, they worry me more in (potentially) better movies.
Barquero is a decent western with some references to contemporary politics, and as such it works quite well.
super boreeee!!
I’ve seen this movie last night and here’s my few thoughts.
I’ve recognized some ideas from the then still contemporary hippie culture - free love, anarchy, living in touch with the nature, “no borders can contain me”, etc. - which today seem somewhat dated.
Town slaughter is excellently directed: Oates walking through town while the battle rages on, opening windows and doors to make effective contrast between indoor and outdoor scenes. Too bad rest of the movie is not that exciting.
I’ve found Forest Tucker character little bit annoying and whole thing with Hartley and Lee felt little forced - maybe it wouldn’t if in the first hour of the movie we had seen Hartley for more than few seconds and heard her speak. Some other ideas were also underdeveloped and rushed like Oates flashbacks and his background story, but I’ve seen 90min version and imdb says it runs for 115min, so maybe something was cut.
Lee was somewhat underutilized in the end, and for me it was the Warren Oates show. He’s very cartoonish (walking bent, squint eyed, kickin’ stones), but it suits his character perfectly and he does it excellently.
It’s nice little gem, but to flawed to be lost classic.
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Hello, all! As is well-known, “Hang 'Em High” (1968), Clint Eastwood’s first western–or any other film–after the “Rawhide” (CBS-TV, 1959-66) costar’s/star’s achieving major international film stardom following the phenomenal success of the “Dollars Trilogy”, is a very obvious–if highly enjoyable–and classic–American imitation of a spaghetti western. Even more so–in plot, characterization–especially in that of the far-less-than-morally-perfect hero–violence, and historically-accurate reconstruction of the work’s period–is “Barquero” (1970), Lee Van Cleef’s first American film–also his first starring American film–following this actor’s achieving major international success in his spaghetti westerns, especially the last two films of the Leone/Eastwood “Dollars” movies. A few months ago, I purchased the Kino-Lorber Blu-ray of “Barquero”, and, since then, have been pleasantly surprised to learn that the movie is derived from a true incident taking place in the Arizona Territory of the 1870s. Does anyone know the full story of this incident, and, also, can anyone tell me if I am correct in thinking that “Barquero” failed in America, but was a huge success in Italy and in the rest of continental Europe? How did it do in England–and in the rest of the world?
I don’t know about Italy, but LvC was there probably a bigger star in these years than elsewhere, but still I doubt that it was huge hit there.
In Germany Barquero sold about 735.000 tickets, which makes it the # 66 of 1970, # 6 of the westerns.
That’s not bad, actually much more than I would have assumed, but surely very far away from a huge success.
Another LvC western Sabata sold more than twice as much: 1.536.000
Barquero does not appear Variety’s list of top box office rentals exceeding $1m for 1970. So in that basis it must have been a flop in USA (although the list is often incomplete). It was released in the UK but wasn’t recorded as being a big hit.
That story about the events being based on a true story comes from an article in Variety in 1966 or 1967 when Barquero was originally touted and when Hugh O’Brien was supposed to play the lead. I would imagine the source of this is a production company press release which might or might not be bollox. I have never heard of any similar’true life’ incident in which a barge bloke wiped out about 20 outlaws single-handed. If true, I am sure something with such a large body count would be quite well known.
Thank you for your most prompt–and intelligent reply, Stanton!
Thank you for your most informative answer, Wobble! However, Lee Van Cleef as Travis, the title character, does not wipe out 20 outlaws single-handed, performing a few self-defensive killings before “Barquero”'s conclusion while wiping out the remaining majority of Warren Oates’s outlaw gang at the movie’s climax in company with his fellow mountain man, Mountain Phil (Forrest Tucker), and the brave townspeople of Lonely Dell–whom Travis has so unfairly underrated as mere “sheep” throughout most of the film, Lonely Dell being the location of his barge–or, in Spanish, “barque”, hence Travis’s–and the film’s–title of “Barquero” (“Bargeman”).
A while since I’ve seen it and thought he killed most of them.
Found this on the AFI website:
According to a box-office chart in the 21 Oct 1970 Var, the picture grossed $244,331 in its first four weeks of domestic release in thirty-two theaters.
The film has always looked a bit censored to me, probably for the GP rating whereas Van Cleef’s next western El Condor was given an R for Marianna Hill’s nudity.
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