Product Details

• Actors: Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, Isela Vega, Gilbert Roland, Danny De La Paz
• Directors: Fred Schepisi
• Writers: William D. Wittliff
• Producers: Martin Starger, Paul Lazarus III, William D. Wittliff
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: May 25, 1999
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303450881
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,174 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Full screen version of a 2:35 film, March 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Barbarosa (DVD)

Beware. Artisan has only released a full-screen version of this movie. If aspect ratio is important to you, don't buy it.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Vandal's Cut, February 23, 2008

By 

cobaltspectre "Water Rabbit" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Barbarosa (DVD)

First, I LOVED "Barbarosa." I was one of the underwhelming few who tracked it down when it was in its original theatrical release, and greedily recorded it on VHS from a widescreen cable broadcast. Alas, that recording is gone, along with a heartbreakingly large quantity of other presently unobtainable material.

The fatal flaw with this product is that it is presented ONLY in what they ironically call "full-screen" format; chop off nearly half of what you saw on the theater screen, and you get "full-screen." This film has been tragically butchered.

The logic of producing this product in this manner utterly eludes me. Those of us who appreciate and value good films enough to lay out our money for an individual title on DVD want to experience the vision of the director who made it, and/or re-experience, as nearly as possible, what we first saw in the theater; not the "vision" of some nameless technician artlessly cropping two noses to fit into the same frame.

This is not a widely known film. Who is more likely to seek out and buy this title? Someone who appreciated it in its original form, and now wants to see it again, or watch it with others he believes could share in his appreciation of it? Or, someone who just needs something the right size and shape to fill the blank picture tube of his standard format television? I posit that ANY piece of junk will fill that empty space, and such a person is far more likely to fill it with free broadcast content than to pay to fill it with this film which they probably never heard of in the first place! I believe that anyone who is looking for this movie will be disappointed or angry that it was hacked apart; it reminds me of knocking the arms and head off from a statue to get it into a packing crate. This was a good-- I'd say great-- movie. No one had to do a thing except transfer it to digital and ship it out the door, and I'd have bought it, and loved it. The director had one vision; whose vision is THIS? Instead of "the director's cut," we're presented with "the vandal's cut."

This is an awful shame, because, as I said in the beginning, I love this movie in its true form. I believe the story is memorably good, the photography was beautiful, the actors were well-chosen. If you can get past the fact that this film was vandalized, there is still much to like. I'm going to wait and hope for an undefiled version to be released, or record it on my computer the next time I see it shown in widescreen on cable. But, if you're too impatient for that, or seeing the original version did not spoil this version for you, then I can recommend this. "Barbarosa" is one of my favorite movies... but, sadly, I do not recognize this version as that movie.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superior Western, July 29, 2003

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barbarosa (DVD)

One of the best unknown Westerns of the last 20 years or so, Barbarosa stars Willie Nelson and Gary Busey in a story of revenge and honor. Nelson plays a ex-Texas Ranger, Barbarosa, who's now a lone bandit, preying on rich Mexicans. During a disagreement, he formerly crippled his father-in-law to be, a Mexican landowner and still deeply loves the landowner's daughter with whom he has had a daughter.

Busey is a Texas farmhand who accidentally killed his brother-in-law--his sister's husband--and is now out on his own, pursued by his brother-in-law's two brothers for revenge. Similarly, Barbarosa is being pursued by the landowner's top gun, a fiery Mexican who vows Barbarosa's death.

The two, Nelson and Busey, meet by accident and join up for a time. During that time we get to see the West as it very likely really looked about 100 years ago (more specifically, the Southwest--i.e., southern Texas); the cinematography is magnificent. One of the critical ingredients in any great Western is great cinematography and that is very much in display here. As well, the score by Bruce Smeaton is excellent.

Nelson and Busey do a great job--their accents certainly don't hurt (both men are originally from that part of the U.S.), and so does the supporting cast. Fred Schepisi, the director, has a perfect sense of pacing and momentum that pulls the viewer along with very little tugging indeed. Armadillos figure in the mix, as do old men with guns and younger men buried up to their necks. There's a hacienda, a cantina, and an outdoor festival. The film drips with Western atmosphere, no question.

Highly recommended for fans of the genre.