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Barquero
USA 1970
produced by Hal Klein, Aubrey Schenck (executive) for Aubrey Schenck Productions/United Artists
directed by Gordon Douglas
starring Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, Forrest Tucker, Kerwin Mathews, Mariette Hartley, Marie Gomez, Armando Silvestre, John Davis Chandler, Craig Littler, Ed Bakey, Richard Lapp, Harry Lauter, Brad Weston, Thad Williams, Armand Alzamora, Frank Babich, Terry Leonard, Bennie E. Dobbins, Rita Conde
written by George Schenck, William Marks, music by Dominic Frontiere
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The Old West: Once upon a time, Travis (Lee Van Cleef) built a barge to
cross a river, just because the river was in his way and he didn't feel
like doing a detour. Soon enough, the barge became decent business because
settlers travelling West needed to cross the river quite frequently, and
the barge was the only means to do so. And eventually, on one side of the
river, a little village sprung up even - not very much to Travis's liking
as he despised civilisation, but he loved his barge too much to ever
leave. Now, Remy (Warren Oates) and his gang of cutthroats robbed a
shipment of silver from the army, even if they had to massacre a whole
village just to get away with the loot. Their plan was to cross the river
on Travis's barge and escape to Mexico. Unfortunately, their scout Fair
(John Davis Chandler), who was to take Travis captive to make sure the
barge'd be there gets a little careless and is overcome by Travis's friend
Phil (Forrest Tucker), who tortures the truth out of him. Seeing Remy and
company have to pass through the settlement on the bank of the river,
Travis and Phil evacuate the whole village to the other side of the river,
so when the outlaws arrive, Remy finds himself in a deserted village with
no barge - and the bargeman on the other side of the river is less than
willing to give into whatever demands he has. Seems like a lost fight, and
even Remy's right hand man Marquette (Kerwin Mathews) suggests a detour,
but Remy's nothing if not stubborn, so he insists of sticking to his
original plan. After all, he has been right about everything so far, why
not now? Remy's men soon start to get restless, but it's the same with the
settlers on the other side of the river, who just can't get it into their
minds why Travis won't give up his barge just so they can all return to
their village - of course not taking into account that it's more then
likely for Remy to massacre all of them in the process. Eventually, the
outlaws capture a hostage, Roland (Frank Babich), who has been out hunting
when the village was evacuated, and want to trade him for the barge.
Roland's wife Anna (Mariette Hartley) promises Travis sex if he gives in
to the outlaws' demands, but he still refuses - but at night swims over to
the other side of the river with Phil to create chaos in the occupied
settlement and save Roland in the process. Then he returns to Anna to
collect. Remy more and more loses it, as losing to a common barge man is
something that registers with him badly after usually riding from victory
to victory, but Marquette has an idea that will turn the battle: Build two
rafts to make it to the other side and capture the barge that way. But
Travis and the settlers come prepared ... Barquero is
pretty much a hidden gem within the western genre: Never particularly
popular, and certainly more in the tradition of then-popular spaghetti
westerns than traditional American ones - what with the moral ambiguity of
its "hero" and its overtly violent outbursts -, this film
nevertheless offers a highly original story (especially given genre
limitations) with plenty of action in all the right places, but also works
beautifully as a character study of its two leads Travis and Remy. And
veteran director Gordon Douglas shows a sure hand with all of it, the
quiet scenes as well as the spectacle, and he gets the most out of the
rather limited locations. And add to that a pretty awesome cast, and
you've got yourself something that deserves to be a classic.
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