Karl Westover (Gary Busey) is a runaway Texas farm boy. His brothers want to bring him back but he follows bandit Barbarosa (Willie Nelson) instead. He is conflicted about robbing the poor. A Mexican bandit kills his brothers and shoots Barbarosa. Barbarosa survives and the duo escape with gold. However Karl and Barbarosa are both hunted men.Willie Nelson lacks the acting power to be a feared bandit and Gary Busey's character is way too stupid. It's not cute and funny naivety. It's annoying stupid. I wonder if throwing away the gold is suppose to be comical. It's not bad as a desolate desert western but I want more tension. It moves a bit too slow.

The title role of Barbarosa is played by Willie Nelson and he's a former Texas Ranger turned outlaw who's on the run from his various crimes and from his in-laws who don't like him very much. They resent this Anglo marrying into their family and family patriarch Gilbert Roland got his leg shot off while trying to break up that marriage. He's lost several other family members in trying to kill Nelson to avenge that.But Nelson picks up Gary Busey a farm kid on the run from a feud himself because he accidentally killed his brother-in-law. Busey takes up with Nelson and his outlaw ways and the two become an amiable pair.Judging by the other reviewers Barbarosa seems to have a bit of a following. I wouldn't call it great by any means, still it's certainly entertaining enough for the discriminating western fans.Barbarosa's significance to me is that it is the farewell performance of Gilbert Roland whose career went back six decades into the silent era when he was touted as a would be Valentino successor. His career never quite fit that mold, but he was always a favorite of mine. The part as the family patriarch is not the usual carefree, but tough Gilbert that we usually see. He's an understandably bitter man in this film and it was a good performance to go out on.Western fans won't mind this one and Nelson and Busey have a nice chemistry between them.

Has anyone but my wife and myself seen this film with at least one or more extra scenes. When Eduardo returns home and tells Don Braulio that Barbarosa is dead, the Don gets up and slaps Eduardo and yells at him. This scene, which I saw maybe twice but probably only once, just makes so much more sense to me than the normal one that it blows my mind that it was cut. Please someone tell me that I'm not crazy that the scene really did exist and why only the cut version is shown. By the way, in my opinion this is not only one of the finest westerns that I have ever seen, but one of the best movies of all time. I am currently a projectionist and I have seen many a film. I also used to be a counselor at a facility for youthful offenders and used many lines of dialog from Barbarosa to help my residents get over some problems they were having. Also simply plot elements. The film is a classic and deserves much more recognition than it has had. "If you're waiting on me, you're wastin time."

To my mind, this is the best western ever made. Willie Nelson and Gary Busey were born to play these parts. I have always loved Willie Nelson's music, and now there is another side of him that I can admire. As for Busey, I will forever love him just for having made this film. There is a sadness to the film but the ending is so uplifting. It is clear that the Zavalas need Barbarosa as much as he needs them. I saw Barbarosa during its original release and have been in love with it ever since. Even though I have Barbarosa on tape, I watch this movie whenever it is on TV. The soundtrack is fabulous and I wish it were available in the stores. Thumbs up for Barbarosa!