Barquero (1970)

At a river crossing, a stand-off between a gang of outlaws and local townsfolk ensues when the ferry barge operator refuses to ferry the gang across the river.

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

George Schenck, William Marks

Stars:

Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, Forrest Tucker

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Van Cleef	...	Travis
Warren Oates	...	Remy
Forrest Tucker	...	Mountain Phil
Kerwin Mathews	...	Marquette
Mariette Hartley	...	Anna
Marie Gomez	...	Nola
Armando Silvestre	...	Sawyer
John Davis Chandler	...	Fair
Craig Littler	...	Pitney
Ed Bakey	...	Happy
Richard Lapp	...	Poe
Harry Lauter	...	Steele
Brad Weston	...	Driver
Thad Williams	...	Gibson
Armand Alzamora	...	Lopez

Storyline

Jake Remy leads a gang of outlaw cutthroats making their escape toward Mexico from a successful robbery. Barring their way is a river--crossable only by means of a ferry barge. The barge operator, Travis, refuses to be bullied into providing transport for the gang and escapes across river with most of the local populace--leaving Remy and his gang behind, desperately seeking a way across. A river-wide stand-off begins between the gang and the townspeople, both groups of which have left people on the wrong side of the river.

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Plot Keywords:

big breasts | breasts | breast | buxom | sonora mexico | 

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Taglines:

It starts with a slaughter. Then the real action begins. Barquero. He had his own life-style. And his own death-style.

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Genres:

Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Clint Eastwood killed John Davis Chandler (Fair) in The Outlaw Josey Wales and also killed Lee Van Cleef (Travis) in The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

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Goofs

When Travis is taking the townspeople across the river on the barge, a man picks up a cross pole to let the people off the barge and he almost hits Lee Van Cleef in the face. Lee Van Cleef dodges the pole just in time.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Boy: Hey mister.
Travis: What?
Boy: You're strong, ain't 'cha?
Travis: Yeah. Suppose so.
Boy: How long did it take ya?
Travis: To do what?
Boy: To build the boat. This man said that you built the boat. How long did it take?
Travis: Quite a while.
Boy: That sure is a great gun there.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Thanks in the final credits are given to the "Colorado Games, Fish and Parks Commission". Should have been the singular "Game"

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Connections

Referenced in Peeping Tom (1973)

User Reviews

Duel of titans : Lee Van Cleef against Warren Oates

The picture narrates as a renegade motley group (Warren Oates, Kerwin Matthews, Armando Silvestre) executes a massacre when they are robbing the village's inhabitants . They flee but are stopped by a barge's owner (Lee Van Cleef) in the frontier on river Grande . The barquero called Travis has his own life-style and his own death-style . He is only helped by a mountain man (Forrest Tucker) . The confrontation will be terrible and they will fight until death .

The highlights of the movie are the initial slaughter by the cutthroats and facing off between the good and bad guys on the lumber barges . This picture along with ¨ Hang'em high¨ (by Ted Post with Clint Eatwood) belongs to numerous filmed in the 60s and 70s influenced by Spaghetti Western , thus it develops ordinary themes such as : revenge , violent facing , similar musical score , tough antiheroes , spectacular gun-down and excessive baddies , all of them common issues in Italian Western . Lee Van Cleef , recent his success in Leone Western (A few dollars more) is top-notch . Warren Oates is magnificent as the ominous and hideous villain . The secondary cast is excellent , Forrest Tucker as the wry and impulsive trapper , Kerwin Mathew as Marquette , Mariette Hartley as Anna , Armando Silvestre as Sawyer and John Davis Chandler plays a cocky villain , as always . Dominic Frontiere's musical score is atmospheric and adjusted to action western , similar to ¨Hang 'Em High¨ soundtrack that he also composed . The motion picture was well directed by Gordon Douglas , though Robert Sparr was originally set to direct, but he was killed in a plane crash while scouting locations , then Gordon was hired to replace him . Gordon Douglas direction is nice , he had formerly got a lot of experience in Western genre (Only the valiant and Chuka). The yarn will appeal to Lee Van Cleef fonds and Western movies fans.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 June 1970 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Barquero

Filming Locations:

Brush Hollow Reservoir, Colorado, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$135,381

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aubrey Schenck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1