Plot

An inexperienced farm boy hooks up with a legendary outlaw in Mexico and both are soon on the run from the law, Mexican bandits, and two families bent on revenge.

Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

One great legend portrays another in this critically acclaimed, highly original Western.

Willie Nelson is Barbarosa, a notorious outlaw whose name is both feared and hated by residents of a Mexican village. He is married to Josephina (Isela Vega), but her father, Don Braulio (Gilbert Roland), despises him-so much, in fact, that he has given his sons the mission of killing Barbarosa. Undaunted, Barbarosa creeps into the village by night to see his wife; by day he outruns and outwits his would-be assassins.

When Barbarosa meets Karl (Gary Busey), a naive farmhand also on the run for an accidental killing, he decides to teach him the tricks of his trade.