Texas, addio

These days you forget what a name Nero was in the Sixties and Seventies. In 1966, the former army grunt turned physical actor starred in three westerns within six months - Django, Massacre Time and Texas Adios - before heading to Hollywood for a supporting role in Camelot, and then international stardom. It was as Django, however, that turned him into a major star in Europe; Nero as the steel-eyed Angel of Death dragging a coffin behind him personified the fashionable neo-nihilism of the Italian western and made him as iconic as the Kings of the Squint, Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef.

Texas Adios, released in 1966, was a much more deliberately American western. Franco Nero is a clear-cut moral figure as Burt Sullivan, sheriff in a Texas town who takes his younger womanizing brother Jim across the border to find their father's killer, the mysterious "Delgado". It's Adios Texas and Hola Mexico, but the country they find is more hostile than Burt imagined. It's a lawless landscape where no-one can be trusted, controlled by morally bankrupt power brokers and would-be revolutionaries, and Delgado turns out to be the most powerful land baron in Mexico who likes to play with his captives before executing them. What begins as a simple quest for revenge becomes much more ambiguous as the plot unfolds and family secrets are revealed.

Like all great Italian westerns, Texas Adios is beautifully shot by Enzo Barboni, who as "EB Clutcher" would later create his own sub-genre of Trinity movies with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. And, despite its allusions to the classic models of Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart, it's a spaghetti western at heart, and its heart is cold and cruel. "Are you tired of living (pronounced 'leeeeving')?" asks Delgado's greasy right hand man, and the answer seems to be a resounding yes: sympathetic characters are disposed of with little fanfare, and Nero's idealistic younger brother Jim played by Alberto Dell'Acqua is taught that becoming a man means becoming immune to killing.

Me, I'm already numb to the wholesale slaughter, and you will be too, as we ride the blood-soaked plains in Texas Adios.

Like almost every Western starring Franco Nero after Sergio Corbucci's 1966 masterpiece "Django", "Texas, Addio" was marketed as a Django-sequel in Germany and Austria. Although it has neither anything to do with Django, nor is it anywhere near "Django" in it's value as one of the genre's highlights, Texas Addio is still a good Spaghetti Western. Besides the great Franco Nero it features typical Spaghetti Western supporting actors like Luigi Pistilli, Livio Lorenzon and Gino Pernice. When It comes to Ferdinando Baldi's Westerns, however, I would personally recommend "Blindman" way over "Texas Addio".

Along with his younger brother Jim, Burt Sullivan, a former Sheriff in Texas, leaves to Mexico to search and capture his father's murderer, Cisco Delgado, and bring him to justice...alive. Cisco, however, has in the meantime become a powerful landowner and crime boss.

Franco Nero has once said that out of all the Westerns he played in, "Texas Addio" is the only one that could also be an American Western. This is kinda true, on the one hand, since Nero's character Burt Sullivan is not the typical anti-hero, but a man who is looking to bring his father's murderer to justice alive, rather than just taking revenge. On the other hand some characters, like the grouchy and cynical Alcalde Miguel, played by Livio Lorenzo, are very typical Spaghetti-characters. Franco Nero's performance is great as always, many of the supporting actors are very good too. All things considered, "Texas Addio" is a fairly good Spaghetti Western, not one of the genre's highlights, but definitely worth watching.

While Texas, Addio may not be among the high water mark of European Western filmmaking, I find it baffling that one would completely dismiss a film because of the quality of its post-production dubbing in a language different from that of its country of origin. Filmmakers are rarely responsible for how their film is presented in foreign language markets, so to place the blame on Mr. Baldi and the producers for the relative poorness (which I must also disagree with--there have been much, much worse dubbing jobs) of the dub is the same sort of ill-informed ignorance that says that the Godzilla films produced by Toho Studios in Japan are "badly acted" because the American dubbing is sub-par.

Aside from the dubbing, there's really no other reason to state that the studio and/or producers were incapable of making a Western. While Texas, Addio may not on par with Red River or The Searchers, the film delivers what most Western audiences ask for--a solid hero, a hissable villain, a believable conflict, plenty of gunplay, and a scenic atmosphere (and again, I'm baffled by statements that label the Spanish location as unattractive or, at the very least, not reminiscent of the American West).

If you're interested in Italian Westerns, I urge you to see beyond the dubbing and invest the time in this film.

Burt Sullivan, a rugged Texas sheriff heads to Mexico along with his raw younger brother Jim to seek revenge, by arresting the man Cisco Delgado for murdering their father quite a few years ago. When they reach a small Mexican town, they learn that everyone fears Cisco, as he has power over the people and their laws. Even with those obstacles that get in his way of finding Cisco, Burt wants his man, but a family secret he learns from Cisco when they finally meet. Turns the much-wanted revenge, into something even personal.

The ever cool, hard-ass Franco Nero appears in this customary walk-in-the park spaghetti western. There's nothing really going for it to set apart form the norm, but due to Nero's charismatically gloomy presence, fluid pacing and Enzo Barboni's terrifically panoramic and professional looking photography of the desert terrain. These things go on to shape it into a solid, if unremarkable experience. The passé premise is a simple and unassuming one with a relaxed temperament, which is broken up by excitingly fast action, brutal stabs of violence and would go onto spring one random twist midway through. Plastering the firm script is plenty of snappy dialogues, but also lazy cracks can show up and stock characters are represented. Other than Nero, the only other performance to standout was José Suárez sophisticatedly sadistic part as Cisco. The plot actually allowed a bit of development and emotional play to the Cisco character. The rest of the noble cast were more than acceptable. Director Ferdinando Baldi squeezes in some stylish lashings and energetic verve, but rather then being truly dazzling in its context and visuals, it turns out to be proficiently competent and surefooted. Nothing pretentious marks its way in. Anton Garcia Abril's exuberant music score can be dynamic and tight, but feel symmetrically staged. Don Powell opening / closing emotional car wreck of a song can be quite risible. The English dubbing is not so great either, but there's not real damage by it. It's a polished and workmanlike production, but there's few major draw-cards.

"Texas, Adios" is middling work of the sub-genre, but for the fans it diverts and breezes by in no time.

This isn't a bad Italian western at all--though compared to the rest of the films in this genre, this one is even lighter in plot and mostly consists of a lot of shooting and killing. Now, it's reasonably well-done shooting and killing, but if you're looking for depth, this movie isn't for you.

Franco Nero plays a sheriff in a Texas town. After YEARS of waiting, he and his brother inexplicably decide NOW is the time to track down their father's killer in Mexico. However, when they arrive and even mention the guy's name, Delgado, folks get a bit ornery and the killing begins. In fact, once they are in Mexico, practically not a single minute goes by when someone isn't shot!! And, eventually, a dark secret is learned--but I'll leave that for you to discover. And, also to discover is the wonderfully bloody and bullet-riddled finale.

This film is pretty good but it all boils down to lots of death and not much more. Nero is handsome and very good in the lead but an otherwise ordinary sort of western.