Barquero (1970)

Lee Van Cleef is Travis, the barquero, a rugged frontiersman contemptuous of the settlers determined to build a town around his barge.

Warren Oates is Jack Remy, notorious leader of a small army of desperadoes.

They’ve just made their biggest haul, invading a mining town and making off with a wagon full of repeating rifles and a small fortune in silver. They also left lots of bodies behind.

But Remy needs Travis’ barge in his flight toward Mexico. And Travis isn’t in a cooperative mood. He suspects they plan to destroy his barge after crossing to make pursuit more difficult.

So he rounds up “the squatters,” crosses the river and decides to outwait Remy. He won’t have to wait long. Remy and his chief lieutenant, Marquette, are quite impatient.

After all, they’re sure the army is on their trail. And Marquette has a plan for getting across that river without Travis’ barge.

Lee Van Cleef as Travis, ready to defend the barge he built with his own hands in Barquero (1970)

Warren Oates as Jack Remy, frustrated by a single barge owner in Barquero (1970)

Review:

One of the best of a number of American Westerns that tried to mimic the Spaghetti films that were so popular at the time.

Van Cleef is at his best when he’s a deadly serious tough guy, and that’s his mood here. The comic relief is left to fellow frontiersman Mountain Phil. Forrest Tucker plays that role, taking particular delight in tormenting Fair, one of Remy’s men who’s been captured. At one point, he eats ants.

But the cast is filled with unique characters. Remy is a half-mad, dope-smoking outlaw leader who shoots his own reflection at one point. One of his men is constantly staring at a painting of two naked women. On the other side of the river, you have Travis’ woman, the oh-so-curvy but cigar smoking Nola (Marie Gomez).

If the film hits a false note, it’s when Mariette Hartley as Anna offers Travis something he’s never had — a night with a real woman — in exchange for rescuing her husband. It must be his day for bargains, he replies, before taking her up on the offer.

Dominic Frontiere provides the Spaghetti-influenced score.

Forrest Tucker as Mountain Phil, making a point with Travis while satisfying his sweet tooth in Barquero (1970)

Kerwin Matthews as Marquette, watching things go badly under Jack Remy’s direction in Barquero (1970)

Directed by:
Gordon Douglas

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

Runtime: 115 min.

Maria Gomez as Nola, exchanging a knowing glance with Travis in Barquero (1970)

Mariette Hartley as Ann, making a deal with Travis (Lee Van Cleef) in order to keep her man from harm in Barquero (1970)

Memorable lines:

Young boy: “That sure is a great gun. How many Indians did you kill with it?”
Travis: “None. But I shot and scalped a lot of freckle-faced kids.”

Whore: “Am I not beautiful, senor?”
Jake Remy: “I need a drink.”

Remy’s man: “Bonjour, monsieur.”
Man outside Double Eagle Saloon: “What did he say?”
Whereupon both men are gunned down.

Remy to Travis: “I’ll wipe you out. I’ll kill every last one of you. No trickle of water’s going to stop me. You hear me. I’ll dam this stinkin’ river with your bodies. Every last one of you.”

Anna: “Give him (Remy) the barge. I’ll do whatever you ask if you do.”
Travis: “Seems to be my day for bargains.”

Anna: “Travis, listen to me. As long as you’ve lived, you’ve never known a real woman. You’ve known half-women, half-men like that excuse for a woman you’re keeping. But never a woman who was all women … I’m something you’ve never had before.”

Mountain Phil to Travis, as they head off to rescue a settler: “My visits with you are going to get scarcer and scarcer. You plumb wear me out.”

Remy: “Hey, Barquero, we should have met another time.”
Travis: “Yeah, when you didn’t want my barge.”

Craig Littler as Pitney, aka The Reverend, arguing for burning the barge in Barquero (1970)

Brad Weston as Driver, one of Remy’s men, running into trouble in Barquero (1970)

Trivia:

This marked the final film for busty Marie Gomez, who had played the role of Chiquita, one of Jack Palance’s lieutenants, in “The Professionals” and had a regular role on the Western TV series “The High Chaparrel.”

In high demand after his success in Spaghetti Westerns, Van Cleef also starred in the fourth Magnificent Seven film — “The Magnificent Seven Ride!” (1972) and in “Take a Hard Ride” (1975), which was filmed in the Canary Islands.

Ed Bakey as Happy and Armando Silvestre as Sawyer, two of Jack Remy’s men, in Barquero (1970)

Forrest Tucker as Mountain Phil with Fair (John Davis Chandler), one of Remy’s men, at knifepoint in Barquero (1970)

Kerwin Matthews as Marquette, trying to make a point with a stubborn Jack Remy (Warren Oates) in Barquero (1970)

Lee Van Cleef as Travis and Maria Gomez as Nola, their cuddle time rudely interrupted in Barquero (1970)