Watch Texas, Adios For Free

I love this movie so much

Absolutely Fantastic

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The first and, presumably, best of director Baldi's six Spaghetti Westerns (I'd watched his last – BLINDMAN [1971] co-starring Ringo Starr[!] – as part of the Italian B-movie retrospective during the 2004 Venice Film Festival) finds genre icon Franco Nero in good stoic form as a man out to avenge his father's death (incidentally, it was the star's own first genre outing…to be followed that same year by two even better efforts in Sergio Corbucci's star-making DJANGO and Lucio Fulci's MASSACRE TIME).Against his better judgement, he's accompanied on the peril-fraught odyssey (which takes him from Texas to Mexico) by his younger sibling – played by Alberto Dell'Acqua (using the hilarious pseudonym Cole Kitosch!). However, this turns out to have a strong bearing on the plot – despite typical scenes in which the inexperienced and impulsive kid has to be rescued within an inch of his life by big brother – since the man they're after results in being Kitosch's real father (having raped Nero's mother immediately after bumping off her outlaw hubby, an event seen in a rather limp flashback). In the meantime, the villain has been lording it over a poor Mexican province (as much at ease casually picking off rebelling peones with his prize pistol as when playing the pipe organ in his living-room!) – aided by uncouth and alcoholic Alcalde Livio Lorenzon (even if it's later established that the latter's more human, and bitter, than he lets on).With this in mind, the script demonstrates atypical care towards characterization – in fact, another figure who's given his due is that of the lawyer played by Luigi Pistilli (a versatile "Euro-Cult" stalwart) who secretly hopes to organize an uprising against the tyrant, and constantly pleads with Nero to join their ranks. By the way, one further twist on the Spaghetti Western scenario is that, at one point, it's the villainous hordes who are ambushed by the good guys! The action throughout, then, is pretty good (including some quite vigorous fistfights) – starting off with the credit sequence involving a lengthy shoot-out, eventually stopped by cool sheriff Nero, between a bounty hunter and his quarry; the latter is accompanied by the evocative and melancholy theme tune (the work of Spanish composer Anton Abril), which can be heard several times during the course of the film without overstaying its welcome.For the record, I'd first gotten hold of this one in Italian – which is always the preferred language for me with this type of film – but it kept skipping over a good part of that opening confrontation due to some glitch (the same fate, albeit to an ever greater extent, had actually befallen another Spaghetti Western with Nero that I acquired in the past but subsequently couldn't watch as a result i.e. Luigi Bazzoni's MAN, PRIDE AND VENGEANCE [1968]); in the case of Texas, ADIOS I had to make do with the next best thing – an English-dubbed edition (even if Nero himself, who usually re-records his own dialogue parts on the English soundtracks of his films, is dubbed, too). At the end of the day, this is a minor genre offering but a reasonably effective and enjoyable one nevertheless.

The movie deals with a sheriff (Franco Nero) who leaves his work in Texas and along with his younger brother (Albert Dell'Aqua) go to Mexico to revenge the death their father . Both of whom get in a little town where everybody is afraid of Cisco Delgado (Jose Suarez) who has become the local landowner . There , they take on the land baron and his henchmen (Livio Lorenzon, Jose Guardiola , Hugo Blanco) . They're only helped by an advocate at law (Luigi Pistilli) and some villagers.It's a typical Spaghetti/Paella Western co-produced between Italy/Spain in which blends the common scenarios , as invincible and tough antiheroes , difficult and fast showdowns with numerous deceases , impulsive and quick zooms as well as musical score with Ennio Morricone influence . The picture has a certain remembrance to the ¨Trilogy of the dollars¨ and ¨Once upon a time in the West¨ by Sergio Leone regarding the avenging theme , there're even similar plots and twists . Besides , set decoration by Eduardo Torre Fuente and Carlo Simi , the same from both movies . It also bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Django¨ (Sergio Corbucci) referring to Franco Nero role in similar interpretation and clothes . The picture was shot in Abril and May of 1966 , in Almeria (Spain), location where during 1960-70 years were filmed hundreds of Spanish-Italian Westerns . Being a Spaghetti/Paella Western , there appears several usual secondaries of this peculiar sub-genre as Spanish actors : Hugo Blanco , Jose Guardiola , Elisa Montes a special intervention of José Suarez and Italians : Luigi Pistilli , Antonella Murgia , Gino Pernice , Ivan Scratuglia and Remo De Angelis . Cinematography by Enzo Barboni or E. B. Clucher (author of ¨Trinity series¨ with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer) is well made . It contains an evocative and atmospheric score by Antón Garcia Abril . The motion picture titled ¨Texas, Addio¨, or ¨Goodbye Texas¨ , or ¨The vengeance of Django¨ was professionally directed by Ferdinando Baldi . Ferdinando was a craftsman who directed all kind genres but especially Western such as "Carambola's Philosophy: In the Right Pocket" , "Blindman" , ¨Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria" or "Forgotten Pistolero" , ¨"Django Sees Red" , ¨Rita in the West¨ and , of course , ¨Adios Texas¨ at his best . The pic will appeal to Franco Nero fans and Spaghetti Western buffs . Rating : Nice and good . Well worth seeing .

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.

Sheriff Burt Sullivan and his younger brother Jim want to take revenge for their murdered father and say "Good bye, Texas!" to head for Cisco Delgado, the hiss-and-hate bad guy, who resides in Mexico. Unlike in many other Spaghetti Westerns the hero is never really slick and instead decides for an against-all-odds approach. The darkness of other serious spaghetti westerns is missing.The sung score is memorable, the cinematography of Enzo Barboni is mediocre, Franco Nero is good as usual while the other actors do their job with little ambition. Overall this Western has average quality.5 / 10.