Texas, Adios

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 .

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.

im glad i just saw the movie for the first time. why? i didnt have to be so damned concerned about the "poor dubbing" some are whining about. the dvd comes with the italian track!! anyway, i never have complained about a films poor dubbing job. im much more into any film to sometimes notice. i may giggle a little....but its not that distracting. i also get a kick out of how many people cant handle "keoma" because of the music. whatever. i thought it kinda fit...so im weird. TEXAS ADDIO is a great story with solid action again featuring the italian gun-slingin master, franco nero. i really enjoy that guy and im looking forward to him with the dvd release of "django". i have over 1000 dvds in my collection but my euro-western section is only 21 titles long with more on the way. "texas.." is most welcome in my collection and worth repeated veiwings. many j. wayne films sit close to the sketti titles but they have nothing to do with each other except for that they are all great westerns. also close by is "dead man" with j. depp....a great film but comparing and sizing up actors and titles is a waste of time for me. also see "the great silence" and "bullet for the general" if you have not checked them out yet. youll find nice dvds of each on shelves now.

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.

Before watching the movie, I watched the interview with Franco Nero that's on the disc. When he said that this western is "more like an American western" than any of his other movies I began to worry since I generally don't care for American westerns.

The opening theme song of the movie is decidedly Euro-western, so that gave me some hope. Then the story began. The beginning scenes of the movie when they are in Texas are kind of hokey and corny in an American western sort of way, so I started to doubt the worth of this movie again. Fortunately this part of the movie is very short. The Sullivan brothers head off to Mexico and that's where the story unfolds and quickly becomes one hundred percent spaghetti western.

The music score is very good, with lots of spaghetti style trumpets and guitar. The theme song becomes a haunting recurring melody.

Franco Nero gives another action packed performance in this movie. His character, Burt Sullivan, has an uncanny ability with a gun that's reminiscent of Django. Jose Suarez is excellent in the role of the slimy land baron who murdered Sullivan's father, and Jose Guardiola is great as his cultured crony McLeod.

Needless to say, this movie was much better than I expected after hearing Franco Nero's comments. This is definitely not an American western! If you like your spaghetti westerns packed with action and revenge Franco Nero style, do yourself a favor and check this one out.