1966 was a busy year for Franco Nero, along with a thriller or two, a comedy, some schlocky sci fi and a biblical epic, he found time to star in three spaghetti westerns – the seminal Django, Lucio Fulci’s Massacre Time and Texas Adios. Of the three Texas Adios is, by a long way, the least interesting.
Nero is Burt Sullivan, a small town sheriff, who at the start of the film decides it’s time to head for Mexico to avenge his father’s murder. Considering his pappy died when he was seven it’s strange that Burt’s waited so long before hitting the vengeance trail, maybe he was waiting for his little brother Jim to grow up. Jim decides he’s going to tag along to see justice done for the dad he never knew.
I won’t spoil the film’s twist, but it has much in common with similar familial confusion in Massacre Time. Unlike that film though there’s too little going on to keep the viewers attention, apart from a violent barroom brawl none of the action scenes stand out. Ferdinando Baldi lacks the style of Fulci or Corbucci and the film’s plodding pace doesn’t help matters.
Nero looks and acts cool but Alberto Dell’Acqua as his brother hams it up big time and is a constant source of irritation. Even the music is below par, and that’s usually something you can rely on in an Italian western.
This is one for Franco Nero or spaghetti western completists only.
