Adios Amigo Blu Ray Review (Shoreline Entertainment)

Adiós Amigo is a 1975 Western Buddy Comedy written, produced, and directed by Fred Williamson (Mean Johnny Barrows, No Way Back, Death Journey, Mr. Mean, The Last Fight, The Big Score, Foxtrap, and The Messenger). It had an estimated budget of $500,000. A charismatic conman Sam Spade (played by: Richard Pryor from See No Evil Hear No Evil, Silver Streak, Brewster’s Millions, Stir Crazy, The Mack, Superman III, The Toy, and Blue Collar) and a straight-shooting cowboy Big Ben (played by: Fred Williamson from From Dusk Till Dawn, M*A*S*H, Black Caesar, Original Gangstas, Boss, Black Eye, White Fire, and Vigilante) join forces in the Old West. Their chaotic escapades go across saloons, bandit camps, and dusty towns that instantly create a mess of complicated situations!!!! I can’t believe that I have never heard of Adiós Amigo before especially considering it’s a dream team collaboration between Fred Williamson and Richard Pryor. It’s a fun mix of the buddy comedy, blaxploitation, and western. Fred Williamson is behind the camera for this forgotten 70’s feature. The script is damn near non existent, it’s only a few pages long. Richard Pryor basically ad-libbed his entire role here as the con artist Sam Spade that always gets in trouble. Pryor has some hilarious moments every once in awhile but it’s a little harder to accomplish when the whole performance is a freestyle. Fred Williamson is the bad ass Big Ben. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed but he can throw down when needed. The escaped prisoner does whatever it takes to survive. Spade consistently gets him to fight his own battles over and over. The same scenario plays out in Adiós Amigo. Williamson is more about his tough presence here than anything, he doesn’t speak as much as he usually does. This is a shocker but Pryor and Williamson had real bad chemistry together in this. It just feels so forced at times. The rest of the supporting cast includes James Brown (Sands of Iwo Jima), Robert Phillips (The Dirty Dozen), Mike Henry (Smokey and the Bandit), Heidi Dobbs (Death Journey), Liz Treadwell (Bullitt), Thalmus Rasulala (Above the Law), Timothy Blake (Dreamscape), Nick Dimitri (Kill Me Again), Herb Robins (The Funhouse), Neil Summers (The Shawshank Redemption), and Victor Rogers (Bad Channels). Adiós Amigo barely had much of a budget and it really shows. It keeps everything simple and they make sure to use their money only where it counts. It embraces it’s theme song a little too much, it repeats itself several times during Adiós Amigo. It has a good portion that’s just drama. It’s mainly comedy and action but those are spaced out between all of that. So the flow isn’t as smooth as it could be and it drags every once in awhile. Adiós Amigo had so much potential but unfortunately it didn’t really live up to it. It’s not bad or anything, it’s just very average at the end of the day. This high definition presentation from Shoreline Entertainment in association with Leomark Studios is rough as hell. It’s basically VHS quality put on a Blu Ray disc. It’s the same version that was on the 2005 DVD from Trinity Home Entertainment so I don’t know if it’s ever going to get a proper restoration. Don’t get me wrong, this is still better than nothing but just keep your expectations very low. The same goes with the audio also. It’s at a low quality at this point. Adios Amigo has it’s entertaining moments and it’s honestly worth checking out at least once no matter, it’s currently streaming on Tubi, Plex, and Fawesome. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. This home video release is available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!