Boss Nigger (1975)

Director:

Jack Arnold

Writer:

Fred Williamson (writer)

Release Date:

18 August 1975 (Sweden)

Genre:

Western | Action | Crime

Tagline:

White Man's Town... Black Man's Law!

Plot:

Two black bounty hunters ride into a small town out West in pursuit of an outlaw. They discover that the town has no sheriff...

Plot Keywords:

B Movie | African American | n Word | Profanity In Title | Blaxploitation

Cast

Fred Williamson	...	Boss Nigger
D'Urville Martin	...	Amos
William Smith	...	Jed Clayton
R.G. Armstrong	...	Mayor Griffin
Don 'Red' Barry
Barbara Leigh	...	Miss Pruitt
Carmen Hayworth	...	Clara Mae
Carmen Zapata	...	Margarita
Bruce Gordon	...	Storekeeper
Ben Zeller	...	Blacksmith
Sonny Robbins	...	Bad Foot
Don Hayes	...	Park
Jonathan Barnes	...	Drunk
Sonny Cooper	...	Wash lady
Phil Mead	...	Mayor's man

Also Known As:

Boss
The Black Bounty Hunter
The Black Bounty Killer (UK)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Eaves Movie Ranch - 105 Rancho Alegre Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Dimension Pictures

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever, Volume 1 (2005) (V)

Funny comedy/western showcases "Boss" Williamson

This is a good, solid B movie; not a great western, but a satisfying "blaxploitation" flick mostly because the humor is well done. Not only do the actors bring out the best in the material, but the material (by Williamson himself, who would soon make the jump to directing but on this film hired veteran pro Arnold) is not bad itself.

Boss Ni**er includes a blaring title track that includes the immortal lines "he's a boss niiiiiiiggggaa" in what sounds like a white dude's best impression of Marvin Gaye. Its story concerns the Boss and his sidekick, played to perfection by Durville Martin of Dolemite fame ("I love those fat women" says his character, never knowing the trouble he could get into.....), as ex-slaves who "decided to hunt white folks for a change" and went out West to become bounty hunters. The plot follows the Yojimbo mold, even including a hastily assembled opportunity for Williamson to be captured and beaten near to death by the villains, only to recuperate and return for the final bloodbath.

Like so many of Williamson and Martin's films, the appeal of the film comes from their charisma and the humorous ways they interact with the other, more straight, characters of the film. Thus, even though the plot and structure are predictable, many individual scenes are very funny and entertaining. Unfortunately, the action is not very well done. There is a PG rating, and it's pretty violent considering this, but it keeps the film from rising into the realm of, say "Il Grande Silencio" or "Fistful of Dollars", to which it is very similar; Williamson and Co. seem to have gone instead for comedy.

The film is a success at reaching its modest goals, a good time for the audience letting off some tensions with a historically based race battle.

Also contains one of the greatest exit lines ever: "There's nothing worse for a black man that to drag around a white b*tch".