Boss Nigger (1975)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

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:

African American | Blaxploitation | Profanity In Title | Independent Film

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:

Referenced in The N Word (2004)

If This is How Blaxploitation Films Work, Make Mine a Double

Boss (Fred Williamson) and Amos (D'Urville Martin) are bounty hunters, riding into the city of San Miguel to collect a reward when they find there's no sheriff. Boss nominates himself the new sheriff, and the reluctant mayor (who is working with the local bandits) goes along with it. Now Boss and Amos must clean up crime, defend the poor and win some women's hearts.

What's really amusing about this film is that it received a PG rating. There's some borderline nudity, and they use the N-word something like 200 times. But they never really swear otherwise, the violence is minimal by western standards and there's no sex (though it's hinted). Having seen other blaxploitation films (such as "Sweet Sweetback") I was surprised by the tameness.

They play really heavily on the race issue, not surprisingly. They even institute "black rules" as the new police, which is awesome (including banning the n-word, despite its prevalent use in this film). But the film is not derogatory to whites or blacks, really. It offers an interesting view where white people must be protected by the black man, and things work out fairly well (much to the people's initial chagrin).

Reviewer Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film as "a pleasant surprise if you stumble upon it without warning." Canby characterized Williamson's acting as "an immensely self-assured parody of the Man With No Name played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's films." I agree with the first part, although I think the second part might be giving this film just a little bit too much credit. But, perhaps not.

Canby finished the review by pointing out what made the film notable among black Westerns: "Most black Westerns either ignore race or make it the fundamental point of the movie. (This movie) somehow manages to do both quite successfully." And on this we agree completely -- race was both the issue and yet completely removed from the real point of the film. Which is why it works; it plays on your insecurities while convincing you they don't exist.

If you can get your hands on this one (I don't know how easy that is), I give it a very high recommendation. My only concern is that someone really needs to get a good transfer with quality picture and sound. The quality I saw was a VHS transfer with grainy footage and mediocre sound. This did nothing to take away from the brilliance of the film, but a smart action film like this one deserves better. Give me digital remastering and a Fred Williamson audio commentary.