Bucktown (1975)

Duke Johnson visits a small Southern town, intent on burying his brother. After the funeral, he learns that he must stay for 60 days, for the estate to be processed. A few locals convince ... See full summary »

Director:

Arthur Marks

Writer:

Bob Ellison

Stars:

Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Thalmus Rasulala

Cast

Credited cast:
Fred Williamson	...	Duke Johnson
Pam Grier	...	Aretha
Thalmus Rasulala	...	Roy
Tony King	...	T.J.
Bernie Hamilton	...	Harley
Art Lund	...	Chief Patterson
Tierre Turner	...	Steve
Morgan Upton	...	Sam
Carl Weathers	...	Hambone
Jim Bohan	...	Clete
Robert Burton	...	Merle
Gene Simms	...	Josh
Bruce Watson	...	Bagman
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jody Maxwell	...	Topless dancer / girlfriend

Storyline

Duke Johnson visits a small Southern town, intent on burying his brother. After the funeral, he learns that he must stay for 60 days, for the estate to be processed. A few locals convince Duke to reopen his late brother's nightclub, and soon the local redneck policemen are intimidating Duke with threats of violence. Duke refuses to pay the bribes they demand, so then he and his lady friend Aretha are threatened and attacked by the crooked cops. Rather than take them on himself, Duke calls on his old pal Roy. Roy brings a few buddies to Bucktown, and they bring justice to the small town. With the redneck cops out of the way, Duke lets his guard down. Then the situation gets out of hand again. Finally, Duke must settle the score himself.

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Plot Keywords:

brother | redneck | small town | funeral | southern | 

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Taglines:

WHATEVER YOU WANT THEY'VE GOT... And Bucktown is where you'll find it!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 July 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bucktown: Panikos stin poli

Filming Locations:

Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Plitt Theaters

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Glen Glenn Sound)

Color:

Color (Movielab) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the climatic fight between Duke and Roy, Bob Minor (doubling for Thalmus Rasulula) can be seen many times.

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Quotes

Steve: I ain't a pimp. I'm Walt Disney, and this is Disneyland!

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Connections

Referenced in Jackie Brown (1997)

User Reviews

Fred Williamson & Pam Grier - Together!

Duke Johnson (Fred Williamson) comes to Bucktown to bury his brother and settle his business. A few locals talk Duke into staying on and re-opening his brother's bar. The locals, however, don't tell Duke how his brother really died or about the racists that run Bucktown. Duke enlists some out-of-town friends to help him deal with his problems. With his black friends in power, things should be looking up for Duke. But he soon realizes that regardless of skin color, power corrupts. Once again, Duke must fight for what he believes in.

I suppose the biggest reason to see Bucktown is the chance to catch Fred Williamson and Pam Grier in the same movie. They're dynamite together and exhibit some real chemistry. I was impressed with Williamson in particular. I've seen too many movies from later in his career where he sleepwalks his way to a paycheck. Not here. He really seems to be into it. As for Grier, she's terrific. The supporting cast is exceptionally strong for this kind of movie. Thalmus Rasulala is an actor who has always impressed me and he does nothing to change my opinion in Bucktown. Carl Weathers and Tony King also give nice performances. But nobody goes into a movie like this for the acting. The action and fight scenes in Bucktown are wonderful. Fists, knives, guns – this movie has it all and does it all very well. The fight choreography and staging is about the best I've seen in a Blaxploitation movie. Very nicely done!

But as much as I enjoyed the actors and the action, I still can't rate Bucktown higher than a 5/10. Why? The movie makes no sense. Maybe I should just suspend logic and go with it, but I can't. In my way of thinking, you just can't kill a bunch of people without some sort of reprisal. A whole load of lawmen are killed and no one seems to take notice? I don't care if they were good-for-nothing racists, someone (State officials, family members, concerned citizens,, etc.) would surely take notice and come to town to do something about it. And if the State or whoever isn't going to do anything about all the killing, don't you think the Army would take notice of someone stealing one of their vehicles? I'm sorry, but there's no logic to any of it.