Posse
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
In 1898, Buffalo Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 10th Cavalry Regiment, led by Jessie Lee (Mario Van Peebles), are fighting in the Spanish–American War in Cuba. As the segregated African-American unit is barely holding its own against constant attacks from enemy troops, Jesse runs back to the command post of the corrupt and racist Colonel Graham (Billy Zane) to request that the 10th Cavalry be allowed to pull back. Colonel Graham orders Jessie to shoot a deserter in exchange for allowing the 10th to retreat. Unable to kill a man in cold blood, Jessie demonstrates excellent marksmanship by shooting the man's cigar from his mouth. Colonel Graham then kills the deserter, and offers Jessie's command of the 10th to Little J (Stephen Baldwin), another White prisoner (the alternative would be to face the firing squad). Graham then orders the 10th to fall back in order to begin another mission, one in which they will be required to wear civilian clothing, as opposed to their Cavalry uniforms. They are ordered to rob a Spanish gold shipment, which is a setup to give the Colonel an excuse to execute the entire 10th Cavalry as deserters. As he meets them with his own cavalry force, his aide Weezie (Charles Lane) causes a distraction, allowing the 10th to shoot the Colonel and his cavalry down.
With Colonel Graham and his troops supposedly dead, the remnants of the 10th—including Jessie, Obobo (Tiny Lister), Angel (Tone Lōc) and Little J, along with Weezie—sneak out of Cuba and Jessie leads them to New Orleans. Soon after arriving their arrival, Little J meets a gambler named Father Time (Big Daddy Kane) and they begin playing poker, at which point Time is caught cheating. Little J helps the gambler escape and they go back to the hotel room where the others are hiding, telling them "We were never here" in fear that the vengeful gamblers might come for them. Doing just as J feared, the gamblers come in search of him and Father Time, only to be shot in the back by Colonel Graham and his troops, who survived the skirmish in Cuba. Angel is killed in the firefight while Little J, Father Time and the others barely escape. They meet up with Jessie who had left earlier to finish some business in a town out West.
The newly formed "posse" heads West with Colonel Graham on their heels every step of the way. They eventually stop in a town where Jessie has ammunition custom-made out of gold in order to kill the demons of his past, using one to kill the man who made the ammunition—as he was one of the men who lynched Jesse's father King David (Robert Hooks) years earlier (Father Time later explains that the voodoo ladies in New Orleans believe that gold is the only way to kill a demon). They make their way to Freemanville, a town founded by King David and composed entirely of African-Americans. Jessie is reunited with several old acquaintances, including his good friend Carver (Blair Underwood), who is now the sheriff of Freemanville. Carver's deputy goes to Cutterstown, not wanting to tip anyone off that Carver is working with Cutterstown's sheriff, Bates (Richard Jordan). He informs Bates that Jessie has returned to Freemanville. The "posse" enjoys the hospitality of Freemanville until Bates tells Carver that the town will burn unless Jessie is turned over to him and his deputies (Sheriff Bates and one of his deputies were men that had lynched King David, and were afraid that Jessie had come back for revenge). Bates and a few of his deputies attack Freemanville that same night looking for Jessie. One of the deputies beats Weezie in order to get answers. Watching in disgust, Little J fights back in defense of Weezie. Outnumbered, Little J is kicked and beaten to death by Bates and his men, and while Obobo and Jessie's former mentor Papa Joe (Melvin Van Peebles) are taken to Cutterstown as prisoners. Jessie and Father Time soon rescue them by posing as Ku Klux Klan members and storming into the Cutterstown jail. Jessie kills one of the deputies, who was another one of King David's murderers.
When he returns he convinces the townspeople to fight Sheriff Bates by telling them he wants the land for himself to sell to the railroad when it comes through. The citizens of Freemanville fight Bates the next day when he rides in. As they begin to gain the upper hand, Colonel Graham arrives with his cavalry and a Gatling gun which he uses to cut the people down. Jessie charges the gun with a stick of dynamite destroying the gun and killing some of Graham's troops.
Meanwhile, Carver plans to flee with the deeds to all of the property in Freemanville—all of which are in his name—but is stopped by Papa Joe's daughter Lana (Salli Richardson). Father Time shows up just in time to stop Carver from harming Lana. Time kills one of Carver's deputies, but is killed by Carver. Before Carver can flee, he is stopped by Bates who reveals that they had a deal to split the proceeds from the land 50-50. Jessie arrives just in time to hear about the deal, and watches as Carver is betrayed and murdered by Bates. Jessie kills Bates in a showdown, finally putting his past demons to rest. Colonel Graham captures Lana and orders Jesse into the saloon, where they have a climactic fight resulting in Graham's death and the destruction of the saloon (which Graham had set ablaze). Jessie, Obobo, Weezie and Lana watch as the townspeople fight the fire.
The story ends almost a century later with an old man (Woody Strode) being interviewed by reporters (Reginald Hudlin, Warrington Hudlin) about the black cowboys of the Old West. The man, who was a young boy when he met Jessie in Freemanville, gives the reporters a small book that Jessie had given him.
In the end, a caption goes on to tell that there had been over 8,000 black cowboys in the Old West whose stories had never been told due to omission by Hollywood and others alike.

Review: Well, not 'the best', perhaps, but an interesting and stylish western starring Kirk Douglas, who also produced and directed it.
Bruce Dern is great as Strawhorn, the bad guy who ends up stealing the show.
Nightingale (played by Douglas) has calculated that he can win the election on a clear-the-territory-of-lowlifes ticket.
A violently-burning train provides terrific visuals, as well as offering acerbic comment on Nightingale's political aspirations.
U.S Marshal Howard Nightingale is a man who has big political aspirations and to achieve this dream.
When Nightingale captures Strawhorn, just like his other captors or conquests he exploits it through the media for public support.
Strawhorn would be Nightingale's ticket into the US senate, but Strawhorn thinks otherwise.Can westerns be too low-key?
Kirk Douglas directs and stars in this understated, but thoroughly ambitious under-the-radar western that had something cynical to say when it came to its closing credits.
Quite heavy-handed and aware of its messages (money buys loyalty with the guys donning their badges being no better than the outlaws and representing an image (the people's?) to manipulative achieve a politically upper-hand), but the story's format is just so odd and subversive.
The unusual theme to it and the effortlessly collected and cool-witted performances of Kirk Douglas and Bruce Dern (who shared a terrific chemistry) cover for how mechanical the film did look.
Supporting Douglas and Dern (who's character's made great for sparing confrontations) is excellent performances by Bo Hopkins, James Stacy, Beth Brickell, Dick O'Neill and Alfonso Arau.
One thing about Kirk Douglas is that he's never been afraid to let the public see him as a bad guy.
It's a great tribute to his ability as an actor to develop such a wide range of characters from the heroic Spartacus to the villainous George Brougham in The List of Adrian Messenger.Posse falls somewhere in the middle of those two films in terms of the good versus evil scale for Kirk Douglas.
Politicians running on "law and order" platforms were just coming into vogue at the time and this western is spot on about those kind of politicians and the motivations behind them.Kirk Douglas is a U.S. Marshal with political ambitions to be a United States Senator.
He's on the trail of outlaw Jack Strawhorn, played by Bruce Dern.
Before capturing Strawhorn, Douglas and his posse burn alive Dern's gang in a barn fire and then butcher another group of misfits he's put together even as they want to surrender.What I like most about Posse is that it doesn't try to make Dern out any kind of a hero.
This may very well have been Bruce Dern's best screen role.It turns out that Dern is a far better judge of human nature than the fatuous Douglas is.
The town of Tesota, Texas where most of the action takes place is very much sadder and wiser when the film concludes.A lot of the same themes are covered in the more acclaimed The Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood who also starred and directed himself.
Fortunately, Posse is a much more accomplished film than Scalawag in every way: Douglas's own direction is more assured, the script by Christopher Knopf and William Roberts is very literate and clever, and Fred Koenekamp's cinematography has a good, professional look about it.
It seemed that nothing new could be done, but this one comes up with a fresh twist by having the "hero" gradually revealed as an unlikable and ambitious social climber.Marshal Howard Nightingale (Douglas) publicly announces that he will bring in infamous railroad bandit Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern).
For the good Marshal has decided to run for the Texan senate, and believes that if he can nail Strawhorn - painting himself as a hero into the bargain - he will win over plenty of voters.
His own posse have their doubts about how they will figure in the Marshal's future schemes; a news editor named Hellman (James Stacy) expresses distrust over the Marshal's ludicrously self-important opinion of himself; even Strawhorn eventually realises what his sly adversary is up to.
Ultimately, Nightingale loses his posse and his public favour, with a little clever intervention from Strawhorn, and sees his political dreams left in tatters.The critical response to Posse was much more favourable than Douglas's previous directing attempt, and deservedly so.
The western action in the film is good, solid stuff, not too violent (as was the trend in '75), but certainly tough enough to satisfy genre addicts.
Douglas gives a strong performance as the absurdly self-obsessed marshal, and Dern is even better as the charismatic, even likable, bandit.
On screen I find Kirk Douglas to be without peer, but I have come to admire him as much if not more for his real-life advocacy of some highly unorthodox, yet worthy projects.If this movie doesn't rank among his very best, it is still remarkable for how unapologetically it goes against the grain and makes a very bold personal statement (one that was not so popular at the time but resonates to this day).
I can't think of anyone else who would have the real-life grit to do such a thing - Kirk Douglas has done so repeatedly with aplomb..
The outlaw Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern) is betrayed by one of his men, Pensteman (David Canary), after robbing US$ 40,000.00 from a train.
During the night, his gang is ambushed in a barn by Marshal Howard Nightingale (Kirk Douglas) and his posse that set fire on the place, burning the criminals and the money, but Strawhorn escapes from the attack.
Meanwhile, the ambitious Marshal Nightingale that is running for the senate is traveling by train with his posse to Tesota, expecting to capture Strawhorn to help him to win the elections.
Nightingale succeeds in his manhunt and poses of hero, but while Strawhorn is in the jail, he poisons the posse asking what will happen with them after the election of their boss.
During the transportation of Strawhorn for judgment by train, the outlaw reverts the situation and captures Nightingale.
Now he demands the same amount he lost in the fire to release Nightingale and the posse force the locals to give the money to rescue the marshal.
"Posse" is a western with a cynical and amoral tale of leadership, disloyalty and greedy.
This outlandish and politically incorrect Western concerns about an ambitious, pompous sheriff named Nightingale (Kirk Douglas) he's looking for a dangerous robber as platform for his US Senate political career, under the ironic title ¨To the polls, sons of freedom¨.
Then Nightingale finds townspeople are siding with the bandit.There's much historical revisionism in this offbeat and pleasantly subversive Western as well as reversals of the ordinary 'Good guy' against 'Bad guy' format, similarly as happens in Spaghetti Western sub-genre.
Excellent Kirk Douglas as cynical sheriff who tries to fulfill political aspirations by detaining a known gunfighter.
Secondary cast is frankly well as Dick O'Neill as ubiquitous photographer recording everything for future , James Stacy as cripple journalist, the Mexican Alfonso Arau who recently turned into film-maker, and Luke Askew and Bo Hopkins as members of the marshal bunch.
This solid motion picture is well produced and directed by Kirk Douglas .
Bet you didn't know that Kirk Douglas took the director's chair a couple of times, POSSE being one of them.
Also, the actions taken by certain characters near the end, though having some justification, didn't seem to have enough justification.On the positive side, POSSE is well shot, well acted, good production values, and an interesting ending.
While running for U.S. Senator, publicity-conscious Texas marshal Kirk Douglas (as Howard Nightingale) captures bandit Bruce Dern (as Jack Strawhorn) - but the outlaw turns the tables on the lawman...
It promises to "knock you off your horse." This is a Kirk Douglas production in which he stars and directs.
Douglas also casts Bo Hopkins (as Wesley) well, and puts James Stacy (as Harold Hellman) in a dignified role - the "Lancer" TV hero had lost an arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident.In most cases, you do not watch a film and "see" the director at work.
It takes you out of the story often during the first half while what is happening is secondary to the cast and camera playing by Douglas (with terrific photography from Fred Koenekamp).
They are very nicely done, and the ending isn't bad, either.******* Posse (6/4/75) Kirk Douglas ~ Kirk Douglas, Bruce Dern, Bo Hopkins, James Stacy.
The Anti-Western had been Around for a while so Producer, Director, Star Kirk Douglas was Bandwagoning a bit and Chronologically it was Not as Unexpected as Moderns might Think.The Difference here is the Political Story-Line not often Used in the Genre.
But still, it is Fascinating to Watch "White Hat vs Black Hat" Characters Exchange Roles in this Solid Telling of an Ambitious and Selfish Marshall with Senatorial Ambitions.Bruce Dern is Perfectly Cast as the Smart and somewhat Charming Outlaw.
Basically His Ability to be Insightful and Pragmatic in His chosen Profession and is much More Likable than the Duplicitous Douglas.Overall, Above Average Watergate Western with enough Good Character Actors in Support and Good Professionals behind the Script and Cinematography that make this one a Must See for Fans of the Genre and Might even Impress Viewers Not Usually Drawn to Tales of the Old West..
Having Kirk Douglas on leading role and direction this western won't disappoint nobody,but a littles sins almost unnoticed crying for.....Bruce Dern is always in a blue jeans impeccable clean.....the escape inside the train wasn't convincing among another little mistakes...in first part of the movie the ambush at the river the landscape is unforgettable,the cinematography is quite good,alfonso Arau is another high point but died so early,shall be better exploited along of the picture!Resume:First watch: 1985 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.25.
Douglas and Dern kept the show going with their give and take, although I don't think the real lawmen and desperados actually carried on in this fashion.
I think Strawhorn was more of a realist than a truly bad person; he saw the reality of life and became practical because of his vision.
Kirk Douglas proves that his first choice for a career--in front of the camera--was a good one, directing Posse, a weak and silly "message" western about a politically ambitious US Marshall on the hunt for a notorious outlaw and the promotion that will result from his capture.It is interesting seeing Douglas run his PR spin machine in the Old West, and Bruce Dern, as the outlaw, is both cunning and charming (and not the psycho we all grew to love and hate).
There is so much character-actor star-power in Posse, that I remember liking it despite its wheezy moralizing and Watergate-era world-view.Yet, if you've got nothing better to do than watch a late entry into the genre, with a strong cast more comfortable than good and a story more parody than satire, I'd just about recommend Posse.Just tie your standards to the hitchin' post..
Released in 1975, "Posse" is a Western starring Kirk Douglas and Bruce Dern.
Douglas plays, Nightingale, a marshal campaigning for the Senate in West Texas while Dern plays Strawhorn, a notorious outlaw leader whom Nightingale wants to bring in to increase his chances of winning the election.
Bo Hopkins is on hand as one of the marshal's deputies while James Stacy plays a newspaper editor who opposes the marshal's campaign.The movie debuted a year after Nixon resignation due to the Watergate scandal and "Posse" takes advantage of the public's loss of trust in politicians.
Nightingale (Douglas) and his deputies are subtly juxtaposed with Strawhorn (Dern) and his losers.
He's a commanding marshal of the territory, which is a good thing; he has political aspirations and ties to the railroad, so what?
For more insights on the message of the movie remember that the film's called "Posse." See below for details.Beyond the movie's message, "Posse" is a competent, entertaining Western with interesting characters, a quality cast and quite a bit of action.The film runs 92 minutes and was shot in Sabino Canyon, Florence, Sonoita, Aravaipa Canyon and Old Tucson, Arizona.GRADE: B+ ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read further if you haven't seen the movie) I didn't find the deputies' sudden shift to the life of outlawry to be believable.
True, they would each have $6000, which would've taken three years for them to make doing honest work, but it wasn't like this was enough moolah to radically change their lives, not to mention they'd lose the prestige that came with being deputies; and the possibility of becoming marshals or sheriffs one day.
No matter how you slice it this was an awkwardly implemented twist.That said, there were signs that the 'posse' were already bad (with the exception of one deputy who refused to betray Nightingale and turn to crime).
Kirk Douglas' second stab at film directing garnered him some favorable reviews, however this western with political flourishes is full of hot air rather than excitement.
A US Marshal, beloved by the residents of a small dirt town, plans the ambush of a gang of bank robbers; their leader (Bruce Dern), who gets away, would be the feather in his cap for the Marshal, who is also running for State Senator.
Though this is probably the only time in movie history a crook escaped from prison using a broomstick (!), this screenplay from Christopher Knopf and William Roberts is loaded down with the usual western clichés (mostly visual, though we are not spared the muttering old coot who works the printing press).
I agree with inspectors71's review in that Kirk Douglas was probably a much better actor than director.
This, and his previous film, help prove this.Other than a unique chance to see Kirk directing (and producing), this film is only memorable for being a 1970s "anti-Western"--with bad guys seeming pretty nice and good guys as hypocritical jerks.
As an "anti-Western", the film didn't seem to go anywhere and left me feeling rather uninterested.In fact, the entire story never felt particularly involving and the "anti-ending" seemed amazingly far-fetched and silly.
kirk douglas being a rather intelligent man, I was still a little surprised the way this movie turned out.
But then the good/bad guy gets too greedy and forgets about paying his men decently and then they leave him.
The BBC showed a documentary on the career of Kirk Douglas tonight and as it normally does after a retrospective look on a star`s life it showed one of their films .
Strangely it wasn`t one of Douglas`s classics like PATHS OF GLORY, LUST FOR LIFE , or SPARTACUS but a western from the 1970s I`d never seen called POSSE .
Jack Strawhorn escapes town after shooting a couple of men and Howard Nightengale leads a posse after him .
Not the best western ever made and not the best film Douglas has starred in but solid enough entertainment.
Finally, after watching literally hundreds of westerns, score one for the bad guy!
Bruce Dern's character is Jack Strawhorn, a savvy train robber with enough sense in the early going to know that his gang was second best to Marshal Howard Nightingale's (Kirk Douglas) lawmen.
Strawhorn's capture virtually assures Nightingale of an election win for a U.S. Senate seat, a position he's angling for with a lot more ambition on his mind than simply serving the people.As the story plays out though, things get a whole lot murkier, so much so that the finale winds up totally at odds with any sense of credibility.
I can understand them shaking down the town to save the life of their boss, but then to turn around and split up the money just because Strawhorn suggested it just doesn't make sense to me.Other than the ending that proved a letdown for this viewer, the film does have some fine points to offer.
The train bearing Nightingale's posse is clearly marked as the Texas and Arizona Rail Road.
Like 32 year old westerns.
Howard Nightingale (Kirk Douglas who also directed and produced) wants to be elected a Senator from the state of Texas.
In order to win public support, he takes a train around the state traveling from place to place with a posse and horses, ready to leap out of the train at every stop to round up criminals in general and one notorious gang of train robbers led by Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern) in particular.
With Strawhorn in jail, Nightingale allows himself to be feted by the towns' folk (generally portrayed as good, honest imbeciles) before moving on to Austin, the state capital, and greater things.
Of course Strawhorn escapes by tricking his predictably stupid guards, the plan goes awry, and, besides which, is Nightingale really the honest and upright, baby-kissing political servant he claims to be, on the side of the people?
Will Nightingale's posse seduce every woman in town before the train pulls out?
The acting is pretty basic - with the exception of Dern and Stacy - who gives a low key but quite effective performance in a small role which I think was written especially for him - the characters are pretty much stock Western types, and the movie contains just about every Western cliché in the book, and yet I admit to having enjoyed it.
Bruce Dern turns in another great performance as a nasty bad guy, Jack Strawhorn, being pursued by Marshall Howard Nightingale, who plans to use his capture as a route to political office.
It features good actors as Nightingale's posse and has some terrific gun play, a burning train and attractive if underused women.The big problem for me was Kirk Douglas.
Ever a interesting actor, Douglas fails to make Nightinggale so corrupt or devious that I really pulled for Strawhorn.
If Douglas' character would be more bad as its root, the film would have worked much better.
There's a lot to be recommended in this western and the twist ending is quite good.