Boss Nigger

Plot synopsis:
Upon finding a wagon under attack by bandits, two black bounty hunters, Boss and Amos (Fred Williamson and D'Urville Martin, respectively) intervene and save Clara Mae, a black woman (Carmen Hayworth). Upon inspecting the bodies, the bounty hunters find several have rewards to their name and one holds a letter from the mayor of the nearby town San Miguel inviting him to become sheriff on the recommendation of fugitive Jed Clayton (William Smith). The pair take Clara Mae to safety in San Miguel and meet Mayor Griffin (R.G. Armstrong). Knowing that there is no sheriff and holding proof that the mayor intended to give it to a gang member, Boss is able to outsmart the mayor and intimidate other members of the town council into giving him the position. As sheriff, Boss and Amos keep the peace and enforce several "Black Laws" such as issuing fines or periods in jail for calling either of them a "nigger" in public. In his duties Boss meets Miss Pruit (Barbara Leigh), a white schoolteacher, who initially offends Boss by talking of the fond memories she has of her family's black slaves, but earns his forgiveness and develops a romantic interest in him. When a gang of Jed Clayton's men meet the mayor in the town saloon to extort supplies from the town (an arrangement that the mayor allows on the understanding that the gang will do no harm to the town or its citizens), Boss and Amos kill one gang member and arrest two more - with one prisoner being killed as he attempts to escape town assisted by the mayor.
Jed and his outlaws then attempt to help the imprisoned outlaw escape by blowing a hole in the prison wall using dynamite. During the resulting raid on the town Clara Mae is kidnapped and taken away by Jed's men, while a Mexican child named Poncho (whom Boss had befriended) is killed. Boss attempts to meet Jed and his gang at their hideout but is himself kidnapped, tied to a pole, and tortured. When Jed leaves at night to meet with the mayor, Amos is able to rescue an injured Boss with the help of Clara Mae, taking him to Miss Pruit's house to recover. Knowing that Jed and his men will be riding through town the next day on their supply run, the bounty hunters plan an ambush.
With the assistance of other residents such as the doctor and blacksmith of the town, Boss and Amos prepare by planting explosives around the town and take up firing positions out of sight. As the gang rides into town, they enter the cantina where Clara Mae is living. When she refuses Jed's advances, he murders her. They then move on to the town itself, while Boss and Amos launch their surprise attack. Boss follows Jed into the Saloon where they fight, and Boss finally kills Jed. As Boss steps outside, he is shot twice by Mayor Griffin, but manages to kill his attacker by throwing a knife at his chest. Now seriously wounded, Boss pleads with Amos to not let him "die in a white folks' town". Miss Pruit urges Boss to take her with him, though he declines. The movie concludes as Amos rides out of town with Boss towed on a wagon, his fate left ambiguous.

Tags: violence, blaxploitation

Review:
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.
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"..
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.
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.
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.
BOSS N*GGER!" A black woman is being assaulted by a group of white cowboys, our black heroes intervene and save this damsel in distress.A blaxploitation Western was bound to happen eventually, and its a good thing Fred Williamson got there first.
Boss N*gger also boasts some very funny lines, such as Boss kissing a white woman, before going, "that's just to satisfy your curiosity."It's slow at parts, but the idea of two black bounty hunters coming to a white town and setting their own rules is appealing, and the film pulls it off.
I refer to the Blaxploitation films that simultaneously also venture into a totally different genre, like horror ("Blackula", "Abby") or psychedelic ("Ganja and Hess") or even Western.
"Black Bounty Hunter", which is the alternative title that I'm forced to use because the website doesn't allow the usage of the titular N-word, is one of the only existing Blaxploitation westerns ever made!
That little trivia aspect alone makes the film worth tracking down, and then I haven't even mentioned the fact that it is written by and starring the almighty Fred Williamson and directed by B-monster movie veteran Jack Arnold ("Creature from the Black Lagoon", "It came from Outer Space").
Whilst on the tail of wild west villain Jed Clayton, Boss and his loyal right hand Amos ride through the insignificant and Sheriff-less little town of San Miguel.
The comedy doesn't always work, except for a few notable moments with D'Urville Martin at his best, but the western action is old-fashioned good!
Plus we get an awesome Shaft like theme song, while there are better westerns and black exploitation films .
Fred Williamson and D'urville Martin are two black bounty hunters that stumble into a town that is sorely in need of a sheriff.
Not particularly distinguished from the blaxploitation Western sub-sub genre and not nearly as wild as the name suggests, 'Boss N!gger' is still good fun with a lot of humor (supplied mostly by Martin) and well-directed action scenes..
This is a review of "The Legend of N***er Charley", "The Soul of N***er Charley" and "Boss N***er", a loose trilogy of films set in the pre-Civil War South and starring Fred Williamson as N***er Charley, a runaway slave.
He teams up with Amos, another ex slave, and spends much of the film dodging bullets, evading bounty hunters and shooting caricatures, all dumb, racist white guys.
Released at the height of the blaxploitation craze, in the wake of surprise hit "Shaft" and almost a decade before "Roots" (where "black" suddenly went "mainstream" and "prestige"), "Legend" turned out to be one of the highest grossing movies of 1972.
A sequel, "Soul of N***er Charley", quickly followed.The best of the series, "Soul" finds Charley as a near-mythical folk hero, a muscular black man who fights for right and has no qualms smashing the faces of racist white guys.
The plot concerns Charley's battles with a Southern Colonel who oversees his own private slave trade, exporting slaves to Mexico where they're beaten and forced to work for a colony of Southern aristocrats.The final film in the series, "Boss", was released in 1974, at the tail end of various civil rights and black power movements.
Like all the Charley films, and most blaxploitation films in general, the film isn't racially progressive, isn't a celebration of racial pride, but is rather a kind of vile, venting of black rage on white figures of power.
Organizations like the NAACP and various black civil rights activists actively fought against the blaxploitation "movement", considering these films racist at worst, at best detrimental to efforts toward equality.
This led to term "blaxploitation"; blacks for bucks.Like most exploitation films, the Charley series is explicitly about revenge.
Both are by Italian directors and predate the American blaxploitation movement, which was heavily influenced by trashy Italian B movies, westerns, grind-house and Kung Fu. Because of their unique historical position, partaking of fascism but not scapegoated into petrification to the extent that Germany was, Italian film-makers tend to consistently approach issues like slavery and the Holocaust with rare skill.Quentin Tarantino has made a career out of exploiting exploitation movies.
Boss N#gger is definitely not a prime sample of either western or blaxploitation but it's a genre crossover I'm glad happened because if it didn't happen back in the day it probably wouldn't ever.
Perhaps the biggest problem in the movie is Fred Williamson's script, which bears all the marks of an inexperienced writer: too much exposition, flat characterization, scenes that seem to exist only to take the plot from point A to point B.
Well, I guess few people are going to see a movie called "Boss N#gger" for its story, but it's details like these that make the difference between Coffy and the multitude of forgettable blaxploits of the early seventies.
Williamson's script but be throwaway but when he dons his black cowboy hat and cheroot and transforms into black bounty-hunter Boss, he's as badass as he's ever been.
Boss N#gger's seems to exist for no other reason than sticking it to "the man" and in that aspect the balance is heavily tipped towards the blaxploitation end of the equation.
It's still a fairly entertaining diversion with quotable dialogue and all the amusing shenanigans one can expect from having a black sheriff in a town filled with white bigots.
Admittedly, the list of blaxploitation westerns is not long, but 'Boss N-word' is actually a pretty good low-budget anti-hero western in its own right.
The look is typical '70s western (including women's hairstyles that appeared a century out of date), the music urban bad-ass, and the dialogue an amusing mix of tough-guy menace and ironic wisecracking (frequently including the N-word - a hypothetical remake in the 80s would have probably starred Eddie Murphy as the deputy).
Times have certainly changed: the actual title of the film was not used on TCM (where I watched it), despite the offensive second word (prohibited from this review), being featured prominently in the opening credits, the theme song, and the script..
I love it I saw the trailer on a DVD I have 42 street forever and had to get this its a great blaxploitation/exploitation movie the DVD sucks and hopefully someday someone will put out a proper DVD.The story is about two black bounty hunters that take over a whit town with out a sheriff .The white folks are not happy Fred Williamson's character as the boss rocks he is so the boss ni**ger I will not spoil this do find it and yes like I said the DVD is not good the transfer is just OK bad color not framed correctly its put in full frame and is taken from a VHS master and put on DVD I will say this tho with the bad transfer it does give you that grind house feel my score a 8 its funny as hell!!!!!!!!!.
As others have said here, the title song is very memorable, though the funk music score elsewhere in the movie is equally enjoyable despite not being western-flavor.
He makes for a charismatic (and amusing) hero that you hope will succeed, and his abusing of the racist town citizens is good for some laughs.In fact, Williamson's performance comes close to saving the movie - but the movie ultimately disappoints.
Then this might be what you get in return.Boss Negro (I'll use the politically correct term for this review) is the story of 2 African American slaves turned bounty hunters, named Boss and Amos.
However, the position of sheriff in the town is available and Boss takes it, and implements new laws, such as a 20$ fine for using the well-known derogatory term for an African American, and a bunch of other laws.Western movies are a dime a dozen, but there has rarely been a movie where the town's sheriff was a black man.
Sound was a bit poor but otherwise the film was in good shape.A blaxploitation-western mix?
Surely this could not be good?But to my surprise it was!Certainly, the acting was utterly hammy but that is to be expected in both blaxploitation and in westerns so in that aspect it is in no way a bad thing.The plot is definitely not the worst one I've come across in any genre and the character's motivations generally fit in quite nicely.Admittedly, the Blacksmith and was a bit underdeveloped.The actors do their jobs decently, the fight scenes are lively and the music is catch as can be.No major complaints from me..
Fred Williamson was one of the greatest of the 1970s blaxploitation stars, but as cool as he is, he can't make this one anything more than very average.
Williamson and frequent co-star D'urville Martin ('Dolemite') play bounty hunters on the trail of no-good varmint William Smith ('Invasion Of The Bee Girls', 'The Ultimate Warrior', 'Maniac Cop') who bully the mayor of a small town (Peckinpah regular R.G. Armstrong) into letting them become sheriff and deputy.
'Boss N*gger' can't decide whether it wants to be a serious western or a spoof of the genre, and the comedy is broad, recycles much of the Cleavon Little schtick from Mel Brooks' 'Blazing Saddles', and is basically just not that funny.
The plot involves two Black bounty hunters with attitude who arrive in town and take over the job of sheriff and deputy.
However, the comedy isn't all that funny (D'Urville Martin can't carry this off by himself) and the action isn't as good as most of the star's (Fred Williamson) other films.
Another major problem is that while having an anachronistic sheriff in the Mel Brooks film worked, here it just feels like "Black Caesar" stuck on the range--a very odd and unconvincing switch to say the least.
It certainly isn't brilliantly made nor does it make the case that there should have been more Black Westerns and some of the plot is pretty silly.
Boss Ni*ger (1975) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Boss (Fred Williamson) and Amos (D'Urville Martin) are bounty hunters who travel to a small town being ran by a corrupt Mayor.
Boss is waiting on a bad guy to show up and in the mean time decides to make himself Sheriff, which doesn't sit well with the racist white locals but they're going to learn that there's one way to do things and that's up to the Boss.
Director Arnold is best known for CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON but he handles this material perfectly and not only delivers the perfect blaxploitation movies but also a pretty good Western.
Every racist remake ever made towards a black person are present here and played for laughs in how over the top they are but they then lead to some hard hitting action as Williamson really does lay down the Hammer.
The sensitive should probably stay clear but if you want brave and fun film-making than this here is the top of the blaxploitation genre..
Fred Williamson and D'Urville Martin make a fine team in Boss N!gger.
It stars Fred Williamson-the title character-(who was also writer and co-producer with director Jack Arnold) and D'Urville Martin-Amos-as bounty hunters who are looking for a Jed Clayton (William Smith) in the town they encounter.
I mean, it's got some funny scenes and lines mostly courtesy of Martin and both a fine white chick (Barbara Leigh as schoolmarm Miss Pruitt) and a fine black one (Carmen Hayworth as Clara Mae).
Made at the height of the Black Power movement, Boss N****r (or The Black Bounty Killer) is a blaxploitation western that was written and co-produced by genre legend Fred Williamson.
Boss (Williamson) and his friend Amos (D'Urville Martin) are bounty hunters who are looking for wanted man Jed Clayton (William Smith), in order to claim a big reward.
I know, this is a blaxploitation film and the theme is practically always sticking to the whities, but this is the kind of stereotyping that the black community were experiencing themselves at the time, which leads me to believe that it may in fact be a play on this.However, racial themes aside, this is actually a pretty enjoyable western.
As the Boss, Williamson employs his impressive screen presence the same way he did in Larry Cohen's Black Caesar, taking no s**t from the townsfolk, and charming the ladies.
The characters are believable and the situation is interesting and entertaining.The film does have the typical Blaxploitation problem of having a bad ending.
Surely in part the inspiration for Django Unchained, Fred Williamson stars as Boss, who along with his partner Amos (D'Urville Martin) works as a bounty hunter.
Fred Williamson is still pretty bad-ass, and the title song and funky music are, as is often the case with these movies, the best thing about it..
Some of these are actually pretty good films in their own right but too many of them are basic and seem happy to simply "be" the genre rather than doing something interesting or quality within it.
Sadly Black Bounty Hunter (the alternative title) falls into the camp of the former as it essentially takes a typical "Shaft" character and places him in the old west.Hard to believe that this film was made after Blazing Saddles and indeed it is hard not to constantly be reminded of that film and have lines of dialogue pop into your head while watching the story of a black man who becomes sheriff of a corrupt town and proceeds to clear it out.
Viewing the film as a western, it is pretty basic in the plotting and unfortunately it doesn't have a flow or much in the way of excitement to it.
That it is a blaxploitation film doesn't mean problems in this regard can be overlooked but it does at least add something to the film in regards spark.The funk music takes a minute to get used to in the context of the western but it does set the cool tone which is suitable for the constant swagger of Boss himself.
The acting is roundly weak though, in particular I found it found it quite hard to listen to Leigh – probably almost as hard as it was for her to read them out, which is how it sounds.Overall, Black Bounty Hunter is a fairly poor film.
As a western it is obvious and lacking in drama and although the blaxploitation aspect does add something to it in terms of being a little fun, it doesn't add enough to get close to making it a good film.
A Relatively Good Blaxploitation-Western.
"Boss" (Fred Williamson) and "Amos" (D'Urville Martin) are two bounty hunters out west who just happen to come across some thieves who are dividing their loot.
However, when they get to the town they discover that there is no sheriff and the man who runs things is secretly in cahoots with Jed Clayton.
That said, if a person is in the mood for a relatively good Blaxploitation or Western film then this one might be worth checking out.
Fred Williamson is the boss!.
Rugged bounty hunter Boss (the always cool Fred Williamson, who also wrote the smart script) and his easygoing partner Amos (a very funny and amiable portrayal by D'Urville Martin) pursue notorious outlaw Jed Clayton (the legendary Big Bill Smith in peak curvy form) into the small town of San Miguel.