Boss Nigger (1975)

Director: Jack Arnold

Starring: Fred Williamson, D'Urville Martin, William Smith, R.G. Armstrong, Don 'Red' Barry, Barbara Leigh, Carmen Hayworth

More info: IMDb

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, and soon take over that position, much against the will of the mostly white townsfolk. They raise hell, chase women, and milk the locals for cash, while waiting for the opportunity to get their man.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? Uh-Uh!

#18 on Blaxploiteasin' (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

#34 on 42nd Street Forever Vol. 1 (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)


I remember when this was released on DVD it was on the shelf at Best Buy only the name of the film just said BOSS. I was horrified but I wasn't terribly surprised since we're living in a sissified state. It's not like the movie was censored, too. Hell, there's more utterances of "nigger" in this picture than a Richard Pryor concert. It's astonishing. What's more astonishing is how amateurishly bad this movie it.

My man crush on Bill Smith has just taken a step back.
What the hell kind of outlaw dresses like that?

R.G. Armstrong probably comes off best. I've never seen Williamson, Martin, Smith, et al do worse. And Barbara Leigh? Oh, she's horrible. Don't worry. She didn't have much of an acting career. The editing is poor, the camera work, direction, script, stunts. It's embarrassing. Some of the music (by Leon Moore but listed as We Produce in the credits) sounds like it would work just fine in a modern, big city Blaxploitation flick but not here, and there are several cues that are downright awful.


Oh, it gets worse. The disc was put out by VCI who normally put together quality discs but the print on this is about as bad as the trailer above. It's horrible considering this is a major release. If this were a bootleg with Dutch subtitles I'd understand. Despite the washed out print, VCI did include some extras when they didn't have to. There's a half hour interview with Williamson (who looks stunning for a man of 70 - it's not fair) where he barely mentions this film. It's basically an overview of his entire career both as a pro football player and then actor. There's an interview with one of the producers who also appears on an all-too-short retrospective on director Arnold's career (look up this man's credits - it's amazing what he did). I'm giving this disc away. Normally I'd be glad I finally saw it after all these years but my, what a letdown.