Monday, June 17, 2013

Bucktown (1975)

Director: Arthur Marks

Starring: Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Thalmus Rasulala, Tony King, Bernie Hamilton, Art Lund, Tierre Turner, Morgan Upton, Carl Weathers, Jim Bohan, Robert Burton, Gene Simms, Bruce Watson

More info: IMDb

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

Plot: 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.


My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

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

If it weren't for the better-than-usual story and this...



it'd be an average Blaxpoloitation flick.  Williamson is surprisingly low key.  He's usually brimming with personality but not in this one.  Grier seems to be dialing it in a bit, too.  Rasulala doesn't.  He plays it strong.  It's neat seeing Carl Weathers pre-ROCKY (1976).  There's a scene with a baseball bat where he hits himself a home run on some dude's head.  Great stuff.


The real problem with BUCKTOWN is with the pacing.  At 94 minutes it feels awfully long and without much of the exploitative elements and the action scenes back loaded without much in between, it can be tougher than usual to sit through.  Don't watch this if you're remotely sleepy.

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