SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: WEEK 116: Boss

[europe1]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info.
Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.

[Censored]

Our Director

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Jack Arnold reigns supreme as one of the great directors of 1950s science-fiction features. His films are distinguished by moody black and white cinematography, solid acting, smart, thoughtful scripts, snappy pacing, a genuine heartfelt enthusiasm for the genre and plenty of eerie atmosphere.

Arnold was born on October 14, 1916, in New Haven, Connecticut. He began his show business career as an actor in both on- and off-Broadway stage productions in the late 1930s and early 1940s; among the plays he appeared in are "The Time of Your Life," "Juke Box Jenny," "Blind Alibi," "China Passage," and "We're on the Jury." Arnold served in the US Army in the Signal Corps during World War II. He apprenticed under famous documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. Following his tour of duty Jack started making short films and documentaries. One short, With These Hands (1950), was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature. Arnold made his theatrical movie debut with the B picture Girls in the Night (1953). He then did his first foray into the science-fiction genre: the supremely spooky It Came from Outer Space (1953). Jack achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), a scary yet poetic reworking of "Beauty and the Beast". Revenge of the Creature (1955) was a worthy sequel. Tarantula (1955) was likewise a lot of fun. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) rates highly as Arnold's crowning cinematic achievement; it's an intelligent and entertaining classic that's lost none of its potency throughout the years.
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Our Star

Fred Williamson

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Film Overview

Premise: 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.

Budget: God Only Knows
Box Office: See Above

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)
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* This film was originally going to be shot on location in Tucson, Arizona, but this was ultimately dropped when it proved to be too expensive.

* The scene with the little boy being trampled to death was done with only one horse.

* William Smith: "I was killed in ... Boss by Fred Williamson. We had a great time with our fights. We went down to Arizona to film Boss with R.G. Armstrong. He had a lot of urban, black kids on the set. They were falling off their horses like Neville Brand did in Laredo—only they weren't drunk, of course. Fred and I had a great fight scene in that, more than one."


Members: @europe1 @MusterX @Scott Parker 27 @the muntjac @Cubo de Sangre @sickc0d3r @chickenluver @FrontNakedChoke @AndersonsFoot @Tufts @Coolthulu @Yotsuya @jei @LHWBelt @PommyBen @Deus Ex Machina @ArtemV

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Ok film. Kinda paint by numbers, but with colors reversed in spots. There were some good lines (eg. "Don't let me die in a white folks town."). Action wasn't all that. Most of the entertainment was watching the sidekick get off on turning the tables on whitey. Dude sure enjoyed himself. lol at hauling people to jail and imposing and arbitrary fine for ignoring him on the street. Overall though, fairly unremarkable.

 

[europe1]

I would just like to be the first to point this out to you people...

The actor playing the bad guy in this movie... is literally named Will Smith!



Fred Williams killed Will Smith in this picture! Will Smith was one of those stolid, dependable, serial heavies in 70's genre flicks. Mostly I remember Will Smith from the 1975 post-apocalypse movie Ultimate Warrior where he was killed by Yul Brynner (getting killed was a frequent habit of his). Oh he also did some Fresh Prince thing.

Also, Boss did the riding into town scene better than Tarantino did. I just love this montage of impertinent, uppity townspeople disquietingly watching Boss and D'urvile from the sides as they ride in.

But of course, Blazing Saddles did it the best.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

PS. Kudos to Bette Midler for taking on a role in such a risque movie.

 

[the muntjac]

They call him Boss,

They call him Boss,

Boss...Shut your mouth!

I enjoyed this. It’s got what you want in a Western - shootouts, imposing figures, dirty towns, bravado, booze, tough-guy one-liners, and sand. It doesn’t really do anything you haven’t seen before, but still serviceable.

Our protagonist Boss is not the typical anti-hero that you might find in a Western. Sure, he knew it would rile up the townsfolk for making himself sheriff, but that was only due to his skin color. He was kind to women and children, and he helped the poor and needy. Yeah, he took goods from a couple shops and told them to bill the mayor, but he was sticking it to the man.

Speaking of the mayor, he backed the wrong horse between Boss and Jed. The mayor seemed to dislike Boss mainly because he was black, while Jed’s men were trampling kids, and raping and shooting the women folk. The scene where the mayor is being a peeping tom and tries to advance on Clara May when she’s showering felt kinda thrown in. The movie was beating the audience over the head with making sure we know he’s a bad guy. I thought him backing Jed was sufficient. This just made me think of CinemaSins adding a sin for the “all bad guys are rapists” cliche.

Amos was an entertaining character. Although, I thought he was getting a little too drunk with his power. Yeah, it’s wrong for people to use racial remarks, and I’m cool with him charging people for using them, but he was initially locking up folks for not saying good morning to him, or just removing a note he posted. I was kinda hoping Boss would tell him to cool it.

There was a lot of what I call the Commando Effect in this movie. Where the good guys are highly outnumbered in a gunfight and not trying to get behind cover, yet not getting shot while killing all the bad guys. If you’ve seen the movie Commando, you know what I mean.

This isn’t the best or even one of the best Westerns out there. It’s not even the best Western that features a black man becoming sheriff in a white town that uses comical elements and casually throws around the n-word. That belongs to Blazing Saddles, but Boss (shhh!) is decent for what it is.

And I don’t know about anybody else, but I laughed when right after the credits, it said this movie was rated PG by the MPAA. Haha, what? Heck, Blazing Saddles came out a year before this and was rated R, and that had a softer and more cartoony tone than this. Then again, MPAA has a history of being inconsistent, so who knows.

 

[europe1]

Some historical context for this movie. Boss came out in the time when two great genres were heading towards the grave. The Blacksploitation genre started with the splendid Shaft in 1971 -- and The Spaghetti Western genre which started in the mid-60's. Since studios always want to milk a moribund cow for every last morsel of milk its udders contain, executives simply thought, "hey let's combine the genres and see if that works!" Boss was one of the few movies born from this mindset, with another example being Joshua from 1976.

And the outrageous title? It was a marketing scheme! Blacksploitation films were considered low-budget trash. So they received almost no advertisement what-so-ever. The outrageous title was there so to make sure that people remembered the movie when they walked passed the cinemas. If you look through Fred Williamson's early career, he used this tactic on multiple occasions!

Ok film. Kinda paint by numbers, but with colors reversed in spots. There were some good lines (eg. "Don't let me die in a white folks town.").

I agree. Outside the outrageous premise and how they play on it -- which garners a few jokes (like the one you've mentioned) -- the rest of the movie is thoroughly mediocre. Though I did think that Will Smith did a stolid job playing the thug villain.

Action wasn't all that.

Very bloodless for a 70's movie and lacking in gore. It definitively has some of that mean-spiritedness that you'll find in Blacksploitation films though. They ride over the freaking kid for Christ sake! And then Will Smith callously guns down that comely-looking black woman. But these moments really aren't as impactful as they should be. The rest of the movie doesn't underpin them.

Dude sure enjoyed himself. lol at hauling people to jail and imposing and arbitrary fine for ignoring him on the street.

D'Urvile had all the best line. Brought a lot of humor to the show.

'

Yeah, he took goods from a couple shops and told them to bill the mayor, but he was sticking it to the man.

More like Boss Socialist amirite?

Also, what's he doing wearing all-black in the desert! The dude must be sizzling under that sun!

They call him Boss,

They call him Boss,

Boss...Shut your mouth!

You know, considering the title of this movie and its soundtrack. Isn't it a bit weird that it's the black characters that clean up the language of this town?

The scene where the mayor is being a peeping tom and tries to advance on Clara May when she’s showering felt kinda thrown in

Considering this was a 70's grindhouse movie, I'm sure that sure a scene was considered mandatory by the producers.

Speaking of the mayor, he backed the wrong horse between Boss and Jed. The mayor seemed to dislike Boss mainly because he was black, while Jed’s men were trampling kids, and raping and shooting the women folk.

I liked the acting in that scene where the Major and Jed where having a drink after Boss got captured and Jed was talking about picking this town apart. The Major's body language seemed to indicate that he was regretful, that he had made a mistake. But as the ending showed, his ambivalance wasn't enough to make him shift sides to Boss.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

D'Urvile had all the best line. Brought a lot of humor to the show.

Easily the best character in the film.

 

[the muntjac]

More like Boss Socialist amirite?

Like a Robin Hood with swagger.

Also, what's he doing wearing all-black in the desert! The dude must be sizzling under that sun!

Sometimes you gotta sweat to look cool.

Considering this was a 70's grindhouse movie, I'm sure that sure a scene was considered mandatory by the producers.

I imagine this conversation -

Producer 1: “Whelp, even after the child murdering scene and adding the N-word in the title, we’ve only got a G rating. What else can we do?”

Producer 2: “How about a scene with a bathing naked woman that is sexually accosted?”

Producer 1: “Of course! PG rating, here we come!”

I liked the acting in that scene where the Major and Jed where having a drink after Boss got captured and Jed was talking about picking this town apart. The Major's body language seemed to indicate that he was regretful, that he had made a mistake. But as the ending showed, his ambivalance wasn't enough to make him shift sides to Boss.

Yeah, the ending sorta petered out. There was opportunity for something more interesting.

 

[Scott Parker 27]

This movie was a fun experiment on a couple of classic genres combined. I'm glad someone had the balls to actually attempt it, just so we can say it has been done. Whether it was good or not is another story. I found the movie an interesting concept, the story was a bit lacking, but that's ok, that's the point. Now I can tell all my black friends I've seen this movie, right??

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Yep, fucking loved this film, it was just fun. I kind of imagined myself being a black guy in a 70's grindhouse cinema in new york drinking a 40, smoking weed and eating popcorn.

I've never been to new york, wasnt born in the 70's and have never been black but this was the type of trash film i love.

I'm not sure if this directly influenced django unchained but there were so many similarities!

I have been a bit down on the 2 films selected since i joined the club but this was a proper laugh and i'm glad i can be positive finally!

 

[europe1]

Now I can tell all my black friends I've seen this movie, right??

To be perfectly frank, I did that once on a chatboard.

She wasn't very happy (and I can't say that I blame her).

I kind of imagined myself being a black guy in a 70's grindhouse cinema in new york drinking a 40, smoking weed and eating popcorn.

Tarantino fantasizes about that every day.

 

[sickc0d3r]

Where did you people watch this one? Help a brotha out.

I would just like to be the first to point this out to you people...

The actor playing the bad guy in this movie... is literally named Will Smith!

View attachment 411841

Fred Williams killed Will Smith in this picture! Will Smith was one of those stolid, dependable, serial heavies in 70's genre flicks. Mostly I remember Will Smith from the 1975 post-apocalypse movie Ultimate Warrior where he was killed by Yul Brynner (getting killed was a frequent habit of his). Oh he also did some Fresh Prince thing.

Dammit, I should have honorable mentioned Any Which Way You Can in the top 10 one on one fights list.

 

[Coolthulu]

So.

Boss Nigel.

Using only Tyron Woodley gifs.

Why not?

Yup. That's it. Interpret that however you like.

 

[LHWBelt]

Yep, fucking loved this film, it was just fun. I kind of imagined myself being a black guy in a 70's grindhouse cinema in new york drinking a 40, smoking weed and eating popcorn.

I've never been to new york, wasnt born in the 70's and have never been black but this was the type of trash film i love.

I'm not sure if this directly influenced django unchained but there were so many similarities!

I have been a bit down on the 2 films selected since i joined the club but this was a proper laugh and i'm glad i can be positive finally!

I just joined too and coherence and cockneys vs zombies were both pretty meh for me with coherence being the better flick. Wasn't able to find this one and am busy this week anyways so will resume with whatever martial arts movie we got next week. Again not really my thing lol. I do like that this club forces me to watch stuff i otherwise would have never heard of. I'm sure we'll find some gems along the way and obviously you did with this one.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Wasn't able to find this one and am busy this week anyways so will resume with whatever martial arts movie we got next week.

 

[Yotsuya]

I might get back to this movie after bluray release next month, but I'm passing it too for now.

 

[europe1]

I might get back to this movie after bluray release next month, but I'm passing it too for now.

You are no human. You are bluray-ordering machine.

But this movie could use a restoration. The quality on the DVD is pretty darn blurred and grainy.

 

[Yotsuya]

You are no human. You are bluray-ordering machine.

Heh, to be honest, I’m a pro. I run a videostore.

 

[europe1]

I run a videostore

That explains everything.

Expect how one runs a videostore in 2018

There is like 5 of them in Stockholm and overall they're pretty small with a tiny stock.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Expect how one runs a videostore in 2018

Here's what I envision.