
Watching the movie “Outlaw Posse” gives the spectator the impression that what they are watching is a homework assignment of its own or rather the end product of such an assignment. But as for that assignment, Mario Van Peebles, who is also the director of the show, had the freedom to come up with pretty much whatever he saw fit as trim for that assignment, which seems the stylist is lacking a lot. He has made stars of classics such as The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy, Blazing Saddles, Django Unchained, and any of the blaxploitation Westerns that Fred Williamson made in the 70s. Suffice it to say, he loves Westerns that ling over the second picture is telling of everything. The film, however, restricts itself to a large number of historical inaccuracies and does not, however, seem likely to one day be remembered as an American classic.
Still, the first chapter of the movie is simply outrageous and quite breathtaking, so much so that it could have been its own stand-alone movie and also sets the bar quite high for the rest of the movie which simply cannot be met. Somewhere during the first chapter of the film, we see Neal McDonough, Cam Gigandet, and The inevitable M. Emmet Walsh infiltrate an arid ghost town in New Mexico during the early 1900s, these people were seen making their way to a local saloon we’re their thirst can finally be quenched. Irrespective of how passionately one speaks against the loud Indian, one feels the body language of chauffeur Walsh speaks volumes more. This informs us that Chief Van Peebles has reached the place and slowly, but firmly, puts an end to Walsh’s raucous. Such a business divergence is very comical and makes for great consumption while commemorating the greats of the industry and advocating for things that are hardly seen and or heard in such films.
It is also revealed, quite early in the first season, that soon after the Civil War was over, Chief and Angel (William Mapother) took charge of a shipment of southern gold that had been earmarked for the West as a form of reparations for the former slaves. The two eventually parted ways, however, this time Chief kept the gold and one more Angel holding onto it and burying it in the area which most white people did not possess the nerve to set foot on and making an arrangement with the Chief to return some day and get it from there. Now is the time and Chief puts together a small expedition which includes an aged Carson (John Carroll Lynch), a Southpaw (Jake Manley) in his teenage years, a feminine knife-weaving elusive figure Queenie (Amber Reign Smith), and D.C. Young Fly as the minstrel Spooky who justifies his role with the strong statement: “Make people laugh and people are more forgiving to the nonsense you say”.
Of course, Chief is not the only one interested in that golden elephant and that’s what leads Angel and his crew to the residence of Decker (Mandela Van Peebles) who coincidentally is the estranged son of Chief.
Angel desires for Decker’s father to meet them and in order for that to happen he wants Decker’s assistance so they can attack with the gold. Decker openly turned against their orders and that led to his wife being kidnapped along with his house which Angel set on fire. Chief and the rest of the crew while searching for gold encounter various characters of wits and charm, and Deepika as well as Decker try to rekindle their past relations before engaging in the clash for the treasure and the subsequent shootout.
Van Peebles was also in the movie “Posse” which he directed and is a western that was made in 1993. Needless to say, this film has no relation to the aforementioned film and I would say the name of this film is irrelevant. ‘Outlaw Possee’ or rather ‘Posse’ unequivocally was a terrible movie. It was a history lesson in which Van Peebles, of course, had a laudable idea. But the withdrawing point was he was so attached to this idea. He could not tell an entertaining story. The history lessons will always be out of the picture, so a deeper understanding of the concept of depth is still in the making. However, the exercises still tend to revolve around engaging and engrossing stories. To a point, it is possible to overdo a certain material that is too familiar to even the most progressive one, even the conceit on hand – the concept that, for instance, ‘Blazing Saddles’ was more than just a collection of jokes. Under this concept, the outcasts because of race, creed, gender or economic standing need to spew out their racist numbers pretending among them.
Having a rebellious view when it comes to opinion and principles, Van Peebles, instead of strengthening his weaknesses prefers to make his characters more modernistic in hopes of replacing cliches with contemporary viewpoints. Sadly, such beliefs may sometimes be engrossing or informative. What is even more troubling, though, is, that throughout the film, a hyperkinetic visual style is used as well, with an unfixed camera and fast movements that are quite excessive.
Is the movie intriguing? Definitely. Would I say it is without its fair share of flaws? Nope. But it is easy to appreciate how entertaining this movie really is. For instance, the robbery sequence at the beginning of the film was indeed brilliant and am glad to say that I did manage to find a few other entertaining scenes too. Starting off with the Chief and his gang robbing a bank using a tactic, the specifics of which I won’t give away. Then there was an area where the Chief’s friend Cedric the Entertainer lived, which funnily enough was like a colorful version of Bartertown from ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’. While the acting skills of the cast like Whoopi Goldberg & Edward James Olmos were nothing short of underwhelming, performers, like Lynch and Smith, who played the aged hero and Queenie respectively, were great at their jobs.
Van Peebles portrays a commendable performance, arguably his best at the moment, even outdoing Fred Williamson who seems to have aged quite a bit.
‘Outlaw Posse,’ was released late in the year setting it aside for the duration of the film. Hill’s Western ‘Dead for a Dollar’ calls for more attention as it recently became the talking point of many. A few reasons however are worth mentioning, while Costner’s upcoming ‘Horizon’ set is pegged too high for me, and given the genre alone, it is more than enough to keep someone busy for the better half of summer. So, coming back to what I was talking about, of course, in a world that is sported with vastly more pop culture makes all of this feel somewhat ridiculous but with posses like this am sure are able to appreciate the value and time spent working on them by their closes.
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