The Soul of Nigger Charley

Though SOUL OF N*GGER CHARLEY is more professionally constructed and filmed, I found it less interesting than LEGEND OF N*GGER CHARLEY. To begin with, Fred Williamson is actually called upon to do a bit of acting in LEGEND. Though the character transition is rushed, Williamson initially portrays Charley as hard-working and respectful (his Master has always treated he and his mother with kindness), and later (after having his promised freedom stolen away from him by the cruel, presumptive heir to his Master's estate), as a defiant, avenging hero. In SOUL, on the other hand, he's pretty much a defiant hero from beginning to end, his performance varying only when called upon to show a bit of sadness and remorse near the end.

Further, LEGEND struck me as the more balanced of the two films. In SOUL, there is not a single white man in a featured role who is not portrayed as a villain. In fact, even in smaller roles, the only white men who are not evil are the Quakers who appear very briefly, denying Charley their assistance due to a vow of non-violence. Contrast this with LEGEND in which three of the six white men in featured roles (the original Master, the Sheriff, and the farmer who married a half-breed) are not portrayed as racist. They may be ineffectual, but they're not evil men.

All that said, the story in LEGEND is padded and truly scattered. I would definitely watch it again though... something I cannot say for SOUL.

Finally, I must note the irony that the version of LEGEND on the BLAX FILM disc censors the words "shit" and "ass", but not N*GGER, whereas IMDb allows both "shit" and "ass", but not "the N-word", despite its being in the title of the film!

This is one fine film. If you like westerns, especially ones that involve tough, chap-ridden cowboys, you will love this movie. Highly recommended.

This is a review of the BLAX FILM DVD edition, as information on the title seems to be spare, and the film seems available in no other manner. Basically I'd say I did not get ripped off as I only paid about 3 or 4 dollars for the thing ... Plus I'd always had curiosity about a movie with such a lurid title.

Source material seems to be an aged film print, possibly 35mm. It is scratched, filthy, and faded throughout. Contrast almost nonexistent and the wrong lens is used for the "transfer." Box promises 2.35:1 aspect ration but what you get is closer to 1.85:1 and a slightly scrunched image. Focus problems persist throughout and an operator actually wrestles with it at one point and attempts to manually adjust it as the film plays (!!!). The print's raggedy nature adds to the appeal for this viewer but your results may vary. There is hiss and crackle on the soundtrack from beginning to end. Menu screen has a button for "trailers" and "feature" but both result in starting the film. No extras are present.

This sequel to "Legend of N. Charley" is a step in the right direction for whoever decided to make a franchise out of character with such a tasteless name. Charley finds his legend has spread and he is now a well-known folk hero that children worship and fawn over. Film is tonally imbalanced in a 1970's way that seems to straddle grim nihilism and do-gooder adventure simultaneously. Film seems firmly set in "PG" territory until a downer montage showing lots of characters' bloody deaths pops up in the third act. Fred Williamson tries to express emotions such as laughter and sadness as opposed to just 'looking bad and looking cool' and the results are debatable at best. Still, Fred is a fine movie presence and it is his fans that will want to see this movie despite the low quality of the DVD.

Buyers will want to be aware that the "Blax" DVD plays fine and has nice art applied to it but is probably as unprofessional a presentation as one could hope to find outside a NYC sidewalk vendor. Print is bottom-of-the-barrel AWFUL but if you are insatiably curious it gets the job done. However, I would still advise spending as little as possible.