Posse: A Vingança de Jessie Lee

The problem with Posse -- in addition to be too talky for a movie that seems to follow so many western tropes -- is that it wants to paint everything with a chintzy gloss that's way over the top. Now, I'm not a fan of the dirty, dusty, bland westerns that have been popular the past 25 years, either. I prefer the John Wayne variety and occasionally something like High Noon. But this movie tries to out-fantasy even those technicolor ones from the 50s and 60s that made the west seem like it wasn't just a bunch of scroungy, flea-bitten cast offs busy shooting each other in the street when not trying to brutalize People of Color.

So, what's good? Well, there's a fair amount of attention to detail, including the late 1800s Army uniforms at the beginning. Much of what we think about the cavalry in the 1860s and 70s really was a reflection of dress from decades later. The acting is reasonably good -- I say this not because anyone is bad but because the ADHD directing and script doesn't call for anything close to nuance or subtlety for scenes. This is one of those movies where you get a headache because all the characters move at a frenetic pace, like a room full of noisy, restless children all competing for attention from the adults.

There's a revenge story here -- we've seen it a million times before. The funny thing is something like The Outlaw Josey Wales does it and a bunch of people go crazy. This movie does it and they act like it is foreign territory. Of course, there may be obvious reasons.

The movie also tries to have a social conscience. The problem is that like everything else, it's over the top, to the degree that the dialogue often sounds more like a lesson than talk. I get that films like these have the double duty of trying to evoke in an audience understanding that some either pitifully lack or others are just far too aware of (to their suffering), but if everyone just trusted the story more, a lot of the dialogue wouldn't be necessary.

Anyway, as far as 1990s westerns go, this is no worse than, say, The Quick and the Dead. They look a lot like each other and were just as over the top. The funny thing, though, is the critics liked that one. Not so much this one. Golly, I wonder what's the difference?

So a great concept, such great actors, and what do we get nada, zip, zippo, caput, no more, out the door, so long, good bye, mierda. This film has its good points but the script just did not go anywhere. Alot of the characters just went back and forth in their personalities, others just never really made a difference. Some talked like they were time travelers from the future (hint, hint Tone Loc). Others just wouldnt shut up (Weezie). One thing i just couldnt wrap my mind around was this if in the future the old man is holding a picture of the cast. How could that be possible if most of them died before they could all meet? Its like one of those time paradoxes that gives you a head ache. Not to mention the ending was a bit melodramatic to say the least. All in all i give Posse a "A" for effort but "F" on delivery.

This movie has some great character actors, Isaac Hayes, Woody Strode, Pam Grier, Paul Bartel, and unfortunately they are mostly wasted. The development of the main characters is too rushed, and the story races on at a breakneck pace. "Posse' borrowed liberally from the "spaghetti westerns" ( revenge flashbacks as in "For a Few Dollars More", gattling gun as in "A Fistful of Dollars", coming of the railroad as in "Once Upon a Time in the West") The movie tries to accomplish too much too quickly, and makes one wish that the deliberate pace of the "spaghetti westerns" had also been "borrowed". I rate it a 5.0, very average, and a missed opportunity. - MERK

"Posse" is a great movie!! It's basically something nobody has tried before: telling the tales of the first great black cowboys. Mario Van Peebles wears both hats as he works as both an actor and director for this film, about a black infantrymen named Jessie Lee leading his fellow troopers into battling white supremacists and his former commanding officer (played with slimy exception by Billy Zane). "Posse" has everything a good western should have: great gun-fights, cool performances (especially by Van Peebles, Stephen Baldwin, and Big Daddy Kane) and a triumphant ending.

Ok, maybe Posse can't compare to other popular cowboy/western movies. But that's because it didn't have the FUNDING those movies had. Obviously, whenever you want to produce a story such as this one, focusing on African American historical involvement (and NO, servants and 'mammies' are not historical involvement), Hollywood isn't going to be too supportive. And believe me they weren't. The producers and actors sacrificed a lot of 'out of pocket' expenses to make "Posse", just so that the story could be told. I think that alone is commendable. Posse may not be Oscar material (and they don't like Black media too much either), but it is a start. It is entertaining, and it introduces us to the black cowboy, a character most of us are unfamiliar with.