Review: Bucktown

Fred Williamson turns up in the small town of the title after his bar owner brother has died. What he finds is a town gone to seed and repression due to the corrupt and racist local law enforcement, led by Art Lund who pretty much control the otherwise largely African-American populated town. So, deciding that this shit ain’t right, Williamson calls in a favour from buddy Thalmus Rasulala who turns up with a couple of thugs (Tony King and Carl Weathers) to allegedly help set things right in Bucktown. Things don’t go quite as Williamson had planned, though. Pam Grier plays the dead man’s angry and bitter widow, while Bernie Hamilton plays the friendly town drunk.

Just entertaining enough to earn a recommendation, this 1975 blaxploitation crime/drama from director Arthur Marks (“Detroit 9000”, “Friday Foster”) and screenwriter Bob Ellison (a veteran writer/creator for TV including an ill-fated American version of Australia’s “Number 96”) is actually better than I’d expected. Given it comes after the blaxploitation boom had peaked (1970-1974, and that’s being charitable), and no one seems to have anything nice to say about it, I was expecting to find this one rather boring, one-note and cheap as hell. It’s certainly far from flawless, but even the best in the subgenre have their flaws, too.

The scene is pretty well set-up from the opener. Bucktown is not a place an African-American wants to hang around for too long, but thankfully Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson and his ever-present cigar are here to set things right. Hammer’s arrival in this shitty small town might remind you ever-so slightly of Spencer Tracy in “Bad Day at Black Rock” (the film is set in a somewhat urban small-town but it does feel like a transplanted western at times). Casting Williamson’s “Black Caesar” foe Art Lund as the top lawman in town is frighteningly ominous. He’s terrific as ever, but one of the film’s flaws is forgetting some of its characters, and Lund probably fares worst in this regard. He makes his minutes count, however as a kind of John Wayne gone-to-seed authoritative figure. It’s a shame he’s out of the picture pretty much after the first half, especially when his lackeys are essentially as threatening as Roscoe P. Coltrane. Williamson can be smug or charming (or both, as in the excellent “Black Caesar”), and he’s perfectly fine here, bringing presence and good looks. He’s not exactly “Black Belt Jones” or Kung Fu Joe though in the fisticuff stakes, so it’s a good thing he’s basically up against the equivalent of Steven Seagal barroom brawl baddies for the most part here. The real standout in the cast here though, is the highly underrated and fabulously named Thalmus Rasulala as Williamson’s well-connected buddy. He only turns up after about 30 minutes, but he’s his usual fine, smooth self albeit playing a much shadier character than I’m used to with him. He’s definitely the most smooth and best-dressed person in the damn film. I’m actually surprised Hammer lets Thalmus steal his thunder continuously (with Lund also doing it twice, for that matter), it’s certainly not something he’d allow in the films he directs himself. He’s such an underrated actor and his charisma and charm are essential here for his character. Look out for a young-ish Carl Weathers as one of Rasulala’s thugs. Weathers probably could’ve and should’ve headlined his own blaxploitation film. Yes, I know he was wooden in 1988’s “Action Jackson” and is best as a supporting player, but he’s still got enough charisma and presence to headline one of these films. Here he oozes charisma and cool, you can see the makings of Apollo Creed better here than in “Friday Foster”.

Aside from Lund’s idiot cronies, if there’s a blip on the performance front it comes from a truly surprising source: Pam Grier, one of the blaxploitation era’s best and most charismatic performers. Here she has been cast to her great disadvantage as a shrill, somewhat weak female character whose rushed romance with Williamson would’ve been impossible for Meryl Streep to sell convincingly. It’s mostly the role, but Grier definitely doesn’t have her finest hour here nonetheless. Aside from her character and the romance, the plot here is quite good, if somewhat familiar. It’s your typical situation where the people brought in to clean up a corrupt town end up being the same/worse as the people they’ve overthrown (Orwell, anyone?). However, that’s a pretty classic story to tell and a little more complex of a revenge story than these films tend to have (In fact, the revenge part is largely dispensed with about halfway through anyway). It’s probably one of the more bleak and serious films in the subgenre as well, which helps it stand out. It’s also interesting to note that in terms of score and costume design, this isn’t your clichéd funky blaxploitation flick, either. Perhaps by 1975 things were starting to move on from there but it certainly gives the film a less ostentatious and therefore less dated look. Williamson drives a kick-arse armoured vehicle in the finale for who cares what reason, and there’s a heck of a final fight that might remind you a bit of “They Live”.

Excellent supporting performances by Thalmus Rasulala and Art Lund are the highlights of this pretty good blaxploitation crime-drama. It’s a shame some of the characters lack depth/screen time, with Pam Grier in particular poorly used. However, for the most part this is a fairly enjoyable experience. It deserves a better reputation.

Rating: B-