Review: Riverbend

Steve James plays a returning Vietnam veteran who along with a couple of his men goes against orders that would see them execute women and children. They are set for court-martial when they flee custody. Now in the Georgia town of Riverbend, James and his men seek refuge with a local widow (Margaret Avery). Unfortunately, Riverbend is under the tight, racially prejudiced control of the local sheriff (Tony Frank), a hateful bigot who fatally shot Avery’s husband in broad daylight like it was nothing. It looks like the town of Riverbend – or a least its African-American population – needs someone to stick up for them.

 

Director Sam Firstenberg (“Revenge of the Ninja”, “American Ninja”) and martial arts star Steve James made a mixture of “Walking Tall” and “Mississippi Burning”, and almost no one’s heard of it. You likely won’t believe it exists, even if you’re a Steve James fan. It’s also not very good, which I imagine you’ll have an easier time believing. Somehow the execs at The Cannon Group weren’t involved in this one despite being from one of their ‘top’ directors and featuring the co-star of “American Ninja” and “Avenging Force”. You’re better off watching any of the films I’ve already listed (“Walking Tall” is name-dropped in the film, so even the filmmakers knew that film is superior), because this is one obscurity that deserves its reputation.

 

I admire the intent and effort, but this racial drama is done not even on the level of sophistication of a lesser episode of “The A-Team”. The plot is basically James helping a local town deal with a corrupt, racist lawman. How is that not the plot to an episode of “The A-Team” or something worse like “Walker: Texas Ranger”? Handling the the subject matter cinematically is beyond anyone’s capabilities here. In particular, composer Paul Loomis (who worked on something called “After the Rain”, with Brian Keith and Ned Beatty) delivers one of the worst, cheapest-sounding music scores of all time, totally undercutting the already amateur drama in the script by producer Samuel Vance (an associate producer on “The Brady Brides” of all things). Also holding things back from succeeding is a cast full of local theatre-level performances in the supporting cast. Even our three main leads are just OK at the very most here. The best by far is the late Steve James – a missed opportunity for stardom if ever there was one but not at his best here. Playing a character named Major Sam Quentin (Get it? Sigh…) he’s obviously no Olivier – or even latter day JCVD – but he is charismatic as hell from moment one. It’s just a shame this isn’t a martial arts film, because that’s obviously his main strength. Nonetheless he tries hard, I wish he had a better career and a much longer life. Margaret Avery of all people is here too, and has some solid moments here and there, but it’s bizarre to see her go from “The Colour Purple” to something like this. An actor named Tony Frank is our villain, and while better than anyone not named Steve James or Margaret Avery, he’s still not terribly compelling. That’s a shame because his character is the most psychotically reckless and brazen corrupt, hateful lawman I’ve seen on film. He hates African-Americans and has a complete lack of give-a-damn. Drunk on power and full of hate-filled evil.

 

I understand this was likely a low-budget, independent project. However, a good movie is a good movie and this just ain’t it. No one involved here save maybe Margaret Avery, is capable of making what this film was trying to be. So it comes off as amateurish. I feel bad for Steve James, he could’ve been huge in the action realm, but instead he was headlining inadequate fare like this which didn’t even play to his strengths.

 

Rating: C-