The black Western that challenged the genre | Posse (1993)

I am Jason Kleeberg, this is Force Five, and today I’m going to give you 5 reasons you might like the underrated 1993 Western Posse, directed and starring the legend, Mario Van Peebles.

Reason number 5, this movie shines a spotlight on the black west. From frame one, the script by Sy Richardson and Dario Scardapane pushes back against the Gary Cooper, John Wayne, sanitized whitewashed version of the old west Hollywood spent decades selling people. In the opening monologue, we’re told that 1 in 3 cowboys in the west was black, because once slavery ended, a lot of free men rode out west. This film highlights some of those black soldiers, black cowboys, black townspeople, and a history that was often left out of the genre. It also has a crawl before the credits roll to make sure you walked out of the theater entertained and educated. Sure, the movie is stylized and perhaps exaggerated, but it never wavers from the point Mario Van Peebles was trying to make - this isn’t your grand daddy’s western. Unless your grand daddy was Mario Van Peebles, then it is your grand daddy’s western.

Reason number 4, I mentioned this movie was stylized and, sure, it’s a bit messy, but I think that the unmistakable wild energy is part of it’s charm. If you liked The Harder They Fall from 2021, which I thought was an insane amount of fun, I think you’re going to appreciate this one. It’s a spaghetti western circa 1993 with a great costume design, a hip-hop forward soundtrack, and a camera that doesn’t stop moving. It’s also got that early 90’s squib popping violence that was par for the course then, but feels fresh in a time when CGI blood is everywhere and it has an incredible climax that sees Jesse fighting someone inside of a burning building.

Reason number 3, if you’re a hip hop fan like I am, or really just a fan of music in general, there are faces in this film that are going to plaster a smile right across your face. Tone Loc’s unmistakable voice is the first thing you’ll probably recognize, he plays a wild thing named Angel and he’s got some great scenes. Long Live the Kane, because Big Daddy Kane plays Father Time, he joins the gang after they get to the states and he’s got some great scenes, including one where he dons a KKK hood and goes full Kanye West cosplay to one up some crooked jailers. No one can beat Father Time. There are also appearances by Isaac Hayes, Aaron Neville, Vesta Williams and music’s biggest sellout Snoop Dogg. Vesta, Tone Loc and the Neville Brothers are also on the soundtrack, as are Sounds of Blackness, Intelligent Hoodlum and Badd Boyz of the Industry. If no one’s done this film on the Soundtracker podcast, it’s time to get on that Eric!

Reason number 2, if you like a good Western revenge story, put this on your watch list. While there’s an immediate threat of the deliciously villainous Colonel Graham, there’s also a deeper, more personal revenge story bubbling that unfolds as the posse rides through the old west. See, Jesse Lee’s preacher father, played by Mario Van Peeble’s real father, screen legend Melvin Van Peebles, was killed at the hands of some roughnecks, and neither the men nor the audience know who was responsible until the bullets start flying. It’s told through flashback scenes but once Jesse gets to Freemanville, things become a lot clearer.

Reason number 1, this film has an absolutely incredible ensemble cast. While Van Peebles is good as Jesse Lee, his supporting actors really bring the energy that makes this movie fun. Listen to this cast - Billy Zane plays the screen chewing Colonel Graham, and he is just hamming it up a few years before he’d skyrocket into fame with Titanic. His transition from the cigar chomping, white suit sporting Colonel to his black cloaked eye-patch look is fantastic. Out of all the supporting characters, I thought he was the clear standout with how pulpy and fun he played it. But he’s just one cog in this machine that also stars Stephen Baldwin as the gambling, knife tossing Little J, Tiny Lister as Obobo, Salli Richardson as Lana and she bears it all in a really hot scene, Pam Grier, Blair Underwood, Big Daddy Kane, Tone Loc, Isaac Hayes, Woody Strode and Carl Winslow himself. Sure, it’s a revenge film first and foremost but the cast makes it feel like both a hangout movie and a cult-cast treasure hunt that’s worth watching for the actors alone.

Posse is a fascinating bridge between Mario Van Peebles’s father’s blaxploitation roots, hip-hop cinema and the classic western. If you like genre history or any of the reasons I mentioned already spoke to you, check out Posse. If you’ve seen Posse, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below or email me at forcefivepodcast at gmail dot com. Finally, down below you’ll find the link to order the film on Physical Media as well as links to my other socials. Life is short. Spend it with the people, and the movies, that you love.