After decades of westerns, it would be nice to see a film about the Old West told from the viewpoints and experiences of the ethnic minority—especially the black population—that helped build it from the ground up. While 1993’s Posse has its heart in the right place, director Mario Van Peebles’ attempts at social commentary are done in by the films frequent instances of high camp.
In 1897, after the Spanish-American War in Cuba, a crew of infantrymen, primarily made up of black soldiers, betrayed by their immoral commander, Colonel Graham (Billy Zane), escape with a cache of gold and return to America as outlaws. The group’s leader, Jesse Lee (Mario Van Peebles), and his men slowly make their way out west with the gold in tow. A few of the men—Little J (Stephen Baldwin), Weezie (Charles Lane), Obobo (Tiny Lister Jr.) and Father Time (Big Daddy Kane)—decide it’s time to leave the infantry, and try new things. The only problem: Graham and some of his men are still looking for the gold.
The group decides to head for the west coast, but Jessie has his own plans. His father (Melvin Van Peebles) was lynched by Klansmen. Having discovered the identity of his father’s killers, Jesse has decided to exact his own revenge. It won’t be easy; the Klan is lead by a Sherriff Bates (Richard Jordan), who intends to take control of his own town of Cuttersville, and then the neighboring black town of Freemansville. Freemansville is destined to be valuable because its built on land where railroads will be.
Van Peebles, who showed some real directing talent with 1991’s New Jack City, flounders here. Nearly everything is overdone. His frenetic style renders the storyline nearly incoherent. The camera is constantly moving, to the point of distraction. It’s almost as if Van Peebles feared that the story itself—the script was written by Sy Richardson and Dario Scardapane—wasn’t strong enough, so he compensated with visual theatrics. At other times, the soundtrack is so eventful, plot points get lost.
Despite an impressive ensemble cast, much of the talented is wasted on what amounts to cameos. Melvin Van Peebles, Isaac Hayes, Pam Grier, Woody Strode, Paul Bartel, and Reginald VelJohnson (Carl Winslow!) are among the familiar faces, but none of them stick around very long. Having characters drift in and out of the story, is just another of Posse’ many unfortunate negatives.
Posse ends with titles that conclude that that white America mistreated its black citizens, then and now. If Van Peebles had spent more of Posse trying to reflect that point rather than engaging in a directorial exercise of fancy camera work, and a game of “spot the famous person,” he might have had a memorable film. As it is, Posse is just an overcooked western.
The Panavision 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio looks fairly impressive. The image is quite sharp, and contrast is fairly even. Flesh tones look lifelike, and colors are bright and finely saturated. Apart from a couple of scratches, and minor banding, MGM has delivered a fine product.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo surround track serves the film nicely. There is outstanding presence in the front and rear surrounds and frequent pans across and through the soundstage. Bass is also impressive, though the music and effects occasionally overwhelm the dialogue which has been routed to the center channel.
The only special feature offered is the Theatrical Trailer in HD.
