The Soul of Nigger Charley (1973) review

 

THE SOUL OF NIGGER CHARLEY 1973

Fred Williamson (Nigger Charley), D’Urville Martin (Toby), Denise Nicholas (Elena), Pedro Armendariz, Jr. (Sandoval), Kevin Hagen (Colonel Blanchard), Kirk Calloway (Marcellus), George Allen (Ode), Bob Minor (Fred), James Garbo (Collins), Michael Cameron (Sergeant Foss), Johnny Greenwood (Roy), Joe Henderson (Lee Travis), Richard Farnsworth (Walker)

Directed by Larry G. Spangler

The Short Version: The controversial LEGEND gets a SOUL sequel that’s even bigger and more polished than before. The score by Frank Sinatra’s musical arranger Don Costa is opulent, alternating between a soaring, traditional western style and European western sensibilities--tinged with that unmistakable 70s funk sound making the movie feel like an epic unfolding as opposed to an adventurous exploitation movie. With a much bigger cast and storyline, THE SOUL OF NIGGER CHARLEY rides with the best westerns of the 1970s.

 

Charley and Toby ride into a town and discover a massacre at the hands of Blanchard the Butcher, a confederate Colonel hellbent on keeping slavery alive and reforming the Confederacy with $100,000 in gold. Blanchard plans to rob a train carrying the gold and split it with General Hooks, his partner across the border in Mexico. Charley and Toby recruit some free blacks living in a small Quaker community. Charley plans to intercept the train ahead of Blanchard to steal the gold in order to buy the freedom of 71 slaves held by General Hooks. However, the General has no intentions of making a deal. On his way to Mexico, Charley is captured by bandit leader Sandoval who decides to sell Charley to the General, but the wily ex-slave quickly turns the tables on the bandito. The two then join forces and with Sandoval's gang of 100 men, ride to the General's fort to settle with him and Colonel Blanchard.

Producer Larry G. Spangler was apparently fond of the Old West. When he wasn’t producing offbeat oaters he was directing and or producing them them. These range from the awful THE LAST REBEL (1971) to the awkward KNIFE FOR THE LADIES (1974). THE SOUL OF NIGGER CHARLEY (1973) is the best of the westerns Spangler directed and or produced through his own production company, Spangler and Sons Pictures.

 

For a successful sequel, everything needs to be bigger and expand on what came before while maintaining a degree of familiarity to the source material. SOUL does all of that. There’s a striking amount of exposition not normally afforded a film referred to as blaxploitation, or even your garden variety exploitation feature. Whereas that label is a more comfortable fit for THE LEGEND OF NIGGER CHARLEY, the more character-centric sequel is a black action picture—spending less time on shootouts, sex and violence, and streams of racial epithets the blaxploitation moniker demands. SOUL strives for more than cheap thrills; and a lot of this is due to Fred Williamson. 

 

The Hammer would never be described as a serious thespian, but he’s got an endless supply of charisma that drives all his performances. In SOUL, he does something he seldom, if ever, did again, and that’s emote. Charley, as depicted in this sequel, has attained folkloric status; a near mythic level hero. In the sequel, Charley embraces the derogatory epithet as if it were an authoritative appellation; he turns the negative connotations of "nigger"  back against the men labeling him. Such as a scene wherein an aristocratic representative of General Hooks refers to our hero in a condescending tone, Charley replies in a commanding voice, "It's MISTER Nigger Charley, to you". He did this in the first film but it's more profound in the sequel.

 

There are a few scenes, though, where we see this revered and feared gunslinger in a vulnerable, emotional state. It’s striking since you rarely saw larger than life heroes take a moment to break down and mourn someone close to them. This kind of pathos evoked by Williamson is refreshing. There’s a little bit of it in the first movie but it's more prevalent in this sequel.

 

 

Another area where SOUL surpasses LEGEND is in the romance between Charley and Elena. The angle with Tricia O'Neill in LEGEND was just there to bridge the next action scene. In SOUL, the script is gracious with its time building the relationship between Charley and Elena (played by Denise Nicholas). There's a curious scripting issue late in the film. When Charley and Sandoval and his mini army ride off to battle with Hooks and Blanchard, Elena stays behind; but without any explanation she turns up at the General's fort in the last scenes.

 

The career of Pedro Armendariz Jr. followed the trajectory of his father. The famous elder made movies in both Mexico and the United States as did the famous younger Armendariz. Both men featured alongside John Wayne--Armendariz senior in the westerns FORT APACHE and 3 GODFATHERS (both 1948); Armendariz junior in THE UNDEFEATED (1969) and CHISUM (1970). Father and son also appeared in James Bond productions--the former in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) and the latter in LICENSE TO KILL (1989). Other westerns Pedro Jr. featured in include the underrated GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN (1968), the major misfire MACHO CALLAHAN (1970), the mediocre THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE! (1972), and the massive missed opportunity that is THE DEADLY TRACKERS (1973). His part in SOUL is one of the better ones. 

 

 

Armendariz Jr (as Sandoval) and Williamson have good chemistry on-screen, and it would've been even better if they had a few more scenes together. One memorable sequence is when Sandoval walks in on Charley who awakens to find Sandoval's woman in bed with him. The two men fight (Bob Minor doubles Williamson in this scene) till they're exhausted and start laughing at the fact they're killing each other over a woman. Sandoval says to Charley as they continue to laugh uncontrollably, "There are some things worth dying for... money, excitement.. even patriotism... but a WOMAN?!"

For all it does exceedingly well, the one area that modestly cripples the film is the weak villains led by "The Butcher", Colonel Blanchard, as played by Kevin Hagen. The bad guys are introduced in a sufficiently sadistic manner; but afterward, Charley and his crew are almost always ten steps ahead of them. They never do anything else to match the evil of their act of violence at the film's outset. That they're frequently made to look foolish lessens the impact of the antagonists and makes them lose some of that threat level they started out with.

After multiple times of being outmaneuvered, Blanchard and his men (along with those of General Hooks) do manage to ambush Charley and his band once they cross the border. Prior to this, Charley underestimates the power of control over not just an individual, but a people. When a slave of General Hooks brings Charley a message that one slave per day will die for every day his gold isn't returned, Charley tells the man he's now free, but the scared man says he must return or else his family will be killed. What Charley doesn't take into account is that this man--a black man--would betray him and reveal his plans to the General. So when Charley and nine of his freedom fighters sneak into Hooks' headquarters, they walk into an ambush. 

 

There's this back and forth chess game between Nigger Charley and Colonel Blanchard; but perplexingly, Blanchard and Charley never meet face to face, nor does Charley deliver the killing blow to him; Toby does. It's curious why director Spangler didn't have his main hero and villain have a fistfight and concluding gun battle since the movie is built around these two men vying to wipe the other out. That they never exchange words nor fists damages the ruthlessness inherent in Blanchard and his rampaging gang of racist killers.

Hagen’s Colonel Blanchard is possibly modeled on the confederate guerrilla leader William Clarke Quantrill who led what was known as Quantrill’s Raiders. They were a serious threat during the Reconstruction Era that lasted approximately 40 years beginning in 1861. Led by Quantrill, his Raiders were a pro-slavery gang of cutthroats that included the James brothers, “Bloody”  Bill Anderson and Joel Mayes, a Cherokee Nations war chief.

Many Indian tribes took slaves, like the Apache, Seminoles and Chickasaw; and not just captives of enemy tribes, but blacks as well. The Cherokee were among the Indian tribes that enslaved Africans. 

As for Quantrill references, the opening slaughter is potentially based on the infamous Lawrence, Kansas massacre that occurred on August 21st, 1863. By that time, the US Army had ordered that anyone giving aid to Quantrill and his men would be arrested. At the beginning of SOUL, the killing and razing of the town is due to the townsfolk—made up of black and white residents—refusing to give supplies to Colonel Blanchard and his men.

Hagen played some despicable characters such as a Confederate deserter and rapist-murderer in the epic western SHENANDOAH (1965); another rapist killer in the BILLY JACK clone starring William Smith GENTLE SAVAGE (1972); and a psychopath who comes to a macabre bad end in the season 9 episode of GUNSMOKE, ‘No Hands’. Hagen of course, will forever be best remembered as Doc Baker on LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE (1974-1983). 

The most colorful of the villains is this albino character that Spangler curiously kills off thirty minutes into the movie. With such a unique look, it would’ve been more compelling to keep him around till the finale. This is another bizarre filming decision that makes as much sense as not having the leading protagonist and antagonist have the expected duel at the finale.

As for General Hooks, he’s only seen once, and you never get a good look at his face. He’s not included in the credits, but it appears that director Spangler may have played the villainous General. As for the historical significance of there being a General in Mexico maintaining slaves, the practice was abolished in Mexico in 1829. No date is given for when this film takes place, but it's presumed to be set during the Reconstruction Era sometime between 1865-1877. 

 

Unlike the poor quality bootleg that has been the only source to see this movie, this new restoration allows for a clearer visual of the General surrounded in shadow that you could barely discern before. If you'd like to compare screenshots between this new review and our old one from 2010, you can click HERE.

Williamson and Martin would costar together in another western, 1975s BOSS NIGGER for director Jack Arnold. The first half of that film is of a comedic nature; but once William Smith—the underrated actor The Hammer called “the toughest man alive”—makes his presence known, the movie turns totally serious. Williamson and Martin did many movies together and SOUL is one of their best collaborations.

As was touched on in the new review for the first film, had there been one or more legitimate sequels to make a longer-running series it would’ve been interesting to see Charley and Toby meet up with a regiment of Buffalo Soldiers; they being black soldiers who fought for the US Army against not only the Confederacy, but against Indian threats from the likes of the Apache, Kiowa and Comanche tribes.

 

 

Something that can make or break a movie is its music score, and the one SOUL is saddled with is epic. Don Costa, the musical arranger for Frank Sinatra, composed it--his one and only film score. The soundtrack spans a rousing, traditional western score with slivers of 70s funk, and cues of the European western variety. Standouts are the main theme and the Euro-fueled cue 'Sandoval'.

 

Compared to the LEGEND, the SOUL is a bigger and better movie. It's not blaxploitation in the purest sense of that term, it's a black action movie; and more accurately, it's simply a good and very entertaining western. A few fumbles and bizarre filming choices aside, Spangler directed a superior sequel that's polished and professional in virtually every way. Of all the westerns Fred Williamson did (the two NIGGER CHARLEY films; BOSS NIGGER; TAKE A HARD RIDE; JOSHUA; ADIOS, AMIGO), you could make a case that from a filmmaking perspective, THE SOUL OF NIGGER CHARLEY is the best of that wild, and wildly uneven, bunch.

This review is representative of the Imprint blu-ray part of the Blaxploitation 4-film box set including THE LEGEND OF NIGGER CHARLEY (1972), SUPERFLY TNT (1973) and DETROIT 9000 (1973). Specs and extras: 1080p 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen from a new 4K restoration; audio commentary by filmmaker/critic Mike Sargent; interview with Fred Williamson; running time: 01:49:28.

The Hateful Eight (2015) review

THE HATEFUL EIGHT 2015

Samuel L. Jackson (Major Marquis Warren), Kurt Russell (John Ruth), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Daisy Domergue), Walton Goggins (Sheriff Chris Mannix), Demian Bechir (Bob), Tim Roth (Oswaldo Mobray), Michael Madsen (Joe Gage), Bruce Dern (General Sandy Smithers), James Parks (O.B. Jackson), Dana Gourrier (Minnie Mink), Zoe Bell (Six-Horse Judy), Lee Horsley (Ed), Gene Jones (Sweet Dave), Keith Jefferson (Charly), Craig Stark (Chester Charles Smithers), Belinda Owina (Gemma), Channing Tatum (Jody)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

The Short Version: Another three hour (187 in its roadshow version) QT snooze-fest is the ultimate in pretentiousness on the part of America's most self-congratulatory director. Tarantino delivers his most long-winded work yet, moving along, as Kurt Russell says in the film, "molasses like". Fans of the director will find all his signature staples--a dearth of extraneous, unnecessary dialog; ego-stroking scenes that go on forever; mismatched music cues; flashbacks that bridge interminable yapping with bloody violence; nods to this or that film; and frequent use of the word 'nigger'. Tarantino is nothing else if not consistent. THE HATEFUL EIGHT is more like THE WASTEFUL THREE.

While transporting a criminal to Red Rock for hanging, John Ruth picks up a few more passengers aboard his stagecoach before a massive blizzard forces them to seek refuge at a waystation for the night. Four men wait inside, all of which have some story to tell and a bloody secret that unfolds over the course of a single night.

As an opening title card informs us, this is Quentin Tarantino's 8th (Boring) Movie... another movie where people talk about nothing for extended periods of time till jarring scenes of brutality upset the tedium. His 6th Boring Movie, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, the war picture that never depicts an actual war, was touted as the first of one big, boring trilogy--continuing with DJANGO UNCHAINED and wrapping up with THE HATEFUL EIGHT; which apparently has connections to characters in the aforementioned and awkwardly spelled INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. 

THE HATEFUL EIGHT is sort of a western version of Carpenter's THE THING (even implementing some of that film's unused music)--a film Tarantino already reworked to a degree for his RESERVOIR DOGS (1992). You'll also find elements that may remind you of snow-caked westerns like DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959), the Spanish gore western CUT-THROATS NINE (1972) and Corbucci's THE GREAT SILENCE (1968). Another Italian western that seems very familiar is Giuseppe Vari's SHOOT THE LIVING AND PRAY FOR THE DEAD (1971)--a talky suspense western starring Klaus Kinski in one of his prime bad guy roles; but unlike Tarantino's movie it's only 90 minutes in length.....

Most movies, by the 70 minute mark, are building to a climax.... 70 minutes into THE HATEFUL EIGHT things are barely getting started (and there's 100 more to go!). Virtually every scene goes on ad infinitum. We're nearly 40 minutes in before the setting finally changes from a stagecoach to the "Minnie's Haberdashery"--owned and operated by Minnie, a character who is conspicuous in her absence, and one whom we meet in a flashback around the two hour mark. At that point, we're introduced (and, in some cases, re-introduced) to characters already at the cabin; and what happened to them prior to the arrival of the stagecoach.

From that point to the end, the oral onslaught continues but with the addition of extreme violence and bloodshed. It gets so ridiculous, it borders on parody. So much blood is splattered on, or seeping from, Jennifer Jason Leigh, you get the impression the director was trying to outdo the amount of red stuff Bruce Campbell wears in THE EVIL DEAD (1981). One of a few running gags, Daisy Domergue is not only drenched in bits of brains and gallons of blood, but gets punched in the face at regular intervals throughout the movie.

An epic in self-indulgence is what's really up on screen in 70mm. It's the director's ultimate gab-fest, trapping a group of people in a single locale where they talk... and talk.... and talk..... often repeating the same things over and over again. Imagine a record player skipping for 170 minutes. THE HATEFUL EIGHT is a near 3 hour bomb of intentionally repetitive ego-stroking.

One example of this film's monotonousness is witnessing people entering the establishment having to hammer nails into the door over and over again to keep the biting freeze of winter's breath from getting inside. Some half a dozen times we watch as various cast members nail flimsy boards into a door without a latch. Some would call this a running gag; I call it an editing problem. 

Mercifully, Tarantino doesn't give himself an onscreen part in his Wild West version of GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967), but he does narrate a few scenes; and not in a Morgan Freeman sort of way... no, it's like he's reading a book while sipping on a cup of hot chocolate by a warm fire. Merely telling us what we can clearly see transpiring onscreen, this does nothing to progress the story in any way.

There are some nice things on display, though. The director captures some awe-inspiring shots that serve the gloomy atmosphere very well. Sadly, these are few and far between; this is even more unfortunate since the director shot his picture in 70mm--a novel choice if only Tarantino had opted to take advantage of the process. Take THE ALAMO (1960), for instance. John Wayne's sprawling epic was that and more with the wider angle lens fitting the action like a glove. Tarantino, on the other hand, wants to give his audience an epic but settles for a stage play/sitcom style scenario where the setting is a single location. Why even bother? What's the point of having more room to play with if you're confining yourself to one room--two if you count the 40 minute slog inside a stagecoach.

The acting is mostly top-notch, which, considering the cast, is to be expected. Unfortunately, the director's penchant for doing everything over the top ruins any serious attempt at the material. For example, there's another tiresome running gag, this one about Samuel L. Jackson having a letter from Abraham Lincoln that opens the door for Tarantino to utilize his favorite epithet for comedy relief as opposed to further defining the villains--as there's no hero(es) here at all. Two times back to back we hear this line from a shocked Tim Roth and Walter Goggins, "The nigger in the stable... has a letter from Abraham Lincoln?!" Later as they sit at a table eating hot stew, the Lincoln letter comes up for the third time; and again, Tarantino indulges his repetitive nature.

 

In interviews the director said he infused his film with social relevance; yet there is little of it. Tarantino turns post-Civil War racial tension into a blood-drenched comedy routine. The two most unlikely of friends end up joining forces not because they've set aside, or even solved their differences, but out of a need for survival. The film wastes three hours exploring nothing of substance.

In all fairness there are a few strong moments that punctuate a scene or two, but the effect is mostly obliterated by a reliance on camp. The best of these suspense moments is the exchange between Samuel L. and Bruce Dern--two former enemies on the battlefield who still harbor a great deal of hatred between them. The scene in question has Major Warren (Jackson) feigning a desire to, metaphorically speaking, lay down arms a second time. It's a very well done sequence in terms of the editing; although Tarantino messes up the flow with a flashback--which is odd considering the sheer number of bland convos he gives the audience without any visualization at all. Unfortunately he mucks up the sequence with an awkward fellatio infused climax (haha).

Elsewhere, the KNB FX are as splattery as ever; even if they feel out of place in a movie that has people talking for hours uttering worthless dialog. There's no denying the director is a good writer, but narcissism has been the man's guiding force for at least seven years now; since as far back as his exploitation movie without any exploitation, the car wreck that was DEATH PROOF--one half of the failed 70s throwback, GRINDHOUSE (2009).

Most movies just get on with it. This one wants to take its shoes off and sit a spell. Tarantino continues to outdo himself; whether that's a good or bad thing depends on your opinion of the director's works. Fans of QT will lap it up while others will enjoy a three hour nap. It's a shame THE HATEFUL EIGHT is such a turgid experience; there's a fine story buried beneath three hours of pompous pandering by a director writing the longest love letter ever... to himself.