Black Bounty Killer

Illustration : Koria

Jack Arnold | USA | 1974

After Soul and Legend — the two Nigger Charley films, Boss Nigger was Fred Williamson's third stab at the blaxploitation western sub-genre in as many years. Veteran filmmaker Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon, The), who had earlier directed Williamson in the previous year's Black Eye was drafted in again to take the director's chair. Written and co-produced by Williamson, the film contains a high number of ‘n-bombs’ — the word ‘nigger’ uttered as both a pejorative and a term of endearment — which would probably discomfort a modern audience (the 2008 DVD release from VCI even omits the word from the front cover). Shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, it's a fairly predictable yet still satisfying affair, as the two leads bounce off each other quite well. Amazingly this was awarded a ‘PG’ certificate by the MPAA in 1974.

Boss Nigger (Williamson) and his sidekick Amos (D’Urville Martin) are a couple of snappy dressing, quick witted and successful bounty hunters. Chancing upon an assault/robbery, they kill the assailants, rescuing negress Clara Mae (Carmen Hayworth) and drop her off on the outskirts of San Miguel — a nearby small frontier town.

Riding through the bigotted and conservative town, the two cause quite a stir; unfazed, they decide to take residence in the town’s empty sheriff’s office. The cantankerous and immoral Mayor Griffin (R.G. Armstrong; Pat Garret and Billy the Kid) tries to throw them out, but he’s soon silenced: the wily duo are holding an incriminating document revealing that Griffin is in cahoots with a local bandit — the ruthless Jed Clayton (William Smith), who has set up camp with his gang nearby.

The pair manage to bamboozle their way into becoming the town’s official sheriff and deputy, delivering spot fines for racist remarks and rude behaviour, only to pocket the cash for themselves! Powerless, the exasperated Mayor decides to pay a visit to his bandit acquaintance Jed Clayton, offering him a cash incentive to get rid of the newcomers forthwith. The scene is set for a showdown, but Jed will soon discover that getting rid of Boss Nigger and Amos is not the turkey shoot he imagines.

At some point in the film's history it was re-branded with the new, less contentious title card of 'Black Bounty Killer'. It's this variant that was awarded a very low-key UK theatrical release in 1976 via Intercontinental Films Ltd., and rated with a 'AA' certificate after cuts by the BBFC:

Miss Pruitt uttering the suggestive line "…since she's all ready to do the caring", as Boss lies injured in bed.

Boss shouts "That's for little Pancho!" before shooting Clayton a third time — in the right knee cap. Clayton stumbles against the wall in slow motion before falling to his knees and dropping his revolver.

The very obscure Dimension video label released the film with its original Boss Nigger title (curiously, the print used has the on-screen title truncated to just Boss) at some point in the early 1980s, followed by a brace of releases in 1986: one from AVR and the other through Sheptonhurst Ltd., via their Private video brand. Both of these post-VRA variants are identical in content to the earlier censored theatrical release.

It's possible that AVR may have been the legitimate copyright holder, accounting for the version on Private being much scarcer. The Private release is shown here.

aka : Boss Nigger; Boss

cast : Fred Williamson, D'Urville Martin, William Smith, R.G. Armstrong, Don 'Red' Barry, Barbara Leigh, Carmen Hayworth, Carmen Zapata, Bruce Gordon, Ben Zeller, Sonny Robbins, Don Hayes, Jonathan Bahnks, Sonny Cooper, Phil Mead, Harry Luck, Elizabeth Saxon, Paul Baxby, Luke Jones, Don Hawn, Paul Conlan, Mark Brito, Joe Alfasa