Themes: Race Relations, Colonialism, Fish Out of Water
Main Cast: Maynard Eziashi, Pierce Brosnan, Edward Woodward, Beatie Edney, Denis Quilley
Release Year: 1991
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Director Bruce Beresford followed up his Academy Award-winning Driving Miss Daisy with another meditation on race, Mister Johnson. Set in West Africa in 1923, Johnson (Maynard Eziashi), the clerk of British administrator Harry Rudbeck (Pierce Brosnan), attempts everything within his power to ingratiate himself into white society. Johnson hatches a plan to juggle the books so that Rudbeck will have the capital necessary to achieve his ultimate dream of a "great northern road," but when his scheme is uncovered, he is fired. After finding another job with a shopkeeper named Gollop (Edward Woodward), he is again fired for his "creative" financing skills; however, Rudbeck hires him back to oversee the road construction project. When funds are cut off, Johnson convinces workers to do their jobs for free to ensure the project's completion. Once again, he is caught embezzling, and once again, he is let go; in a fit of desperation, he robs and kills Gollup. After confessing to the crime, he begs Rudbeck to kill him, sparing him the humiliation of public execution. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Nick Reding - Tring; Oladejo Adegboyega - 2nd Guard; Sola Adeyemi - Ajali; Charles Ani - Levi; Akinola Ayegbusi - Village Chief; Gladys Dadzie - 2nd Creditor Woman; Matt Dadzie - 1st Guard; Saidu Dahtru - Chair Boy; Albert Egbe - Scribe; Philip Elegonya - 2nd Policeman; Bella Enahoro - Bamu; Chris Erakptybor - Interpreter; Femi Fatoba - Waziri; Fred Ibrahim - 1st Policeman; Sani Izang - Police Sergeant; John E. Johnson - 2nd Creditor Man; Mary Kalu - Matumbi; Tunde Kelani - Jamesu; Jerry Linus - Saleh; Musa Udu Mallam - Trader; Kwabena Manso - Benjamin; George Menta - Emir; Laraba Ogomo - Bamu's Baby; Chief Hubert Ogunde - Brimah; Ibidun Ogunde - Bamu's Mother; Moses Okwe - Alhaji; Wali Umar - Suli; Hajia Nana Yahaya - 1st Creditor Woman; Steve James - Aliu
Credit
Fabian Adibe - Art Director, Penelope Glass - Co-producer, Rosemary Burrows - Costume Designer, Bruce Beresford - Director, Humphrey Dixon - Editor, Eva Monley - Executive Producer, Georges Delerue - Composer (Music Score), Herbert Pinter - Production Designer, Peter James - Cinematographer, Bill Benenson - Producer, Kathy Fitzgerald - Producer, Michael Fitzgerald - Producer, Graham Sumner - Set Designer, Bruce Beresford - Screenwriter, William Boyd - Screenwriter, Joyce Cary - Book Author
Mister Johnson (1939), a novel by Joyce Cary set in northern Nigeria. Johnson, a black clerk in the district administration, is dismissed for misappropriation of funds and resorts to theft. Accidentally knifing the brutal English ex-serviceman who runs the government store, he is sentenced to be hanged, but the District Officer, Rudbeck, shoots Johnson at his own request.
