Posse

Posse
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mario Van Peebles
Produced by	Preston Holmes Jim Steele
Written by	Sy Richardson Dario Scardapane
Starring	Mario Van Peebles Stephen Baldwin Big Daddy Kane Tiny Lister Tone Loc Blair Underwood Billy Zane Faizon Love
Music by	Michel Colombier
Cinematography	Peter Menzies, Jr.
Editing by	Mark Conte Seth Flaum
Studio	Working Title Films PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release date(s)	May 14, 1993
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$18,289,763[1]

Posse is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast of mostly African-American actors, the film is about a posse of black soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The title of the film refers to a group of people who are summoned to help law enforcement officers. The story starts with the group escaping with a cache of gold, and continues with their leader Jesse Lee (Van Peebles) taking revenge on the men who killed his preacher father.

The story is presented as a flashback told by an unnamed Old Man (Woody Strode), starts with a Cuban prologue during Spanish American War.

Plot

The story begins as the US Army 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers led by Jesse Lee (Mario Van Peebles are fighting in the Spanish-American War in 19th Century Cuba. As they are barely holding their own against constant attacks from enemy troops, Jesse Lee runs back to the command post of the corrupt and racist Colonel Graham (Billy Zane) to request that the 10th Cavalry be allowed to pull back. Colonel Graham orders Lee to shoot a deserter in exchange for allowing the 10th to retreat. Unable to kill a man in cold blood, Jesse Lee demonstrates excellent marksmanship by shooting the man's cigar from his mouth. Colonel Graham then kills the deserter, and offers another prisoner called Little J (Stephen Baldwin), Jesse Lee's command of the 10th (the alternative would be to face the firing squad). Graham then orders the 10th to fall back in order to begin another mission, one in which they will be required to wear civilian clothing, as opposed to their Cavalry uniforms. They've been ordered to rob a Spanish gold shipment, which is a setup to give the Colonel an excuse to execute the entire 10th Cavalry as deserters. As he meets them with his own cavalry force, his aide Wheezie causes a distraction, allowing the 10th to shoot the Colonel and his cavalry down. With Colonel Graham and his troops supposedly dead, the remnants of the 10th led by Jesse Lee travel to New Orleans where Little J meets a gambler named Father Time (Big Daddy Kane) and they begin playing poker, at which point Time is caught cheating. Little J helps the gambler escape and they go back to the hotel room where the others are hiding at telling them "We were never here" in fear that the vengeful gamblers might come for them. Doing just as J feared, the gamblers come in search of him and Father Time, only to be shot in the back by none other than the late Colonel Graham and more US troops. Angel is killed in the firefight while Little J, Father Time and the others barely escape. They meet up with Jesse who had left earlier to finish some business in a town out West.

The newly formed Posse heads West with Colonel Graham on their heels every step of the way. They stop in a town in between where Jesse has ammunition custom made out of gold in order to kill the demons of his past, using one to kill the man who made the ammunition, as he was one of the men who had lynched Jesse's father years before. Father Time later explains that the Voodoo ladies in New Orleans believe that gold is the only way to kill a demon. They make their way to Freemanville, a town made up entirely of African-Americans. Carver's deputy goes to cutterstown, not wanting to tip anyone off they are working together, he wonders why he is there. He is there to inform Bates that Jessie Lee is in Freemanville. They stay awhile until the Sherrif of a nearby town, Bates, threatens the Carver, Sheriff of Freemanville that the town will burn unless Jesse Lee is turned over to him and his deputies. Sheriff Bates and several of his deputies were men that had lynched Jesse's father years before and were afraid that Jesse had come back for revenge. The sheriff and a few of his deputies attack the town that same night looking for Jesse Lee. One of the deputies beats Weezie in order to get answers. Little J watches and cannot handle the sight and fights back. Little J manages to make his way outside where more deputies are waiting, Little J gets taken down when he is attacked from the behind. Two of the sheriffs kick Little J around but when Bates joins the beating, a lot more of his men start beating Little J with their weapons. They beat Little J to death and take Papa Joe and Obobo as prisoners back to his own town where they'll get a "fair trial". Jesse poses as a Ku Klux Klan member and kills a deputy at the Sheriff's jail and rescues Papa Joe and Obobo.

When he returns he convinces the townspeople to fight the Sheriff by telling them he wants the land for himself to sell to the railroad when it comes through. The citizens of Freemanville fight the Sheriff the next day when he rides in. As they begin to gain the upper hand, Colonel Graham arrives with his cavalry and a Gatling gun which he uses to cut the people down. Jesse charges the gun with a stick of dynamite destroying the gun and killing some of Graham's troops.

Meanwhile the Sheriff of Freemanville, Carver, plans to run with the deeds to all of the property in Freemanville which is in his name but is stopped by Lana. Father Time shows up just in time to stop Sheriff Carver from hurting Lana. He kills one of Carver's deputies, but is killed by Carver. As Carver once again tries to flee, he is stopped by Sheriff Bates who reveals that they had a deal to split the proceeds from the land 50-50. Jesse arrives just in time to hear about the deal, and watches as Carver is betrayed and murdered by Bates. Jesse kills Bates in a showdown, finally putting his past demons to rest. Colonel Graham having captured Lana orders Jesse into the saloon where they have a climactic fight to the death resulting in Graham's death and the destruction of the saloon, which Graham had set ablaze with Lana still in it. Jesse, Obobo and Lana watch as the townspeople fight the fire.

The story ends years later with an old man being interviewed by reporters about the black cowboys of the west. The man, who was a young boy when he met Jesse Lee, gives the reporters a small book that Jesse had given him.

In the end, a caption goes on to tell that there had been over 8,000 black cowboys in the Old West whose stories had never been told due to omission by Hollywood and others alike.

Cast

• Mario Van Peebles - as Jesse Lee
• Stephen Baldwin - as Little J
• Billy Zane - Colonel Graham
• Tone Loc - as Angel
• Melvin Van Peebles - as Papa Joe
• Tom Lister, Jr. - as Chales Lane Obobo
• Big Daddy Kane - as Father Time
• Reginald VelJohnson - as Preston
• Blair Underwood - as Carver
• Isaac Hayes - as Cable
• Charles Lane - as Weezie
• Robert Hooks - as King David
• Richard Jordan - as Sheriff Bates
• Pam Grier - as Phoebe
• Nipsey Russell - as Snopes
• Paul Bartel - as Mayor Bigwood
• Salli Richardson - as Lana
• Woody Strode - as Storyteller
• Aaron Neville - as Railroad Singer
• Reginald Hudlin - as Reporter #1
• Warrington Hudlin - as Reporter #2
• Richard Gant - as Doubletree
• Richard Edson - as Deputy Tom
• Stephen J. Cannell - as Jimmy Love
• Vesta Williams - as Vera
• Faizon Love - John
• T.J. McClain - LA Slim
• Angela Ward - Prostitute
• Lawrence Cook^[2]

Production

Melvin Van Peebles, the father of director Mario Van Peebles, recorded a new song, "Cruel Jim Crow", for the film, his first music recording in 20 years, after his 1974 album What the....You Mean I Can't Sing?!.^[3] It led to the production of a new album, Ghetto Gothic, released in 1995.^[3]

Release

This section requires expansion.

Posse was the first film to be released by Gramercy Pictures.^[4] It grossed $18.2 million in the U.S. and Canadian domestic market,^[1] with US$8.555 million in rentals.^[4]

References

External links

• Posse at the Internet Movie Database
• Posse at the TCM Movie Database
• Posse at AllRovi
• Posse at Box Office Mojo
• Newyork times Posse movie review
• Yahoo movies review of Posse movie
• Entertainment weekly's Posse review