Outlaw Posse

While I am not particularly keen on Western movies, I do sit down to watch one every now and again. And since I had not heard about "Outlaw Posse" prior to watching it, I didn't really know what I was in for, nor did I have much of any expectations really. And that meant that writer and director Mario Van Peebles had ever opportunity to entertain and bedazzle me.

The storyline is fairly straightforward and enjoyable. So writer Mario Van Peebles, whom also directed and starred in the movie, managed to put together something that was good. If you enjoy Western movies, then you might get a kick out of "Outlaw Posse".

"Outlaw Posse" has a good cast ensemble, with the likes of Neal McDonough, Cam Gigandet, John Carroll Lynch, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Cedric The Entertainer, Whoopi Goldberg and Mario Van Peebles, all in bigger or smaller roles. Needless to say that the acting performances in the movie were good.

I found this 2024 Western movie to be entertaining enough, though it was hardly an outstanding foray into the Western genre. It had enough of the archetypical Western spirit and feel to it to actually work out well enough.

My rating of "Outlaw Posse", from writer and director Mario Van Peebles, lands on a five out of ten stars.

Starts with a good premise: Confederates hid gold in Montana. Let's go get it! And there's a bad guy! He's bad. And there's other downtrodden people. They're good! And there's a multiethnic, multicultural settlement. Yay! And there's a complicated father-son subplot. And a kidnapping! And some musical performances. And some bad singing.

Confused? You will be.

Dialogue? Yes, there is dialogue. Is it stiff? You bet!

Acting? You bet. There are actors doing acting. Is it good acting? Yes! Given what they had to work with in terms of dialogue and plot, for sure. In fact, all of these actors should be given awards for trying so hard, despite the poor hand they were dealt.

I paid $6 to rent this film. If I had feelings, they'd be hurt.

At the time of my writing this, 41 people have actually given this movie 10 stars. My first reaction was, "who are these people?" They couldn't possibly be rating the same movie I just watched. This movie was so unrealistic, poorly scripted, had a convoluted story and was so predictable. It became crystal clear the writer was far more interested in pushing a liberal social agenda than actually making a western movie. It would have been much cheaper to simply write a letter-to- the-editor and list all the social grievances included in the film. (I was a little surprised I didn't see windmills in the background.) And on a technical point. I had no idea that when an arrow was shot and hit someone in the neck, it would enter and leave half on one side and half on the other. Pretty amazing.

I just saw the film this evening and thoroughly enjoyed the uplifting, educational, and entertaining depiction of African and Native American life in the Old West.

With a colorful ensemble cast including Van Peebles and comedic giants Whoopi Goldberg and Cedric the Entertainer the film calls to mind the old spaghetti westerns of the past but with a more historically accurate depiction of the various backgrounds colors and lifestyles of some actual historic figures who had a tremendously positive influence on the 19th century western landscape.

A great must see production by the Van Peebles clan!

I was pretty excited to see this movie. I'd just recently rewatched Mario Van Peebles' first film as a director, NEW JACK CITY, and it was much stronger than I remember. I enjoyed NEW JACK CITY when it first came out, but found it over-directed, though I did appreciate that its core was straight out of classic Warner Bros gangster movies, ALA Cagney and Bogart, but updated for a modern political context, particularly among the African American community. Van Peebles followed that movie up with the western POSSE, which also had an activist political edge to it. Nearly 30 years later, Van Peebles returns with OUTLAW POSSE, not a sequel, but maybe a spiritual sequel (probably due to a rights issue), playing another equally cool and anachronistically hip cowboy who returns after 20 years to seek a hidden cache of stolen gold before assorted other bad guys can get. The film starts strong with a cool spaghetti western vibe, but that quickly fades as the story slows to a rather dull pace. Still, Van Peebles brings some exciting visuals to the proceedings and many uber-cool actors appear in bit parts, probably more as a favor to Van Peebles than for a paycheck in this modestly budgeted film, which is pretty cool of them. Whoopi Goldberg, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward James Olmos, Allen Payne, Neal McDonough, and M. Emmet Walsh in his final film role all appear in bit parts. Overall, OUTLAW POSSE is worth watching for fans of westerns and/or fans of 80s/90s throwback nostalgia, but it's nothing brilliant and I'm not sure I'll ever feel the need to rewatch it.