‘Outlaw Johnny Black’ Review: An Amusing Homage to Spaghetti Western and Blaxploitation Elements
variety.comJoe Leydon Film Critic Tipping their Stetsons to a passel of 1960s Spaghetti Westerns — everything from “A Fistful of Dollars” to “They Call Me Trinity” — and the sort of 1970s Blaxploitation oaters that once provided steady employment for Fred Williamson, director-star Michael Jai White and co-star (and co-writer) Byron Keith Minns have cobbled together “Outlaw Johnny Black,” a fitfully funny but uncomfortably overlong entertainment best appreciated by movie buffs who share the pair’s affection for the genre tropes and stereotypes they seriocomically recycle.
Not nearly as free-wheeling and fleet-footed as “Black Dynamite,” the 2009 satirical comedy that cast White as a Shaft-like action hero, the new film nonetheless provides more than a few good laughs, even when it seems to be taking horse opera clichés a tad too respectfully, and showcases a fine cast of actors dedicated to both the silliness and the seriousness of the enterprise.
White plays the title character, a notorious gunslinger and brutally efficient martial artist who has devoted most of his adult life to seeking vengeance for the murder of his father, preacher and trick shootist Bullseye Black (played briefly but impactfully in flashbacks by Glynn Turman).
Much like Lee Van Cleef in “For a Few Dollars More,” who carried the image of his late sister in his pocketwatch to inspire his score-settling pursuits, Johnny carries a picture of Bullseye in his own timepiece, to fuel his determination for retribution.
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