Rugged bounty hunter Boss (the always cool Fred Williamson, who also wrote the smart script) and his easygoing partner Amos (a very funny and amiable portrayal by D'Urville Martin) pursue notorious outlaw Jed Clayton (the legendary Big Bill Smith in peak curvy form) into the small town of San Miguel. Boss decides to become sheriff after he finds out that the town doesn't have one.Director Jack Arnold keeps the immensely entertaining story moving at a brisk pace, milks plenty of laughs from the blithely cheeky sense of humor, maintains an affable lighthearted tone throughout, and stages the exciting shoot outs and thrilling rough'n'tumble fisticuffs with skill and gusto. Moreover, this film deserves extra praise for tackling the issue of racism head on; it's a total treat to see two bold black guys put a bunch of hateful white bigots in their place. Williamson and Martin display a natural and engaging chemistry in the lead roles, with sound support from R.G. Armstrong as the slimy Mayor Griffin, Barbara Leigh as kindly school teacher Miss Pruitt, Carmen Hayward as the sweet Clara Mae, and Ben Zeller as a friendly blacksmith. Leon Moore's funky-throbbing score hits the right-on groovy spot. Robert Caramico's crisp widescreen cinematography provides a pleasing bright look. A really on the money movie.

Then this might be what you get in return.Boss Negro (I'll use the politically correct term for this review) is the story of 2 African American slaves turned bounty hunters, named Boss and Amos. Fresh off their hate for white people, They ride into a white town hoping to collect rewards for some bounties they've killed. However, the position of sheriff in the town is available and Boss takes it, and implements new laws, such as a 20$ fine for using the well-known derogatory term for an African American, and a bunch of other laws.Western movies are a dime a dozen, but there has rarely been a movie where the town's sheriff was a black man. I think Boss Negro does it very well, and it's worth a view.9/10

I had wanted to see this movie for a long time, but I could never find it in any video rental stores. The reason for that probably is the provocative title. I finally got a copy of it for a Christmas present and I sat down to enjoy it. I found some things about the movie enjoyable. As others have said here, the title song is very memorable, though the funk music score elsewhere in the movie is equally enjoyable despite not being western-flavor. Also, Williamson's performance here is great. He makes for a charismatic (and amusing) hero that you hope will succeed, and his abusing of the racist town citizens is good for some laughs.In fact, Williamson's performance comes close to saving the movie - but the movie ultimately disappoints. It's a low-budget movie, with frequent camera set-ups that were obviously set up quickly. As Williamson's sidekick, D'Urville Martin is mostly wasted. In fact, it wouldn't take very much rewriting to remove his character from the script. Speaking of the script, it is filled with scenes that seem to fill no purpose, and partly because of that the movie is VERY slow-moving at times. If all this fat were cut out, the movie would be much, much shorter-running.If you decide to watch this movie, a warning about the DVD. Although it's presented at its correct aspect ration (2.35:1), the print looks very crummy, and the audio is weak as well.

Boss N#gger is definitely not a prime sample of either western or blaxploitation but it's a genre crossover I'm glad happened because if it didn't happen back in the day it probably wouldn't ever. Perhaps the biggest problem in the movie is Fred Williamson's script, which bears all the marks of an inexperienced writer: too much exposition, flat characterization, scenes that seem to exist only to take the plot from point A to point B. Well, I guess few people are going to see a movie called "Boss N#gger" for its story, but it's details like these that make the difference between Coffy and the multitude of forgettable blaxploits of the early seventies. Williamson's script but be throwaway but when he dons his black cowboy hat and cheroot and transforms into black bounty-hunter Boss, he's as badass as he's ever been. Along with his associate D'Urville Martin ("Sheba Baby", "Dolemite", "Black Caesar") they rescue a black girl from the clutches of bandits before riding into a lawless town terrorized by a gang of cutthroats. He elects himself sheriff and rails against the corrupt mayor of the town and all the bigotry around him. Boss N#gger's seems to exist for no other reason than sticking it to "the man" and in that aspect the balance is heavily tipped towards the blaxploitation end of the equation. This is a blaxploit movie that only happens to take place in the old west. It's still a fairly entertaining diversion with quotable dialogue and all the amusing shenanigans one can expect from having a black sheriff in a town filled with white bigots. A kid is ridden down in slow motion, Williamson says things like "we've got some more whities to catch" and "Mayor, have somebody clean up ma office", D'Urville locks up the bank president for tearing up a note and when the mayor demands he's released he locks him up too for disturbing the peace. What starts as a funky, frolicking action western becomes a lot more violent in the final third and ends on quite a downbeat tone that comes eerily close to Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence. Jack Arnold ("Creature from the Black Lagoon", "The Incredible Shrinking Man") directs.