One of the stars of the Blaxploitation genre, Pam Grier is the only reason to watch this movie, and to a lesser extent Fred Williamson, another genre star. The plot is really weak and boring, no need to go into it here. This is a movie only for 1970s film or genre buffs, all others should avoid.

After the death of his brother a man named "Duke Johnson" (Fred Williamson) travels down south to a place called "Bucktown" to attend the funeral. After the funeral he is pressured by his brother's friends to reopen the bar his brother owned long enough to sell it prior to departing back east. However, when he does this he finds that the entire police force of the town is corrupt and rather than being held hostage to extortion decides to call a friend to come down and help him out. Little does he realize that when he does this all hell is about to break loose. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie had the potential to be an excellent "blaxploitation" movie especially given the fine performances of Pam Grier (as "Aretha") and the aforementioned Fred Williamson. Unfortunately, the story became more and more implausible as it progressed to the point that it totally lacked any semblance of realism toward the end. Even so I still thought it was somewhat enjoyable and I rate it as slightly above average.

Bucktown (1975) ** (out of 4) Blaxploitation flick about a man (Fred Williamson) who travels south to bury his brother but learns that the place is being run by a bunch of crackers (redneck white folks). After the cops try bullying him, the man calls in his posse and soon they wipe out the rednecks but then the posse wants to take over, which Mr. Williamson isn't going to stand for. This film starts out very entertaining with the type of trash you'd expect from 70's blaxploitation. You got some great dialogue including a brilliantly funny line from Williamson regarding a pig and you've got countless, over the top racial slurs being thrown around in such jive that you can't help but laugh. What really kills the film is when the posse shows up because the violence is so strong and distasteful that it actually kills the good time the film was having. The second half with Williamson taking on his posse is just downright boring. Pam Grier plays the love interest with Carl Weathers playing one member of the posse.

This is a really really terrific blaxploitation movie made in 1975. It's a really low down and dirty, gritty drama, just the way they should be. The acting is way above par, great story, great direction, and the whole movie looks good. It holds your interest for the entire movie. It has some of the best, most realistic fight sequences I have ever seen, plus, it has Pam Grier in it!The movie's star is Fred Williamson, who really turns in a great performance. Pam Grier plays a supporting role and it's some of her best acting. The other starring actor is a guy named Thalmus Rasulala, who is terrific.The story line goes something like this:Duke (played by Fred Williamson) comes to a town to bury his brother who died. His brother owned a bar called The Alabama. This particular town is a mini, sleazy, version of Vegas (the actual city used for the filming seems to be Kansas City, Mossouri,) a town that attracts low rent tourists because of its gambling and prostitution. It's going to take a while for Duke to settle his brother's estate, so he hangs around town and reopens his brother's bar. After two of the town's cops come in and expect a percentage of the proceeds from the bar's receipts, he realizes that the entire town is run by a corrupt, white, police force. He won't stand for it, so he calls in his big city friend Roy (Thalmus Rasulala) to come to town with some thugs to kick some ***. The crew comes to town and they make short work of the brutal white police force. Duke is quite grateful for the help.However, when his friend Roy realizes how much money the police were extorting from the town, he realizes that he fell into a gold mine. Instead of going back to the big city that the thugs came from, they install themselves as the new police force in town and extort even more money and are more brutal than the white police force that they eliminated. This doesn't make Duke happy, especially when his friend Roy's thugs start harassing his friends and his new girlfriend (Pam Grier). Finally, Duke gets the fed up with it, and has to turn on his friend Roy and put an end to it.There's only one of him and a bunch of thugs to conquer, so he steals a tank and crashes through the police station where the thugs are camped out. He eliminates the thugs single-handedly and then "dukes" it out with his friend Roy in a spectacular fight sequence. And, yes, Pam Grier gets nude once. Highly recommended.