Fred Williamson directs himself for the first time in Mean Johnny Barrows, a mercifully brief actioner which has a far better cast than it deserves. The plus points include the terrific soul-funk soundtrack (even if it is poured a little too thoughtlessly over the on-screen events), a memorable cameo appearance from Elliot Gould, and a handful of decently handled action sequences. The negatives would probably take too long to list in full, but chief amongst them are the general air of dispiritedness that hangs over the film, the hopelessly weak script and the largely listless acting. Folks like Roddy McDowall, Stuart Whitman and Luther Adler are capable of much more than is required of them here – their performances are lazy and unconvincing.Vietnam vet Johnny Barrows (Fred Williamson) returns from 'Nam with a dishonourable discharge after striking his commanding officer (the C.O. did deserve it though, having let Johnny step on a live land-mine as a prank). Johnny returns to his home town but finds it tough getting by. Jobs are few; crime and mugging is aplenty; and the cops seem more part of the problem than the solution. Johnny is approached by gangster Mario Racconi (Stuart Whitman), who offers him a job as a well-paid hired heavy, carrying out beatings and killings for the powerful Racconi family. Johnny refuses point blank, taking up an honest job at a petrol station instead. Meanwhile, gang warfare erupts between the Racconis and a new Mob family-in-town, the Da Vinces. Johnny tries to remain impartial to the violence, but when Mario's girlfriend Nancy (Jenny Sherman) is taken prisoner by the da Vinces he finally snaps. Seems Johnny has developed a soft spot for Nancy and won't stand for her coming to any harm. He finally relents and agrees to go after the da Vinces, working through the entire family, including the youngest son, Tony (Roddy McDowall).There's a plot twist towards the end which doesn't make much sense, including a particularly bizarre final scene involving a land-mine (presumably intended to link things back to the opening scene?) The relationship between Nancy and Johnny – so important to the plot, since it governs his ultimate decision to start killing people after spending most of the film trying to go straight – is hopelessly under-developed. Sherman is too bland as Nancy anyway, making it hard to understand exactly what draws Johnny to her in the first place. There are a few flashes of neatly choreographed, violent action, but all in all Mean Johnny Barrows is a pretty lacklustre offering which isn't worth making any effort to see.

Fred Williamson is a charismatic actor but he shouldn't be allowed behind the camera for the simple reason that he has no clue as how to direct a film. I had heard that his earlier films were better than the direct-to-vid films he slapped together in the '80s but this film, made just as the blaxploitation craze was winding down, is beyond belief.I'd like to think that he had a crew of 5 people: 2 for sound, one high school student to do the lighting, an A.D., and himself...oh yeah, I guess he'd need a cameraman. Well maybe one of the actors handled that when they weren't needed in front of the camera. That might explain a lot. This is, technically, a truly horrible film: the sound, lighting, camera are all beyond amateur.What really takes the cake is the inclusion of good actors like Roddy McDowell, Elliot Gould (as one reviewer noted below -- this is the best scene and it makes no sense but is welcome anyway) and Stuart Whitman. Were these actors behind in their car payments? If you want good blaxploitation and you like Williamson, check out "Bucktown" or "Black Caesar" or any of the early '70s films he starred in before he thought he knew how to direct. This is an embarrassment to all the cast and crew (except for Gould who is hilarious!).I'd love to hear from a crew member who worked on this dreck. I'm sure it was a nightmare.

OK. Just had to put in a comment that those who speak English would fully understand. I don't know about you, but I don't know what "one mean of a dull movie" means. It's a shame when people don't bother to use the language correctly- the other reviewer seems fairly smart in other ways.This is a dull movie, I grant you. I have it as part of a 4-DVD set called, "Mean Muthas & Bad Brothas." Or maybe it's the other way around. I'm not sure - I bought the set of four movies for 4.98. And it was well worth that. The cheapest I've ever seen of a notoriously cheap genre, this film is slow, barely coherent and full of things that don't make sense. On the other hand,it has Fred Williamson (and was apparently directed by him), Roddy McDowall (playing a Fredo-type, actually a pretty out-of-body performance, it was surprising to realize it was him, although I was looking for him) and Elliot Gould in a very strange but brief "special appearance" as a homeless yet extremely dapper fellow. Hey whatever - it's an incredibly bad blaxploitation film. If that sounds funny to you and you don't spend much money, go for it.

Mean Johnny Barrows is one mean a dull of a film.Basically it tells the story of Johnny Barrows, a former soldier who gets booted out of the army for striking an officer.As he returns to his hometown, he gets mugged and robbed and therefore, he is left penniless.Determined to start his life up again, he goes around looking for a job. There, he works at a garage and meets up with this chick called Nancy.However, prior to his job, he gets recruited by Mario Racconi when he gets gunned down by the Da Vinci family following a truce that went wrong.Determined to take on the job, Johnny goes round bumping off each member of the Da Vinci family until he reaches a climatic end putting a full scale on them with a double-barrelled shot gun.Well afterwards, what happens..? Someone puts a contract out on him. But who..?Well, it comes to show with a classic film like this, there are some good moments as well as bad. A good cast though, even Fred Williamson directed this flick.Not bad, but after all it is one mean of a dull film!