"New Jack City" director Mario Van Peebles and scenarists Sy Richardson and Dario Scardapane pay homage to virtually every memorable Hollywood western with "Posse," an elegant inventory of clichés ranging from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" to "Once Upon a Time in the West." Derivative as all get-out, this R-rated horse opera delivers a little bit of everything, from a search for gold in Cuba to a desperate flight across the mountainous badlands of the American west. Although it borrows from every iconic oater, "Posse" qualifies as one of the best African-American westerns, with a distinguished cast. "White Sands" lenser Peter Menzies Jr.'s stylistic cinematography endows this adventure a mythic, larger-than-life grandeur. Aside from the atmospheric settings, "Posse" benefits from Van Peebles's muscular helming and charismatic performance as the protagonist. He wears a flat-brimmed black hat, has a couple of six-guns holstered in belts crisscrossing his waist. Of course, he can brandish them like chained lightning and plug his adversaries dead-center with every shot. Peebles surrounds himself with a first-rate cast, including Woody Strode, Stephen Baldwin, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Blair Underwood, Billy Zane, and Richard Jordan. This rugged, hard-riding horse opera unfolds initially in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in the 1890s. Arrogant U.S. Army Colonel Graham (Billy Zane of "Titanic") orders Jesse Lee (Mario Van Peebles of "Heartbreak Ridge") to take a group of predominantly African-Americans in civilian clothes, infiltrate enemy lines, and bring back whatever he can find. Jesse Lee, Jimmy J. 'Little J' Teeters (Stephen Baldwin of "The Usual Suspects"), and Obobo (Tommy Lister of "Friday") stumble upon a chest of gold coins. When Colonel Graham happens upon them-prepared to shoot them as deserters and confiscate the loot for himself-Jesse shoots him in the eye and escapes with the loot. One of Graham's disgraced African-American troopers, Weezie (Charles Lane of "True Identity") turns against Graham and helps Jesse and company get away from Cuba. They are shipped out in coffins and taken to the mainland in Florida. From there our heroes light out for the Wild West. Graham follows them in hot pursuit with a patch over one eye and greed pumping through his veins. Graham is every inch a dastard, and he maintains his own 'posse' that has earned the name 'the Iron Brigade.' Tirelessly, they track our heroes across the west to an African-American town, Freemanville, fears the angry, racist whites in the nearby town of Cutterstown. Sheriff Bates (Richard Jordan of "Lawman") is one of several men who killed Jesse's father, King David (Robert Hooks of "Trouble Man"), and Jesse has vengeance loaded into his six-shooters. Incredibly enough, the scene that sticks in the memory is the death of Jimmy J. 'Little J' Teeters (Stephen Baldwin) because a gang of angry whites beat 'Little J' to death in front of a crowd of African-Americans. The irony here is revelatory. "Posse" proclaims proudly the exploits of African-Americans on the frontier. Specifically, Jesse's unit Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Army's 10th Cavalry Regiment. Similarly, the legendary but largely forgotten Hollywood actor Woody Strode serves as the anonymous narrator who introduces and concludes the movie. Much of what he utters is designed to challenge audiences with a limited acquaintance with African-American history. Indeed, the other thing that sets "Posse" apart from every other western is its theatrical celebration of African-Americans and African-American History. Van Peebles orchestrates some slam-bang action scenes with lots of gunplay and explosions. The explosion that destroys the Gatlin gun in town looks like a napalm strike. As symbols of rank and authority, Zane and Jordan constitute two truly slimy villains. Zane's creepy Graham howls "rewards and retributions" throughout "Posse." Rounding out the cast are Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, and his own father Melvin Van Peebles. Although its message gets heavy-handed at time, "Posse" ranks as a landmark African-American movie, a solid western, and an entertaining shoot'em up with a touch of inevitable romance.
