OUTLAW JOHNNY BLACK - Mark Reviews Movies

Outlaw Johnny Black, Samuel Goldwyn Films

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | September 14, 2023

The Western no longer needs too much of a breakdown or takedown, several decades after the genre lost its mass popularity and became the subject of deconstruction by filmmakers and academics. Here, though, is Outlaw Johnny Black, co-writer/director/star Michael Jai White's comedic take on the Western, which comes close to flat-out parody but never quite crosses the line into that territory. White clearly admires and appreciates the genre just enough to stop before the point of any kind of outright mockery.

He, along with fellow screenwriter Byron Minns, have essentially given us a story that easily could have been played straight (and almost certainly has been at least a few times over multiple movies from the past), and into that basic structure and familiar narrative, they give us a series of pretty decent jokes and gags. There are also a few that don't land, either because they're too tied into some convoluted plotting or because they involve outdated stereotypes that even some of the Westerns of the past realized were a problem. Those are unfortunate, not only because they run counter to the movie's otherwise easy and good-natured spirit, but also because they're just not funny.

That, as well as the movie's bloated and sometimes too-serious story, is a shame. With a more concise narrative and an absence of those troublesome portrayals, White might have made the sort of joshing but loving parody that also was pretty commonplace at one time but has since fallen out of favor. Despite the movie's obvious issues, the filmmakers' efforts are commendable.

White plays the Outlaw Johnny Black, of course, a man whose many, many crimes are read off in the background as he's about to be hanged in some frontier town for the alleged murder of the local Sheriff. Obviously, he didn't kill the lawman—well, not directly, at least. He was protecting some visiting Native Americans from a group of bullies and criminals, and the Sheriff's hat got in the way of one of Johnny's bullets. It was the lawman's heart that actually finished him.

Johnny is a decent man to the core—the son of a preacher, who was murdered in front of him by an outlaw, and a bit of a miscreant, perhaps. He's also a Black man, leaving us to wonder how many of those alleged crimes, such as looking at a woman for a bit too long, are legitimate and whether or not one of those bullies was actually going to call Johnny a "nincompoop" or something else.

Anyway, Johnny escapes his fate with the help of Native Americans he saved, leading to the first of several scenes that treat the indigenous characters of the movie with a lack of dignity at best or near-derision at worst. It's a strange choice, considering so much of the story is overtly or intrinsically about prejudice and giving a degree of power to characters like Johnny. The presentation of Native American tribes and specific indigenous characters here, though, indulges in stereotypes for cheap laughs or turns them into jokes to be seen as "others" within the story.

Ignoring that (even if it is difficult to ignore within the larger thematic context of the movie), most of the plot becomes a straightforward tale. It features elements of vengeance—with Johnny looking for Brett Clayton (Chris Browning), the man who shot his pa—and mistaken/false identity—with Johnny arriving in another small town and pretending to be Reverend Percy (Minns), who later shows up to add to the scheme and the confusion—and land deals—with the villainous Tom Sheally (Barry Bostwick) trying to steal as much property as possible for his personal gain.

It's also a bit too much, especially when Johnny and Percy's identity swap leads to some confusion with sisters Jessie (Anika Noni Rose), who can handle herself and sees through Johnny's charms, and Bessie Lee (Erica Ash), who falls hard for the faux preacher (the unintentional innuendo on both their parts is very funny) but winds up in bed with the real one. Beyond the moral qualms put forth with the scenario, that subplot feels more than unnecessary—a distraction from the simple, recognizable plotting and sense of humor that the movie gets right more often than not.

There is a lot here to appreciate, from White's easygoing but pitch-perfect performance, which lets him show off some comic chops of the deadpan (his attempt to explain Percy's unlikely repeated alias, for example) and physical (a bit that has him drawing and replacing a pistol while slapping a foe) varieties, to the way these assorted gags naturally fit into the basic setup of the story, characters, and specific scenes. We get a saloon brawl, for example, that's provided musical accompanied by a very observant and eager pianist, and Johnny quickly learns that his new congregation is more than happy to accept him, as long as they get to quote the Bible and he, at the end of it, proclaims, "Hallelujah!"

When Outlaw Johnny Black has good-humored fun with the clichés and conventions of the Western, it is quite a bit of fun. The good will the movie creates with its comedy, though, is undermined just a bit too much by a couple of specific comedic through lines and cramming in more plot than it can properly digest.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products