Outlaw Johnny Black

 

Michael Jai White's Outlaw Johnny Black is witty and culturally insightful but suffers from some distracting production design and casting choices that might be intentionally slipshod to be read as parodic of Hollywood Westerns, but they might actually be signs of the movie's lack of polish.

White stars as the title character, a fugitive gunslinger on a 25-year hunt for Brett Clayton (Chris Browning), a fast gun who shot and killed Black's father (Glynn Turman), a rodeo marksman and preacher.

When the film opens, Black has followed leads to the town of Cheyanne (sic) where through a series of outlandish events he gets charged with the murder of the town sheriff.

Black is saved from hanging by two Indians (white actors cast in the roles) he'd earlier rescued from a mob. He resumes his quest and soon meets a preacher (co-writer Byron Minns) on his way to the town of Hope Springs (as in "eternal") to take over the church of a recently killed minister and to meet and marry the beautiful Bessie (Erica Ash).

[Both White and Minns are veteran television and film actors. Outlaw Johnny Black is their second feature film collaboration; their first was Black Dynamite (2009), which was adapted into a successful animated series.]

Over the course of an eventful evening, the preacher is shot with an arrow, Black assumes his identity and leaves for Hope Springs, a town that seems to be run by Blacks, except for law enforcement. While there he meets and falls for Bessie's sister Jessie (Anika Noni Rose).

Disputes, mistaken identities and buried "treasure" lead to the (inevitable) showdown between townspeople and wealthy rancher and resident bad guy Tom Sheally, played by Barry Bostwick, who wants to take over the town and will burn it down if he doesn't get it.

The picture is overly long (2 hours 15) and is hit-and-miss but includes sharp commentary on disunity, fraud and the criminal taking of Black-owned property by the powerful.