4. Boss Nigger (1975)
There were a plethora of blaxploitation films in the sixties and seventies, and many were subversively paving the way for black actors to gain legitimate credibility in the Hollywood system. No one personifies this more than Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. He made a number of films that took advantage of their blaxsploitation roots, but the films he made were uncompromising and completely under his control. The best of these films has to be
Boss Nigger, a western in which Williamson (a bounty hunter not unlike Jamie Foxx's Django) takes over the duty of sheriff in a lawless town. The title alone is going to turn some people away, and that's their loss because the movie is a non-stop barrage of badassery. Williamson's Boss Nigger is one of the best characters in all of the western genre, able to be both strong and funny with almost the flip of a switch. His final shootout in the bar is among the greatest showdowns ever filmed. And the theme song (much like the original
Django) is deceptively catchy, although you may not want to be caught singing it out of context. If you can get past the sensationalism of the title, this is a western that deserves as much a following as
Unforgiven. It's THAT good. A very different movie, but just as important to the genre.