Product Description

Mario Van Peebles (Judgment Day), Billy Zane (Titanic) and Stephen Baldwin (Fled) shake up the frontier in this "fast-paced, star-studded, big brawny western" (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)! Filled with gun-blazing, fist-pounding action and co-starring Big Daddy Kane, Blair Underwood, Tone Loc, Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, Nipsey Russell, Aaron Neville and more, Posse takes a page missing from the history books – and unfolds it with suspense, humor and awe-inspiring power! In 1892, a group of mostly black infantrymen, betrayed by their white commander, Colonel Graham (Zane), desert the Spanish-American War. With Graham hot on their trail, Jessie Lee (Van Peebles) leads the men to his hometown, Freemanville, only to find it's also besieged by war – a racist war! Lee's attempts to bring justice and freedom to his people make for a brilliant western that's short on words and long on "killer entertainment" (Los Angeles Times)!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43247 in DVD
• Brand: MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX)
• Released on: 2001-05-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Features

• An outlaw and rebel who brought together a band of men who whould become brothers for life. Also featuring Blair Underwood, Melvin Van Peebles, Tone Loc, Pam Grier and Isaac Hayes. System Requirements: Starring: Mario Van Peebles, Stephen Baldwin, Billy Zane, Blair Underwood, Richard Jordan, and Salli Richardson. Directed By: Mario Van Peebles. Running Time: 111 Min., Color. This film is

Amazon.com
Mario Van Peebles directed as well as starred in this ham-fisted, 1993 Western with a predominantly African American cast. The story finds a posse of black shooters (with one white member, played by Stephen Baldwin) taking on a racist sheriff and military man, but Van Peebles's effort at mixing convention with hip credentials gets pretty grating. (Tone Loc makes the worst cowboy in film history.) The film is also incredibly sexist, going well beyond the usual frontier-floozy clichés and lapsing into the sort of blatant exploitation one found at that time in rap-music videos. There are lots of cameo appearances from familiar folks willing to support Van Peebles on a project that probably sounded like a mix of experiment and event--Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, Woody Strode, and the director's father, Melvin Van Peebles. But even they can't help. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Correcting History.
Mario Van Peebles directed and starred in this film about a group of African-American soldiers (and one white one) on the run from a corrupt military officer. The officer (Billy Zane) had the posse steal some gold from Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He planned to kill them afterwards, but the group proved stronger than he thought and they escaped. They come back to the states and follow Jesse (Van Peebles) to the dream town of his deceased father in west Texas. Jesse has some inner demons to silence and they won't be still until he has settled an aged score.

The film is interesting. However, the movie relies heavily upon typical Western cliches which dampen some of the it's uniqueness. Nevertheless, the film does raise awareness about all the black cowboys and settlers that were so instrumental in taming the West that most people don't even know existed. An educational film that is quite entertaining to watch.

A popcorn movie that teaches. We need more like this.
Mario Van Peebles "Posse" is a movie with flaws, but it treats its source material with respect. Unlike the shallow and silly "Rosewood" Van Peebles "Posse" gives viewers a clear picture of what life was like for African-American cowboys at the turn of the century. We get to know characters in the story. The production values are low budget, and several roles are miscast, but Van Peebles' heart is in every second of this film. He loves the material and wants us to learn as much about these forgotten black heroes as he has. Part "spaghetti western", part action flick, part historical drama, Posse is a lot of fun to watch. Mario Van Peebles, Billy Zane, Melvin Van Peebles and Salli Richardson in her first role are great. Tis one is worth owining for your collection.

Better than the "editorial review" thinks it is
Tom Keogh, whomever he may be, is quite mistaken about the quality of Mario Van Peebles film, which is somewhat more than simply a "black western." Despite the "camp" appearances of several black celebrities, Peebles brings to the film an arresting visual quality and an iconoclastic, unmistakably "dark" [no pun intended] perspective on How the West Was Lost, which is one of the biggest tragedies of American history. The historical background is suitably complex, tieing in references to the Spanish-American War. Although the lead character's gunslinging talents are made too much of, this is far from cliche.