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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

COMING SOON!


Back in 1975 when I was an impressionable lad of ten, I sat down to watch TV and was stunned by a commercial for a new Western movie featuring a Black sheriff blasting the living shit out of scores of the melanin-deficient. This was the height of the blaxploitation era, so such a trailer was no surprise, but what made my jaw hit the ground was the jingle accompanying it; a semi-funky bit of wakka-jawakka guitar riffed away while a deep, soulful voice sang, "They call him Boss...Boss Nigger!!!" at which point the title BOSS NIGGER was emblazoned across the TV screen, followed by a funkified brutha's voice proclaiming, "BOSS NIGGER! Rated R!" He said that shit with such vehemence that I almost expected him to get away with adding "Muthafukka!!!" at the end of the ad.

My mother and I sat there, gobsmacked, and then my mom unconsciously imitated her father's oft-used expression of acceptance after the initial incredulity: "Mmph, mmph, MMPH. If you live long enough, you'll see anything!"

NOTE: you can see a slightly longer version of the very same ad I saw back in the days at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTIklFsMjjU

From all that I've heard since, BOSS NIGGER is pretty much the same plot as BLAZING SADDLES only it's not supposed to be funny, and THAT is a movie I'd want to see! But despite my long history of seeking out and viewing such noble cinematic expressions of the Black experience from the time, works such as DR. BLACK & MISTER HYDE, THE BLACK GESTAPO, MONKEY HUSTLE, and other like classics, BOSS NIGGER has eluded me for over three decades.

Until now.

I found BOSS NIGGER on eBay this afternoon, from a questionable source and for a dirt-cheap price, so what the hell? When I receieve it I will review it as soon as possible, because I know you're as breathlessly excited about this one as I am.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Vintage grindhouse - and proof that anyone who thought the Machete trailer was an exaggeration had never seen a REAL grindhouse trailer!

Love the theme song. That must have been a riot at the recording studio.