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Jazguyz6
Reviews
Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023)
Ignore the annoying flaws and watch
I really, really wanted to like this series. Finally, an acknowledgment of a legendary Western lawman who was arguably far more successful than the better known Wyatt Earp or Bat Masterson, plus he was a former slave, with a terrific actor (Daniel Oyelowo) cast as the lead. While somewhat disappointed, I would nevertheless still recommend the series to anyone who knows little or nothing about Bass Reeves. It's worth watching even with its flaws.
Since not much is known about Reeves' life as a slave, the writers were free to let their imaginations roam. Why they chose to portray Reeves as a slave who shot and killed Union soldiers during the Civil War is beyond comprehension. Was it an attempt to show Reeves as a man of honor who felt he had a moral obligation to serve his master? That would require us to believe Reeves thought his own slavery was morally correct. Was it an attempt to appeal to White Southern viewers who still believe in the Lost Cause of the fallaciously named War of Northern Aggression? Or viewers who believe that slaves willingly fought on behalf of the Confederacy? To be clear, the latter view is nonsensical. While there are written eyewitness accounts of Black men seen among Confederate soldiers during battle, the simpler explanation is that many Confederate officers were slaveowners who brought along a slave to perform as their man-servants. The notion that a slave would willingly kill a man fighting to defeat slavery is ludicrous.
There are other nonsensical minor details that are noted by other reviewers (Reeves runs away from his owner, taking a horse but not any shoes, leading to later agony? While still barefoot, he kills two probable slave catchers but he doesn't take their shoes? His cap-and-ball revolver works perfectly after being submerged in a river?). Meh, while annoying, these are mere nits. So suspend your disbelief because in the larger context, it's worth watching to learn more about a man who should be known as a Western legend.
The Vanquished (1953)
Good grief
The only reason to watch this film is to see the type of claptrap that 20th century audiences were being fed about post-Civil War Reconstruction. The film is set in a fictional Southern town in 1866 that is being run by a government appointed civil administrator supported by federal troops, and stars John Payne.
Anyone who paid even minimal attention during Social Studies class knows that federal troops were stationed in the South after the Civil War to see that former slaves were treated lawfully. And yet, slavery is never even mentioned or even hinted at in the film. (I forced myself to watch in order to be certain.) There are a number of Black actors, some with spoken lines, though none have screen credits which is not unusual for films of this era, and their characters all seem to be working at the same jobs (house servants, field hands, etc.) they had as slaves. Presumably these now ex-slaves were so happy with their "slave jobs" that they continued doing those jobs even after winning their freedom. Good grief.
What reason does the film offer for the presence of troops and federal officials in this Southern town? Apparently, the federal government is there only to enrich corrupt individual officials using unscrupulous tax schemes to screw over the poor Southern Whites who are portrayed as the real victims of the Civil War. Again, good grief.
If you're looking for a synopsis, there are plenty elsewhere, but I will offer this brief description that sets the tone for the entire film. In the opening scene, a Union soldier dismounts in front of a blacksmith's shop where the smith and a few customers are chatting, tacks up the announcement of a public hanging for the murder of a Union soldier, then wordlessly ladles a drink from the blacksmith's water barrel and scornfully tosses the remnants into the blacksmith's forge, dousing some of the flames before riding off. This cartoonish scene is meant to let the audience know immediately that the federal troops are the real "bad guys". Later, at the public hanging, the murderer is portrayed as the real "victim" who was only defending his homestead when he killed the dastardly federal soldier. Again, good grief.
The movie is an adaptation of an unpublished novel written by Karl Brown, a cinematographer and screenwriter whose first job as a seventeen year old was carrying and loading cameras on the set of the now infamous Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith. Apparently Mr. Brown learned early on what would sell in White America. So did the movie studios.