| Mean Johnny Barrows (1976) |
| Directed by Fred Williamson. Starring Fred Williamson, Roddy McDowell, Stuart Whitman, and Aaron Banks. |
| Fred Williamson is like the Rodney Dangerfield of Blaxploitation. Despite being one of the most prolific actor/directors of the genre, he gets "no respect" as Dangerfield would say. Mean Johnny Barrows tells the story of a Vietnam veteran who is dishonourably discharged after knocking out his commanding officer. The knockout was justified though, as Barrows (played by Fred 'The Hammer' himself was the butt of a cruel practical joke involving a live claymore mine. Johnny returns to his hometown, and finds that the situation there is way worse than 'Nam. He can't get a job to save his soul, so he becomes a bum. A local crime cartel hears about Barrows' talent of killing over 350 Viet Cong single handedly, and realises that his anti-social skills may come in handy. They offer Johnny a job, and he declines. He'd rather make an honest living eating out of garbage cans than giving people the kiss of death and whacking them. He's got higher morals than me. If it came down to chowing down on a half-eaten chilli dog in a bin, or blasting some punk, I'd be asking where the damn bullets were. The Hammer... I mean Johnny gets work sweeping and cleaning toilets in a fleabag service station. He earns about twenty bucks for a months work (either the boss is ripping him off, or he wants Johnny to get in touch with his Roots...literally), so he roughs up the boss, and gets arrested. The mob offer him a job once again, and he finally relents after some people are killed. There's gonna be some arse kicking, and Johnnie's taking numbers. Mean Johnny Barrows is an unusual blend of drama, and good old fashioned exploitation. It can get slow at times, but it all slowly builds to a rollicking action packed original ending. After an hour of exposition and the occasional Mafia hit, we're treated to a pretty satisfying pay-off. Mean Johnny Barrows really couldn't decide what kind of a movie it wanted to be. But sometimes cinematic incoherence can be a good thing. David Lynch made an entire career out of it. I also liked the painstaking continuity efforts in this movie, as homeless Johnny became filthier with each passing day. |
| Entertainment : 2.5 out of 4 Watchability : 2 out of 4 Overall : 2.25 out of 4 |
| Reviewed by Blake |