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Expressing gratitude to Joe for the suggestion of Mean Johnny Barrows is undoubtedly a worthwhile movie to enjoy as a classic Blaxploitation film from 70s. Let’s get to it.
The film begins with a group of army men training in the forest. This, in my opinion, has to be a training camp in California. There is no way this could be Vietnam. There were no ground troops over there for years. Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, our hero, is one of these soldiers. He is an iconic b-movie action star. I have reviewed a number of his films over the years. Here, here, here, here, and they’ve all been entertaining campy fun. Were you aware that he appeared in an episode of the original Star Trek series?
Be as it may, Johnny kicks up an active landmine. Whoa… in California? This seems to be the doing of Johnny’s high-ranking officer, a very slimy and greasy, racist captain who put out a ton of active mines to “make the training seem realer than it is.” Johnny does not take this well and after the escape from the mine, he starts to punch the Captain. His actions lead him into being drummed out of the army with a dishonorable discharge.
The all significance surrounding the music and Johnny flashing his name tag at the camera is redundant because it is so obviously spelled “Johnnie”, which is not…
Los Angeles Johnny arrives off the bus with nothing but the clothes on his back. He is robbed as soon as he arrives and is received by racist cops who gently bop him around. Luckily, an older cop who recognizes him saves Johnny. This man sells the exposition the audience requires to grasp why Johnny does what he does. He used to be a running back for some local big time college but left after two years because of the “co-ed scandal” (it’s funny how that seems quaint now). Then he served in the Army and went to Vietnam where he killed a bunch of enemy soldiers and won a Silver Star. After the war, he apparently remained in the Army until he got kicked out during the opening scene.
Broke, hungry, and homeless, Johnny roams the streets of LA searching for a job. Although he has been unsuccessful in his job search, it seems like his approach is mostly to blame. Usually, employers expect more than having a homeless man approach them, asking, ‘Hey man, got a job?’ In this extended scene which lasts around ten minutes, a jazzy up-tempo disco song plays loudly in the background and if by the end of it, you are not tapping your foot along to the beat, then the state for you is clinically dead.
A dollar for an attending carwash? I guess a clean car in Los Angeles Los Angeles during 1976 implies more than meets the eye!
No way! Parking in downtown Los Angeles for just a buck? Are you kidding me?!
In what may be the worst example of stunt casting I have ever seen, Johnny encounters a thoughtful homeless person in an alleyway and out pops ‘special guest star’ Elliot Gold! And then, without hesitation, he allows Elliott Gould to do his best initiation of himself and devouring scenery like a piranha in a swimming pool while looking like he was trying to show off, ‘Oh look me, I’m such a good actor’, then he leaves the rest of the movie and never looks back. He probably was pals with Fred Williamson, hell, maybe he even didn’t get paid (ha!)
Eventually, he focuses on Mario Racconi, the man who seems to be the owner of the diner as well as a member of a powerful Mafia family. Johnny walks into a diner that seemed to be picked at random and to his surprise, the owner was none other than Mario. To add more into the conversation, Mario was polite enough to offer free spaghetti alongside and ultimately the rest of the food was on the house. Since Mario played at USC, he instantly recognized Johnny because for whatever reason, he was a well known war hero. Talk about common knowledge right? Mario comes to the conclusion that Johnny’s “special abilities” would come in handy especially during times of need. Some of those abilities include: running for the corner tackle as well as cruising through the jungle and killing VC. However, While at the moment tempting, one had to wonder what was Mario need him for. Johnny during that current moment in life was simply trying to go straight. From what he gathered, Mario had a lot of excess trouble to deal with. In the end, the conversation ended, but not quite at that pleasant between the two.
Mario also happens to mention Johnny’s girlfriend Nancy, in a desperate attempt to gain some publicity for himself after noticing how well he got along with Johnny for some strange reason. Johnny, for the very same reason, simply could not understand how a girl like that could shine his way. Let alone, her having gooey eyes for him this very instance was beyond baffling. Considering for one, Johnny was at least during that point in time a smelly and homeless man, while Nancy was already in a relationship with a wealthy mobster who had fancy clothes and massive stacks of cash.
Under normal circumstances, I would bemoan how awful this pan-and-scan digital transfer is, but because it excludes the two fellows and maintains Miss Booksale, I am totally fine with it.
At last, Johnny lands a lowly position as a janitor at a third-rate service station located in the ghetto, or as I prefer to describe it, the bad side of town. His employer is a ‘dillweed’ and has plastered Johnny with a toilet brush and a scrubbing pad the entire day. His benevolence does permit him to take a nap in the stockroom, without blankets or a pillow, so that’s decent of him. It is nigh impossible to watch without taking it as a ‘message movie’, primarily given it is 1976 in a city and the employer is a somewhat older gent with a southern accent. To some extent, Fred Williamson is attempting to explain something monumental and insightful about interracial relations in America, which in principle is acceptable, but here I am still watching this dreck because the action and kung fu along with some boogie action is ought to be featured, not in order to receive an intelligence lecture.
What stands out to me is the fact that, for an entire month, he has not changed his clothes, lives in a storage room, and has not showered, let alone used some Old Spice or deodorant. Why exactly is Johnny sleeping there? Where are his parents? Does he not have sisters or one or two fifth cousins that he could stay with? He is in his teens and went to high school in LA. He was a huge college athlete at UCLA, for God’s sake! So, he should know someone in that huge city who could lend him a spare t-shirt and let him sleep on the couch. They indeed look like they are setting up some sort of sad story for him, but as the scenes progress all you can really think of is how awful his jeans must smell.
You’ve got to sympathize with the guy, because his situation would indeed aggravate anyone. So, he has had no money for a month? How has he been eating, then? Maybe he was lunching down at the soup kitchen with Elliott Gould? Johnny sorta loses it here, and the negative effects of all the haywire finally come crashing down. This causes him to fight with his boss before he knocks out a few cops called on the scene to separate them. This is where we are also shown the first taste of Fred Williamson employing his brand of Angry Black his tactics in a unique style that he has perfected throughout his career. It also involves the “unprofessionally staged” Bruce Lee-style beats that Williamson emulates, plunging the audience into a flurry of confusion. Johnny simply disappears. He was here one moment, and instantly gone the next. Now it’s back to prison for him.
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