Posse (1993)

Mario Van Peebles is Jesse Lee, an officer of black troops in Cuba serving under a sadistic and half-mad commander (Billy Zane as Colonel Graham).

Graham dispatches Jesse Lee, Jimmy Teeters (Stephen Baldwin) and their comrades on a special mission in civilian clothing.

When they accomplish the mission, they find not a cache of supplies, but a chest of gold — a chest of gold the colonel wants for himself.

The colonel loses an eye in the shootout that follows. Jesse Lee and his friends slip away and are smuggled to New Orleans with the help of Weezie (Charles Lane), the colonel’s former assistant.

Once back on U.S. soil, Jesse Lee has a new mission: Tracking down those responsible for killing his father and trying to smash his dream of forming a black community called Freemanville.

His former soldiers — and Teeters — decide to follow him on the quest.

Of course, so does former Col. Graham, eager to avenge the loss of an eye and eager to get his hands on that gold.

Jesse Lee eventually makes it back to Freemanville to find a former love (Salli Richardson=Whitfield as Lana) who’s being courted by the sheriff (Blair Underwood as Carver).

He also discovers that Sheriff Bates, lawman in the neighboring white community, wouldn’t mind wiping Freemanville off the map once and for all.

Mario Van Peebles as Jesse Lee, a man with gold and vengeance on his mind in Posse (1993)

Billy Zane as Col. Graham, the half-crazed commander after Jesse Lee in Posse (1993)

Review:

A matter of style and action over substance and plausibility.

Oh, Peebles turns in a solid performance as the strong, silent type. And Billy Zane, apparently warming up for his memorable role in Titanic, is certainly villainous.

But Jesse Lee’s gang comes off as stereotypical — there’s the strong man, the smart man, the gambler, etc. — as do some of the scenes, such as when the gambler has a foreboding sense that his luck has turned.

And just how does a commander of troops in Cuba wind up following Jesse Lee from New Orleans to the Wild West with a whole band of henchmen?

One neat feature: Woody Strode plays the story teller, a fitting role in a film tribute to black cowboys for one of the few black actors appearing in Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s.

In fact, clips of Strode from “Once Upon a Time in the West” appear as the closing credits roll.

Salli Richardson as Lana, the woman Jesse Lee left behind in Posse (1993)

Stephen Baldwin as Jimmy Teeters spots oncoming trouble in Posse (1993)

Directed by:
Mario Van Peebles

Cast:
Mario Van Peebles … Jesse Lee
Stephen Baldwin … Jimmy Teeters
Charles Lane … Weezie
Tom Lister Jr. … Obobo
Big Daddy Kane … Father Time
Blair Underwood … Carver
Billy Zane … Col. Graham
Melvin Van Peebles … Papa Joe
Salli Richardson-Whitfield … Lana
Tone Loc … Angel
Pam Grier … Phoebe
Richard Jordan … Sheriff Bates
Robert Hooks … King David
Woody Strode … Narrator

Runtime: 111 min.

Tone Loc as Angel, a member of the Jesse Lee posse in Posse (1993)

Tommy Lister as Obobo, a member of Jesse Lee’s posse in Posse (1993)

Memorable lines:

Whorehouse madam to Jesse Lee’s band: “Come on in with that heavy artillery. And don’t worry, the only color we care about here is the green of your dollars.”

Jesse Lee’s father in flashback: “Better to wait forever than to fight. Because when you start killing for a dream, you usually end up killing the dream too. And that’s what hell is: Watching your dreams die.”

Jesse Lee: “You’re gonna shoot, shoot. Save the bluffin’ for the card game, gambler.”

Lana: “Jesse, you think about death too much. You should think about what’s still alive.”

Sheriff Bates: “We all gotta go to hell sometime.”
Jesse Lee: “When you get there, tell them Jesse Lee sent you.”

Charles Lane as Weezie, the posse member who helps smuggle the gang out of Cuba in Posse (1993)

Big Daddy Kane as Father Time, the gambler who joins Jesse Lee’s posse in Posse (1993)

Blair Underwood as Carver, the sheriff in the town of Freemanville in Posse (1993)

Richard Jordan as Sheriff Bates, one of the men responsible for the death of Jesse Lee’s dad in Posse (1993)

Melvin Van Peebles as Papa Joe, Lana’s kidnapped dad in Posse (1993)

Pam Grier as Phoebe in Posse (1993)

Salli Richardson as Lana, realizing her father is in the hands of Sheriff Bates in Posse (1993)

Mario Van Peebles as Jesse Lee facing down a corrupt lawman in Posse (1993)