Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Vonetta McGee is Thomasine, a lovely black woman who just happens to be a bounty hunter and isn’t above using her feminine charms to snag her prey.

But she forgets all about bounty hunting when she discovers an old flame named Bushrod (Max Julien) is still alive, albeit with a $1,000 price tag on his head.

Soon, they’re reunited lovers and a bank-robbing team, stealing from rich whites and turning at least part of the stolen money over to the poor.

George Murdock plays Bogardie, the lawman who’ve they’ve embarrassed and who is determined to bring them in.

Jackson D. Kane is the vicious Adolph, the man Bushrod is looking for in hopes of settling an old score.

Max Julien as Bushrod, under a lawman’s gun in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Vonetta McGee as Thomasine, helping Bushrod hold up a bank in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Review:

Between Adolph killing old ladies with a pointed walking stick and Bogardie dropping an outlaw into a den of snakes, this is a rather a violent film.

Unfortunately, it’s also a film that fails to live up to its promise with the script writers apparently running out of ideas after the first 40 minutes or so.

So we have montages of the gang’s exploits and chase after chase scene, the one difference being that the bank robbers and lawman are both traveling in those new-fangled vehicles. Plus a blind Comanche woman and a Jamaican bandit.

As for the cast, Vonetta McGee turns in a spirited performance as Thomasine. The same can’t be said for Max Julien as Bushrod.

George Murdock as Marshal Bogarde, determined to bring Bushrod to justice in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Jackson D. Kane as Adolph Smith, nicknamed The Butcher in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Directed by:
Gordon Parks Jr.

Cast:
Max Julien … Bushrod
Vonetta McGee … Thomasine
George Murdock … Marshal Bogardie
Glynn Turman … Jomo J. Anderson
Juanita Moore … Pecolia
Joel Fluellen … Nathaniel
Jackson D. Kane … Adolph Smith
Bud Conlon … Mr. Tyler
Kip Allen … Jenkins
Ben Zeller … Scruggs
Herb Robins … Dodson
Jason Bernard … Sheldon
Patricia Miller … Mrs. Carter
Katy Martin … Mrs. Charlotte Tyler

Runtime: 95 min.

Title song:
“Thomasine and Bushrod” by Arthur Lee

Glynn Turman as Jomo J. Anderson, the bandit from Jamaica in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Juanita Moore, the blind Comanche woman who befriends the bank robbers in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Memorable lines:

Thomasine: “I didn’t have no mom and daddy. A farmer found me in a pigpen when I was just a couple of hours old. He said the hogs couldn’t make up their mind whether to have me for dinner or lick the blood off me.”

White man at Chin’s Laundry: “You generally sit around with your legs spread wide open like that, little honey?”
Thomasine: “It depends on what I’m lookin’ for.”

Nathaniel to Bushrod: “I just want to look at ya up close. I’ve been hearin’ ’bout you since you was a little bitty thing, runnin’ round with those circus people. Fact, some folks say you can’t even die.”

Bushrod: “You ever hear of an Adolf Smith, sometimes calls himself Adolf the Butcher?”
Nathaniel: “Yeah, I heard of him. I hear he laughs while he’s killing people.”

Bud Conlon as Mr. Tyler, a mayor about to be robbed in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Patricia Miller as Mrs. Carter, the photographer in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Bogardie: “I plan to have ’em (in jail) inside a couple weeks, lady. What the hell makes you think they’re gonna live long enough to become famous?”
Female photographer: “Well, they’re so bold. Look at what they did. Negras don’t do things like that. Negras sing and dance and steal chickens. They don’t rob banks.

Thomasine: “You know, there are some places East of here where you can find four or five of them (cars) in the same town.”
Bushrod: “You know, sometimes I feel sorry for horses. It must them feel real sick watching one of those monsters rolling along carrying four or five people at the same time.”
Thomasine: “One thing though, you never have to worry about a horse running out of gas.”

Jomo: “Jomo is bad. Jomo shoot your babies.”

Max Julien as Bushrod, evening an old score in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Vonetta McGee as Thomasine, finding the wanted poster for Bushrod in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)

Vonetta McGee as Thomasine and Max Julien as Bushrod posing for a photo in Thomasine and Bushrod (1974)