5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pam Grier and Fred Williamson are a great pair., October 20, 2006
`Bucktown' is fill with some exciting drama. The plot is relatively original, Duke (played by Fred Williamson) comes to a town to bury his brother who died. His brother owned a bar called The Alabama. This particular town is a mini, sleazy, version of Vegas (the actual city used for the filming seems to be Kansas City, Mossouri,) a town that attracts low rent tourists because of its gambling and prostitution. It's going to take a while for Duke to settle his brother's estate, so he hangs around town and reopens his brother's bar. After two of the town's cops come in and expect a percentage of the proceeds from the bar's receipts, he realizes that the entire town is run by a corrupt, white, police force. He won't stand for it, so he calls in his big city friend Roy (Thalmus Rasulala) to come to town with some thugs to kick some ***. The crew comes to town and they make short work of the brutal white police force. Duke is quite grateful for the help but things take a different turn once Dukes friends takes over and become the new law enforcers and are worse than the rednecks ever were. Williamson must stand up to the group, which includes his childhood best friend (their final one-on-one confrontation is pretty vividly brutal).
Pam Grier does play a supporting role in here and it's some of her best acting. She really does appears more classy and tasteful in this film. I know you guys want - and are accustomed to - seeing her breasts every 10 minutes, but I found it a nice change of pace to see her in a more graceful light. Carl Weathers does play a small part as one of the enforcers convincely and Thalmus Rasulala also did a terrific job in his role but Fred Williamson owns the film and he's pretty effective.
`Bucktown' is recommended to all blaxploitation fans and for those who are looking for action, integrity, and grittiness.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
cool film, September 26, 2001
this film worked really well.Both The "Hammer"&Pam Grier get down to Business here.it's so sad at how they didn't get there Props back in the day because films like this Showcase how tight they were on screen&they always had alot of Great Action in the films.Pam Grier still Blows My Mind She is SuperBaddd!!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Williamson Takes Over the Town, and the Film, Too, April 7, 2002
As a soul cinema fan, it is hard for me to criticize this film, which unites two Afro-American icons, Pam Grier and Fred Williamson. Still, I must confess my disappointed feelings after watching "Bucktown," a rather mediocre film, considering those two fantastic leads.
"Bucktown" is a corrupt town where the corrupt cops donimate. Now Duke (Williamson), after his brother's suspicious death, comes back to this hometown (in a "Ger Carter" way), only to find himself trapped in between the hostile police and beautiful Aretha (Grier). Reluctantly he decides to stay there because of legal problems, and to manage the local bar. As (expectedly) the love between Aretha and Duke develops, the local police begin (expectedly) to show their true colors.
The film is given a unique twist here; Duke calls in his old buddy Roy (Thalmus Rasulala, regular of blaxploitation genre) to wage a war against the cops, but the result turns out worse than he hoped. The film tries to provide a new point of view on this genre, giving a picture of a conflict between blacks, but it seems the film doesn't know how to end this awkward situation.
Though the film is far from perfect, it keeps on going with a good pace, and Williamson as always shows his charismatic presense effectively though Pam Grier as a result is pushed aside to a minor role despite of her previous successful roles in "Coffy." My verdict is, "Bucktown" is not a terrible film as some critics label it, but it is, I must say, strictly for fans of this genre.
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