Scott LeBrun Fred Williamson also authored the story and wrote the screenplay for this Western vehicle for himself. He plays the title character, a black man who fought for the Union side during the Civil War. He travels to the homestead where his mother (Kathryn Jackson, "The Black Godfather") has been a maid for a frontier family. Unfortunately, an outlaw gang has just been there. They've killed his mom and made off with the ranchers' wife (Brenda Venus, "Foxy Brown"). Naturally, he relentlessly stalks them, aiming to kill them one at a time in the name of vengeance.Produced and directed by Larry G. Spangler ("The Life and Times of Xaviera Hollander"), this is neither very good nor very bad. It's a rather middle-of-the-road film with competent but undistinguished filmmaking. The scenery looks reasonably good as shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but you can tell this was still done on a budget. The music by Mike Irwin is fairly decent, but also repetitive. The Hammers' story is very simple and straightforward, and leads to a cynical ending. It's violent without being very gory, and poor Venus does get raped by the bad guys, although this *is* implied rather than explicitly shown on screen. The cast, overall, is nondescript, adequately filling out their roles but never amounting to much. Mexican superstar Isela Vega ("Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia") doesn't get a lot to work with, playing the good hearted woman who comes to Williamsons' aid at critical times. Ralph Willingham, in his only film role, is annoying as shrill old fart Weasel, a member of the gang.Taking everything into consideration, this is an okay viewing for a Hammer fan / completist, but it's absolutely nothing special.Six out of 10.

Uriah43 With the Civil War just ended a Union soldier by the name of "Joshua" (Fred Williamson) is looking forward to starting a new life and is on his way to meet his mother who had been staying with a young couple who are about to be married. Unfortunately, upon arriving there he learns that 5 men have killed his mother and abducted the young woman (played by Brenda Venus). Since the trail is still relatively fresh and the posse has abandoned the search Joshua decides to hunt down the murderers on his own. And none of these outlaws have ever faced anything so deadly. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that it had a fairly interesting plot. However, the music played during several of the action scenes was rather annoying, the character development needed improvement and some of the scenarios lacked any sense of realism. To top it off, I didn't especially care for the ending either. In essence then, what should have been a pretty good Blaxploitation Western turned out to be slightly below average and I recommend it only to those who might be interested in a film of this sub-genre.

treshon The previous poster commented that this movie was not available in Widescreen.There's at least 2 ways to get this in Widescreen. I've got one on the 'Quality' label - it's a 2 movie set on one disc. The other movie is some William Shatner film. I was pretty shocked to see it in widescreen considering the package was only $5.00.The 2nd way is on the 'Legends of the West' 8 Movie Collection. I'm pretty sure that's widescreen as well.Slow movie that drags on. The theme song repeats all the way throughout the movie. Don't remember if there was more than one actual song played throughout it's entirety.This movie is really only for Blaxploitation/Fred Williamson completests.

Poseidon-3 Blaxploitation figure Williamson starred in and wrote this western revenge saga which bears a passing resemblance to the equally cheap "Cry Blood, Apache". He plays a returning Civil War soldier coming to meet his mother Jackson who is a domestic for Hendrick and Venus, a farmer and his mail-order wife. When a gaggle of dusty outlaws stops in for some drinks and vittles, they begin to eye Venus and a scuffle breaks out in which Jackson is killed. When Williamson finds out that his mother is dead, he sets out to systematically eliminate the quintet of killers who, incidentally, have taken Venus with them for comfort. Like many films before and after this one, a lone man stalks and kills a series of bad guys, always finding a way to get each one alone. This wouldn't be so bad if the killings had been handled in any sort of creative or arresting way. Williamson cuts a nice figure, all in black, against the dusty landscape and he's intimidating to be sure. Unfortunately, with an exception or two, he makes the other actors look like they just got the script seconds before the cameras rolled. Hendrick does okay with his small role and Vega isn't bad as a woman who briefly distracts and aids Williamson during his quest. Bartlett, as the ringleader of the villains, is nice to look at, but has no remarkable personality to offer. Willingham plays a character named Weasle and is excruciating to listen to, always screeching and laughing obnoxiously. The worst, however, is Venus. It's impossible to imagine that the sounds she emits through her voice-box could come from a human being and not a marsupial who is being dangled over a vat of boiling sulfur and oil. Her character is very badly conceived to begin with, but she sinks it even further with her thoroughly inept portrayal. By the time she's ready to be rescued, the audience has already been praying for most of the movie that she'll be shot in the head! Whoever's idea it was to make the kidnap victim completely unbearable should have been straightened out right away! The other major debit of the film is the agonizing musical score. The same six-note sequence is played, with an occasional variation, over and OVER and O-V-E-R throughout the course of the movie! Every once in a while, something else is played, but mostly it's this same droning, horrid bit of music that threatens to continue forever. Williamson makes this passable, but it surely isn't good.