Man and Boy

Man and Boy (1971)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: The greatly named E.W. Swackhamer (real name, Egbert Warnderink Swackhamer Jr., which is even greater)

Starring: Bill Cosby, Gloria Foster, Henry Silva, Yaphet Kotto

From: Columbia

Now, here’s another dip into the obscure files. I stumbled upon this movie somewhere (nevermind how) and I decided to get it as hey, it’s BILL COSBY in a “starkly dramatic role” in a western set in the late 1800’s; judging by its low vote total on IMDb, it shows how obscure the film is now. That just sounds strange... the fact that Cosby stared in a serious role. Not that he hasn’t done roles with drama involved in his career (I’ve seen Uptown Saturday Night before back in my college days and I’ve seen Mother, Jugs & Speed a few times) but a role where it’s no clowning around, and that just strikes me as being odd.

The story is about how Caleb Revers (Cosby), a Civil War veteran who moved out West with his family afterwards, has his horse stolen and he and his young son (George Spell) have to go and retrieve the horse. That’s about it for the basic plot, but the rest of it is the encounters they have while looking for the horse. The trailer pretty much explains it all, although as it’s a trailer, it gives quite a bit away. Yes, even back then they sometimes did that sort of thing.

The highlight is about halfway through; a bearded Cosby gets mad at Nate Hodges (Kotto), an old rival from the past, and they get into a 2 ½ minute fight. It’s wonky at times but it looked like those two men did a lot of it on their own without stunt people, so that’s pretty cool. It’s entertaining and plus, it’s Bill Cosby brawling with Yaphet Kotto! He also almost beds a widow, which is another thing you may not expect from Cosby.

The movie is a little wacky and improbable at times (like in the fact that they try to find a horse that could be anywhere in the desert) but it managed to be fine overall. Despite some action stuff like the aforementioned fistfight and some gunplay, it’s mostly a serious drama revolved around the son learning to become a man, racism, and that sort of jazz. It was an interesting way to spend an hour and a half, at least; the villain (Douglas Turner Ward) sort of looks like an older Danny Glover and sounds sort of like Samuel L. Jackson, so that amused me. But yeah, the movie isn’t an undiscovered gem or anything… it’s still fine and not a bad hour and a half time-waster. The score having a contribution from Quincy Jones means that of course it was pretty funky, which I enjoyed.

I’ll be back Sunday night with a new review.