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Bucktown

1975

WHATEVER YOU WANT THEY'VE GOT... And Bucktown is where you'll find it!

Duke Johnson visits a small Southern town, intent on burying his brother. After the funeral, he learns that he must stay for 60 days, for the estate to be processed. A few locals convince Duke to reopen his late brother's nightclub, and soon the local redneck policemen are intimidating Duke with threats of violence. Duke refuses to pay the bribes they demand, so then he and his lady friend Aretha are threatened and attacked by the crooked cops. Rather than take them on himself, Duke calls on his old pal Roy. Roy brings a few buddies to Bucktown, and they bring justice to the small town. With the redneck cops out of the way, Duke lets his guard down. Then the situation gets out of hand again. Finally, Duke must settle the score himself.

Fred Williamson Pam Grier Thalmus Rasulala Tony King Bernie Hamilton Art Lund Tierre Turner Morgan Upton Carl Weathers Jim Bohan Robert Burton Gene Simms Bruce Watson Jody Maxwell Nicole English Larry Hill

Alternative Titles

Бактаун, 巴克镇, Бактаун, США

Genre

Action

Theatrical

02 Jul 1975

USAR

USA

02 Jul 1975

TheatricalR

94 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by BeardofTsu ★★★★ 5

There is a scene in this where one of the racist cops tells Carl Weathers 'i'm just like you' and he replies NO YOU AINT CRACKER and smacks him in the head with a baseball bat. Cinema at its finest.
Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½ 2

Many of the features you'd expect to see in a blaxploitation film are present in Arthur Marks' film. Characters that feel like anti-heroes in many ways, cinematography with distinct tones, and a fantastic soundtrack all contribute to this film's success. But, in my opinion, what makes this film so unique is the way it subverts itself, making you assume it will go in one direction and criticize something just to wind up with a completely different film in the second half. The concept of "abuse of authority" and "corruption of power" prevails, but the setting is not the one we were presented with.

"The Hammer" Fred Williamson makes a great protagonist, nailing the stern but charming and suave demeanour that…
Review by Wahrhaftig ★★★★ 2

Not going to spoil it for you. Just going to say that there's a fight scene in Bucktown that's better than the one in They Live.
Review by theironcupcake ★★★½ 2

"Let me tell you something about people, big shot. Whether they're white, black, green, yellow or purple; when they smell a few dollars - they all act alike!"
Ideally, Pam Grier would have more to do than play The Love Interest in a film that is primarily focused on Fred Williamson kicking ass and taking names in a town run by racist law enforcement - especially since she was so fabulous when starring in Sheba, Baby and Friday Foster that same year - but Bucktown is still a highly entertaining action drama, perhaps worth trading Grier's minimized (though still fairly strong) presence for the always incredible Thalmus Rasulala's scene-stealing gig as Williamson's real rival for power and for Carl Weathers…
Review by sakana1 ★★★ 8

Like much of blaxploitation, Bucktown is plenty formulaic, telling the story of a heroic badass who cleans up a town all on his own, saving it first from racist exploiters, and then from Black ones, who have been just as corrupted by capitalism as the white men who once ran the town.
The avaricious Black men in the film are just as arrogant, sadistic, and repellant as the white ones, and the film functions as much as a condemnation of capitalism as anything else, though one wonders how much intent there was behind that message.* It is, however, difficult to ignore, given the proud selfishness of the men who exploit Bucktown purely for profit, including the Black ones who shifted…
Review by teamgal ★★★½

Director Arthur Marks has a great eye and the ability to work very economically. In his film's opening minutes, he manages to remind audiences of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, immediately letting us know we're in a town knee deep in racism. What's great about the script here is that we get the opportunity to watch two revenge films for the price of one. The entire cycle of oppression and wrong-doing, followed by violent comeuppance, is fully played out twice. As a matter of fact, the film's first 45 minutes (which follows the narrative one expects — corrupt white cops abusing the African-American citizenry) moves at such a break-neck pace that it's exhilarating. The film's second act (blacks take the place of the dead white pigs, and are just as cut-throat) swaps out racism for capitalist-critique.
Review by ᴬⁿᵗʰᵒⁿʸ ⛧ ★★★

Blax(ploitation) excellence. 💪🏾
Review by AD917 ★★★½ 3

History will tell you that most violent revolutions have resulted in even more brutal regimes rising to power in their wake. The French Revolution led to Napoleon’s imperialism and decades of wars. In Russia, Bolshevism eventually gave way to Stalin’s reign of terror.
Bucktown tells a small scale local version of that same story in which a group of black men overthrow a crooked white police force in a southern community only to be corrupted by their newfound power. In this way, it manages to transcend the typical blaxploitation power fantasy by asking what comes after the uprising.
Violence begets violence. The person who would kill to remove somebody from power will eventually do the same to preserve their own…
Review by maneleeo ★★★

Fred Williamson and Pam Grier on a blaxploitation film, now that's a match made in heave... except, Pam Grier was kind of forgotten during the film, wasn't she? Still, cool film.
Review by {Todd} ★★★½

This film is pretty great. Fred Williamson is a marvel on the screen. Pam Grier is very much under-utilized and her character makes very little sense unfortunately.
This film tells the story of a man who has to fight against corruption and racism in a small town...Bucktown. Tonally, it is a mix of classic western films and the much later film Roadhouse (actually RH is probably inspired by this, but I am guessing more people have heard of RH than this).
If that description sounds good to you, get on board. This is for fans beyond just the genre of blaxploitation.
Review by Gregor Kreyca ★★★★ 4

“You listen Aretha. You show me anybody who gives a damn about anybody else and I'll show you a fool; a damn fool. Who go through life with their hands out, begging instead of grabbing. Do you think anybody here in this town is any different? They don't give a damn who gets killed, just so long as the dice keep rolling, the hos keep hoing, and the money keeps flowing. It all revolves around the 'Big G' baby - the Big Green.” - Roy

Now I’ve seen quite a few Blaxploitation movies but this might actually be my first one starring Fred Williamson. And I gotta tell ya, he’s one cool-ass motherfucker and the movie itself one of the…
Review by Jay D 's Watching ★★★ 1

Fred Williamson seems like he's having a blast here, in this action film-a sort of variation on Get Carter perhaps, with Williamson as the younger brother who returns home to Bucktown for his brother's funeral, and to take over the dead man's bar, falling in love with Pam Grier and falling afoul of the racist cops who have the whole town paying them off, only to complicate matters when he calls in his old friends from the big city to get the cops off his back--It's not reinventing the wheel, but it is clever, tightly wound, and pretty watchable - director Arthur Marks (Detroit 9000, Friday Foster, Starsky & Hutch, etc) was a capable hand at keeping the story on track

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Where to watch

Bucktown

Synopsis

WHATEVER YOU WANT THEY'VE GOT... And Bucktown is where you'll find it!

Cast

Director

Producers

Writer

Casting

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Directors

Executive Producer

Lighting

Camera Operator

Additional Photography

Art Direction

Stunts

Composer

Sound

Makeup

Studios

Country

Language

Alternative Titles

Genre

Releases by Date

Theatrical

02 Jul 1975

Releases by Country

USA

02 Jul 1975

Popular reviews

Where to watch

Bucktown

Synopsis

WHATEVER YOU WANT THEY'VE GOT... And Bucktown is where you'll find it!

Cast

Director Director

Producers Producers

Writer Writer

Casting Casting

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Lighting Lighting

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Art Direction Art Direction

Stunts Stunts

Composer Composer

Sound Sound

Makeup Makeup

Studios

Country

Language

Alternative Titles

Genre

Theatrical

02 Jul 1975

USA

02 Jul 1975

Popular reviews

Director

Producers

Writer

Casting

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Directors

Executive Producer

Lighting

Camera Operator

Additional Photography

Art Direction

Stunts

Composer

Sound

Makeup