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.

bkoganbing Joshua starring Fred Williamson in the title role tells the story of a returning black civil war veteran who finds his mother murdered and some other woman abducted by this gang of some really loathsome cretins. Of course Williamson's duty is clear.The film was shot in the sacred John Ford country of Monument Valley, Arizona which as a tourist spot boasts of its fame as a location for some of the best westerns ever done. This however was not one of them.The story of Patty Hearst was fresh in people's minds and the woman abducted decides she likes it with the gang. Let's say she becomes less and less inhibited in her sexual relations with the gang and she's more like an outlaw groupie by the time the film ends.Unless you're a fan of Fred Williamson, pass this one by.

ma-cortes After a savage massacre of his mother and kidnapping a girl, the black rider (Fred Williamson) , a civil war veteran , set out a personal vendetta and a rescue against a band of outlaws . He carries the vengeance in his heart and goes after the baddies in an interminable pursuit . Former rules of the code of West are dated and he's is guided by unrelenting revenge . He embarks on a bloody reckoning and during his quest helps a beautiful Mexican woman (Isela Vega). The black rider travels the Soutwestern territories and crosses paths until finding nasties .This is an average Western revenge plenty of violence , riding chases , shootouts, grisly killings and results to be quite entertaining, in spite of some slow-moving scene s. The chief excitement lies in seeing what new and amazing victim can be executed by the revenger black rider, as the nasties are beheaded , hanged , dropped a rattle-snake or bombing by means of dynamite . With similar plot to Italian Western , whose main argument being ¨revenge¨ and likeness to ¨Chato¨ where Charles Bronson revenges , one by one , the killers his family . Displays extraordinary landscapes with glimmer cinematography like is well reflected on the breathtaking outdoors filmed in natural parks of Monument Valley . This Western with lots of action packs a boring and repetitious musical score by synthesizer . The film is starred by Fred Williamson , one of the first African-American male action star of the Blaxploitation of the early 1970s , including his filmography the followings : ¨Black Caesar¨ , ¨Hammer¨ , ¨The man bolt and Black eye¨ ; besides , Isela Vega who played Western for Cantinflas in ¨Por mis Pistolas¨ and Sam Peckinpah , in ¨Bring me the head of Alfred Garcia¨ . The motion picture was regularly directed by Larry Spangler , director and producer of ¨Legend and soul of Charlie¨ , again with Fred Williamson . The film attained lukewarm reception by the public and achieved limited success .

drtturner Someone, even if the star of the film Williamson himself, should have never allowed this film to reach the public with the simplistic kindergarten theme song played in the opening credits as well as various times through the film. No one would be expecting the music editor to make a monumental catchy theme along the lines of the Bonanza theme or Issac Hayes' Shaft. With such a humble production, the task of the music department would be to merely stay out of the way and not detract from the overall end product. Unfortunately, the music in this film fails miserably and detracts from any momentum that the average acting gains. Williams is pretty good in the lead role and his stoic approach is in tune with the Western gunslinger theme. A prologue showing Abraham Lincoln's picture is mumbled and difficult to hear so seeing as it doesn't add to the film it should have been left out all together. Williamson appears to struggle at times on the horse, having to kick it too many times then winding up with his hat falling around his neck and sending him bobbing too harshly. The real sin here remains the theme song. With three seconds of effort my "Anty Up, Black horse, black hat, black rider...cowboy...Whew Whew" "Move along Black hat, black horse, black rider, go go " would be annoying, but less so than the instrumental that was settled for. Also it is not as if 1975 did not have a dearth of talent to make a worthy theme at a low budget price. While Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder would be unaffordable, an even exchange of exposure for talent could have been worked out with someone like Billy Preston, Bob Grusin or Randy Crawford churning out a passable theme track.