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Action movie star Michael Jai White returns to the world of action comedy in the first trailer for The Outlaw Johnny Black. Very much a spiritual successor to his 2009 “blaxploitation” parody sleeper hit, Black Dynamite, The Outlaw Johnny Black finds the actor and master martial artist taking his particular set of skills to the Old West as he both directs and leads the project. Check out the new trailer for The Outlaw Johnny Black below.
Leaning into the beloved tropes and classic clichés of the western movie genre, The Outlaw Johnny Black finds Michael Jai White as the titular bandit. Hell bent on avenging the death of his father, Johnny Black vows to gun down Brett Clayton and becomes a wanted man in the process while posing as a preacher in a small mining town that’s been taken over by a notorious Land Baron.
The Outlaw Johnny Black started life as a crowdfunded project, and sees Michael Jai White return to the director’s chair after last helming Never Back Down: No Surrender back in 2016. The actor has also written the script for The Outlaw Johnny Black alongside Black Dynamite scribe Byron Minns. Indeed, The Outlaw Johnny Black was initially presented as a sequel to the 2009 outing, and while it is now being described more as a spiritual successor, it does come from the same creative team that so brilliantly paid homage to the 1970s era of action cinema.
The Outlaw Johnny Black stars Michael Jai White (As Good as Dead, Black Dynamite), Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog), Erica Ash (We Have a Ghost), Byron Minns (Black Dynamite), Kym Whitley (Act Your Age), Kevin Chapman (CODA, Sneaky Pete), Glynn Turman (The Wire, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Russell Peters (The Neighborhood, Velma), and Tony Baker.
Black Dynamite Remains One of Michael Jai White’s Best Movies
Released back in 2009 and directed by Scott Sanders, Black Dynamite stars Michael Jai White as the title character, a former CIA agent who must avenge his brother’s death while cleaning the streets of a new drug that is ravaging the community. Both critics and audiences heaped praise on the movie upon release, with the former praising the loving send-up of 1970s “blaxploitation” movies, as well as its appeal to both movie buffs and casual comedy audiences alike.
White meanwhile recently discussed the term “blaxploitation” in an exclusive chat with MovieWeb, during which he explained why he takes some issue with the subgenre. “Unfortunately, there’s this exploitive connection with this whole Blaxploitation word,” he said. “It got taken out of context in a lot of ways, and it kind of is like a banner for everything that was Black at the time. There were movies like Shaft,” explained White. “Shaft was an action movie. There’s The Mack. A lot of these movies are just studio-made action films starring Black people, and unfortunately, they kind of get put into the Blaxploitation thing, even though those movies existed before the term Blaxploitation was even coined.”
The Outlaw Johnny Black is all set to land exclusively in theaters on September 15, 2023, courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
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