cult film freak: JIM BROWN AND JIM KELLY 'TAKE A HARD RIDE' FRED WILLIAMSON

Title: TAKE A HARD RIDE Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2

Expectations for a Blaxploitation-Western, being that Jim Brown and Fred Williamson play the hero and anti-hero, or a Spaghetti Western, since Lee Van Cleef is the bad guy, will be disappointed. While it does have some of the (very intentional) Spaghetti elements in style and music, and slick action sequences for Blaxploitation fans...

TAKE A HARD RIDE is actually an old-fashioned cowboy flick involving honest man Jim Brown and dishonest gambler Fred Williamson, on a quest to deliver money (that Brown made with late boss Dana Andrews, veteran of said classic Westerns) to a small town with cunning and deadly bounty hunter Van Cleef on their trail...

Fred Williamson in TAKE A HARD RIDE

For eye candy there's Catherine Spaak with her very own sidekick Jim Kelly is a mute Indian scout (Williamson said that it was because of his pal Kelly's limited vocal-acting abilities, although Jim did great channeling Fred's bravado in ENTER THE DRAGON), sporadically wielding his signature karate moves in-between running along with the mounted riders...

And Williamson's ambiguous nature adds suspenseful distrust for Brown, also adding to their chemistry in what's more a fun ride than a hard one, but a pretty neat flick since, with all the money involved, and an ensemble of non-trusting cowboys, you can say it's a mobile TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.