This Historically Accurate Western Is One of the Most Underrated Movies of 2024
Whoopi Goldberg playing a real-life figure is another bonus.
Fuelled by the success of its predecessors from decades ago, modern movies of the Western genre still comprise epic journeys of another high-level scope, though not all of them end up with a deserved recognition.
With Kevin Costner ’s new and potentially long-standing Western franchise Horizon: An American Saga, some other gems of the genre remained mostly unseen by the world audience last year, and one of them was even brought a bit down by mixed reviews from critics.
However, the movie will be a perfect watch for those who, being sick and tired of fictional characters with even more fictional stories, crave for real-life events that can be studied through cinema.
Outlaw Posse Is an Unfairly Forgotten Western Drama
Starring and directed by Mario Van Peebles, Outlaw Posse brings its viewers back to the year of 1908 when Chief, after having spent years in hiding, returns to Montana with only one goal of assembling a team that would join him in a quest for a stash of gold hidden a long way from there in the mountains.
Focusing on Chief and his accomplices’ journey towards wealth and their fight against those who want to get to the treasury sooner, the movie is also a powerful social commentary diving deep into all the real struggles that Black cowboys and other marginalized people had back in the day.
The most notable figure in this case is probably Whoopi Goldberg’s Stagecoach Mary, a real-life mail courier who got to be the first Black woman employed as a star route postwoman in US history.
Outlaw Posse Was Downgraded by Critics Despite Its Unique Vision
Released in 2024, Outlaw Posse came as one of a few Western flicks that portrayed American marginalised society in a respectful way.
Like many other movies that belong to the genre, this one didn’t shy away from showing brutal abuse and atrocities that Black and indigenous people had been suffering from for decades, but the film still left some space for its characters’ joyful moments that brought them hope for a brighter future ahead.
Despite that, Outlaw Posse had no luck with critics who left the flick with a score of only 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. The audiences were still more condescending though, giving Outlaw Posse 75% of their positive reviews, yet it might not be that much for a film that finally offered a different angle at a forever controversial matter.