Man and Boy
by E.W. Swackhamer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bill Cosby, Douglas Turner Ward, George Spell, Gloria Foster, Leif EricksonDirector: E.W. Swackhamer
Brand: Sony
Producer: Bill Cosby
Cinematographer: Arnold L. Rich
Editor: John A. Martinelli
Producer: Marvin Miller
Producer: R. Robert Rosenbaum
Writer: Harry Essex
Writer: Oscar Saul
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-02-25
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Man and Boy
Movie Review: "Man and Boy:" Cosby's best dramatic role after "I Spy"
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw "Man and Boy" on a 7th grade field trip to the old Madison Theater in downtown Detroit. I thought at the time that it had a good Western plot and some good performances, but seeing it again over the years I noticed it was much more than that.The plot is a deceptively simple one, about a free Black sharecropper (Bill Cosby, in a defiant, tough portrayal) in the post-Civil War West who catches for his son a fine black stallion. When the horse is stolen from the boy (George Spell), Cosby takes him on a quest to recover the animal.
Beautiful Gloria Foster offers great support as Cosby's wife, who is worried about the whole situation but understands and admires her husband's need to teach the boy to stand up for himself. The Cosby character's fierce insistence on personal dignity is partially what has led to the whole thing, and both he and his wife understand the price that must be paid for this.
I hesitate to talk about what Cosby and Spell encounter in their hunt, but there are a couple of key events that have highly informative subtexts about the African-American struggle, both during the days of Reconstruction and in the wake of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
Yaphet Kotto plays a former rival for Foster's attentions who mocks Cosby's dignity as foolish pretension, and Douglas Turner Ward turns in what might be the film's best performance as a grizzled, wounded black desperado. Both characters can be read as representing different attitudes taken by certain elements of the black population toward the civil rights warriors of the '60s. Nothing is presented in a pedantic, by-the-numbers way, so the film isn't preachy about its added agenda. But for those who care to pick them up, these subtexts give "Man and Boy" a weight and stature that is superior to "Buck and the Preacher" or any of the other Black-oriented Westerns of the period.
It's great to see "Man and Boy" come to DVD. This is the kind of thoughtful rumination on the Black experience that is all too rare today.
Summary of Man and Boy
The Civil War is over and the West offers unlimited opportunities for the adventurous. Yet the celebration is short-lived for Caleb Revers (Bill Cosby) a black veteran trying to plant roots under the scorching sun of the Arizona frontier. A kindly neighbor gives Revers a horse to help plow the land and support his wife Ivy (Gloria Foster) and their precocious 12-year-old son Billy (George Spell). But town bigots resent a black man owning a horse and the stallion is stolen so Revers and his son embark on a dangerous mission to get it back. A murderous horse thief an archrival from Revers' past and a crazed sheriff are among many hostile obstacles which force young Billy to grow up fast - and which provide Bill Cosby a rare opportunity to display his powerful dramatic talent in his motion picture film debut.System Requirements:Running Time: 98 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: G UPC: 043396085589 Manufacturer No: 08558
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