Skin Game [DVD] [1971]
James Garner as Quincy Drew and Louis Gossett, Jr. as Jason O'Rourke are a pair of con men travelling pre civil war USA, they've worked a con where Jason is sold as a slave then Quincy helps him escape and then they split the profits of the sale and move onto another town and do the same thing there again, You don't get that many comedy films that deal with race and slavery ,and before Blazing Saddles (1974) not that many comedies that used the N word either. Compared to Blazing Saddles, The Skin Game is fairly mild in tone and humour , and doesn't come close to its sheer loonesy. But the Skin Game is kind of uncomfortable to watch at times because the whole film revolves around the slave trade and uses it for humour . Louis Gossett, Jr character Jason was born a free man in New Jersey and has to play the part of a slave so he can be sold, In fact if his character even shows any sign of being well spoken or educated he's threatened with violence, Andrew Duggan as Howard Calloway a plantation owner does this in a scene where Jason un wisely tries to talk to Duggan as an equal. So if you can get past the rather unpleasant subject matter what you got is fairly light hearted comedy.James Garner and Louis Gossett, Jr. have a good chemistry together and make a great comedy duo, something they did again in James Garners tv show The Rockford Files a couple of times. If your a fan of films like Support Your Local Sheriff! and Support Your Local Gunfighter and are a big James Garner fan like myself then you'll appreciate his cool laid back likable self. Politically correct it aint, which is why I think it hasn't had a uk release on dvd,then again it may be just another forgotten film.
out of 5