Seeing as how a title at
the beginning of the picture claims The
Devil and Leroy Bassett was based upon real events, it’s not impossible to
imagine how this story about criminals on a violent rampage could have become
something interesting. Unfortunately, writer-director Robert E. Pearson can’t
decide whether he’s making a comedy or a drama, can’t decide whether his
characters are antiheroes or monsters, and, for that matter, can’t decide which
character is the protagonist. The movie starts with three repugnant idiots,
including Bible-thumping hothead Leroy Bassett (John F. Goff) and his slovenly
brother, Wilbur (George “Buck” Flower). Perpetually inebriated, they commit
crimes including the theft of a police car. Meanwhile, Native American
psychopath Keema Greywolf (Cody Bearpaw) bristles under police custody until he
violently escapes. Circumstances put these characters together for a getaway
that becomes a crime spree and, for a period of time, a hostage situation
involving a hijacked bus. Yet by the end of the movie, things have resolved
into a mano-a-mano chase pitting Keema against the aggrieved policeman who
wants him captured or dead, if not both. Played straight, this material could
have been either frightening, a cautionary tale about predators lurking at the
fringes of society, or provocative, the saga of marginalized people taking a
misguided path toward empowerment. Instead, The
Devil and Leroy Bassett is boring and unpleasant until the last half-hour
or so, which has some action. Early scenes with the Bassett brothers are
interminable, vignettes of morons barking at each other to the accompaniment of
a stupid theme song about Wilbur’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for beer.
Whenever Pearson cuts to Keena, it feels as if he’s cut to an entirely
different movie. And once the pieces finally converge, it’s difficult to
reconcile the redneck high jinks of the early scenes with the nihilistic
carnage that follows.
The Devil and Leroy Bassett: LAME
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