Mr. Mean
Directed byFred Williamson
Written byFred Williamson
Produced byFred Williamson
StarringFred Williamson
CinematographyMaurizio Maggi
Edited byAmedeo Moriani
Music byOhio Players
Production
company
Po' Boy Productions
Distributed byLone Star Pictures International
Release date
December 1977
Running time
77 minutes
CountriesItaly
United States
LanguageEnglish

Mr. Mean is a 1977 action crime film written and directed by Fred Williamson.

Plot

Mr. Mean is hired by a former Cosa Nostra henchman to kill a mafia leader named Ranati who is embarrassing the mafia by stealing from the impoverished through fake charitable organizations. He then becomes a target himself.[1]

Cast

  • Fred Williamson as Mr. Mean
  • Lou Castel as Huberto
  • Raimund Harmstorf as Rommell
  • Crippy Yocard as Rene
  • Antonio Maimone as Rico
  • Rita Silva as Carla
  • Pat Brocato as Tony
  • David Mills as Lt. Rigoli
  • Stelio Candelli as Ranati
  • Tawfiq Said as Driver
  • Angela Doria as Farm Girl
  • Richard Oneto as Man
  • Satch as Self
  • Charles Borromel as Johnny
  • Ohio Players as Themselves
  • Angelo Ragusa as Thug (uncredited)
  • Franco Ukmar as Thug (uncredited)

Production

Fred Williamson produced Mr. Mean while filming The Inglorious Bastards by taking the camera equipment and crew every weekend, without the producers’ knowledge. He wrote the story Monday to Friday and shot on the weekends what he had written that week.[2]

Release

Mr. Mean was released theatrically with an "R" rating.[3] It was later released on VHS by Rhino[4] and on Blu-ray by Code Red.[5][6]

Soundtrack

The Ohio Players appear in the film as themselves and offer to play a song they have written for Fred Williamson's character Mr. Mean. They then play the title song "Mr. Mean" from the eponymous soundtrack album as the opening credits to the film roll. The soundtrack was released in December 1977.[7]

Reception

The film review website Pulp International gave the film a negative review, writing of Williamson, "He should have done better, since this was his fifth go-round of nearly twenty in the director's chair. Possibly the studio messed up his final cut. Or, considerably more likely, it was a disaster from the snap."[8] The review concludes that Williamson "just dropped the ball."[9]

The film review website spicyonion.com wrote that "Mr. Mean certainly fulfills audience expectations".[10]

Charlie Jane Anders of Gizmodo listed Mr. Mean as one of the reasons "you would think people would have learned not to fuck with Fred Williamson".[11]

Brad Avery of vanyaland.com described Mr. Mean as one of Williamson's "more macho characters".[12]

The Department of Afro American Research, Arts, and Culture added the film's poster to its archive, writing, "dead men tell no tales, but some men are just too mean to die!"[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Mr. Mean (1977)".
  2. ↑ Slater, Jay (April–May 2008), "Fred Williamson Interview", The Dark Side, pp. 4–7
  3. ↑ "Mr. Mean".
  4. ↑ "Reflections on Blaxploitation: Actors and Directors Speak - PDF Free Download".
  5. ↑ "Mr Mean / Joshua -- Screen Archives Entertainment".
  6. ↑ "Mr. Mean / Joshua Blu-ray".
  7. ↑ "Mr. Mean - Ohio Players | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  8. ↑ "Pulp International - Mr.+Mean".
  9. ↑ "Pulp International - Mr.+Mean".
  10. ↑ "Mr. Mean".
  11. ↑ "An Exploding Arrow to the Head, and Fred Williamson is to Blame". 30 January 2009.
  12. ↑ "'The Hammer' Heads Home: 'VFW' and Fred Williamson's return to the top of genre". 14 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Mr. Mean (1977)".
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