SYNOPSICS
Skin Game (1971) is a English movie. Paul Bogart,Gordon Douglas has directed this movie. James Garner,Louis Gossett Jr.,Susan Clark,Brenda Sykes are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1971. Skin Game (1971) is considered one of the best Comedy,Romance,Western movie in India and around the world.
Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke have pulled off every dodge known for conning a well-heeled sucker, but it wasn't until they hit on the old skin game that they started to clean up. The game is simple. Jason, though born a free man in New Jersey, poses as Quincy's slave as the pair ride through Missouri and Kansas in 1857. Quincy picks a likely mark in each town, sells Jason to him for top money and rides out of town. Then Quincy and Jason get back together on the road to another town, because if Jason can't just run off after dark, Quincy finds a way to spring him loose.
Same Actors
Skin Game (1971) Reviews
A New Type of Con Game
James Garner ever since he made his first big hit in the television series of Maverick refined the playing of a con man who's no better than he ought to be into a fine art. Quincy Drew is a further refining of the Bret Maverick character. James Garner can be serious when he wants to be, but I've always gotten the feeling he enjoys being Maverick or Jim Rockford far better than playing it straight. He has to enjoy it more, he's so darn good at it. Here he's got a racket going with Lou Gossett, Jr. During the days just before the Civil War in the 1850s he and Gossett work this con where Garner keeps buying and selling Gossett as a slave. Of course Gossett escapes and then they move on to the next town. Trouble is with that kind of a con, your reputation is bound to catch up with you. Gossett, who was born in New Jersey and is a free black man, gets a view of slavery he didn't bargain for. Along the way he meets Brenda Sykes. Garner also meets up with Susan Clark who's also a grifter. She aids him in his search for Gossett. Gossett and Garner don't exactly redeem themselves in the end, but you know this is not a racket they will be trying any more.
Two pros at the top of their game
James Garner's cowboy con man character familiarized to us as Bret Maverick and Latigo Smith ("Support Your Local Gunfighter" was filmed the same year) is in full bloom here as Quincy Drew in this classic, modest buddy movie done to a "T." Paul Bogart (who also directed Garner in "Marlowe" two years earlier) directs with a sure hand, with Lou Gossett is excellent as Quincy's partner and amicable rival. Realistically set, made with confidence and mastery, it is a gem that does not aspire to "great cinema" but still scores a bullseye. Well-written dialogue, plenty of humor, and a nice, quick pace make it sparkle. Who knew Ed Asner could make a passably good villain, too?
Garner's great in this type role.
And Lou Gossett with hair - Wow! But this comedy has a heavy load to carry, dealing with slavery & it's human cost. It's not much of a comedy when Jason actually gets sold into slavery and Gossett conveys the desperation very well. It does have it's light moments and Susan Clark helps lighten the load. I rated it an 8.
unique pre-Civil War master & slave con game film
James Garner and Lou Gossett play Easterners who head west to con the gullible country folk in a scheme where Garner is a slave owner and Gossett is his slave whom he sells only to later escape together and then find another town. It's an interesting take on the institution of slavery, done as both comedy and drama, with an interesting portrayal of John Brown (played by Royal Dano in a full beard) storming into a Kansas town during a slave auction horsewhipping and shooting various people. In a film full of "N" words, Garner and Gossett keep the mood fairly light. However, when the game backfires Gossett is really sold into slavery and ends up on a Texas plantation owned by a rather cruel Andrew Duggan. The film goes into just enough whippings and violence to shock the viewer while also providing James Garner a familiar role he had perfected on TV's "Maverick" to sustain a lighter side as well.
What Garner did best
I hadn't seen this film in years, perhaps since its theatrical run. It's still funny as hell and makes its serious points surprisingly well, especially since it's been 40 years (!) and social norms and rules have changed. This kind of role is undoubtedly what Garner did best, and he knew it. He left quite a legacy of performances like this. The film's ending is realistic (I wondered how they were going to squirm out of the circumstances.) Gossett's brief speech to Garner about them not being brothers ("I can be bought and sold like a horse, and you can do the buying and selling") rang true and put a much-needed limit on the film's levity. The supporting cast was good (What ever happened to Susan Clark?) and much of the dialogue sparkles. The subplot between Gossett and his young "bride" felt a bit forced and stilted, but on the whole this film straddles the gap between comedy, American history lesson and social commentary with grace.