[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-BossNiggerPoster_4145.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:Black man, in a white man's town! He's got troooouble!]]

->''White man's town...black man's law!''

Owner of the "Most Uncomfortable Movie Title" award.

''Boss Nigger'' (also known as simply ''Boss'' and ''The Black Bounty Killer'') is a 1975 {{blaxploitation}} Western film directed by Jack Arnold and written by and starring former football star [[Creator/FredWilliamson Fred "The Hammer" Williamson]].

The plot concerns the bounty hunters "[[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Boss]]" and his {{Sidekick}} Amos coming to an entirely white town in the west, and taking up the vacant office of sheriff and deputy. They are ostensibly hunting for the large bounty on the head of the man who's been terrorizing the town, but not before laying down some laws of their own, reversing the [[DoubleStandard double standards]] deeply ingrained in the racist white community.
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!!This film provides examples of:

* AndThisIsFor: In the climactic battle between Boss and Jed: "And this is for Clara Mae!"
* BigBad: Jed Clayton
* CensoredTitle: The DVD cover is simply ''Boss''.
** Although the movie on the DVD uses Boss Nigger (with a caption card from Willimason saying that he is proud of the movie and notes that anyone calling him nigger in the movie gets their comeuppance).
* CliffHanger[=/=]DownerEnding: The film ends with [[spoiler: Boss gets shot multiple times, and may be dying as Amos takes him from town]].
* DeathOfAChild: Poncho, who is run over by a slow-motion horse.
* DragonTheirFeet: After Boss finally kills Jed Clayton, the battle seems to have ended and he leaves the bar, [[spoiler: only to get shot multiple times (Possibly being fatally wounded too) by the corrupt Mayor, who he then manages to kill by throwing his knife at him]].
* ExpositoryThemeTune: "They call him boss... '''Boss Nigger!"'''
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Boss never misses a shot, despite always firing from the hip.
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Say the title out loud in public, and see how many looks you get. Bonus points if you're white. [[note]] Please don't actually do this.[[/note]]
* MsFanservice: Clara Mae has little to do in the movie besides bathe, almost get raped, and distract a {{Mook}} with a provocative dance.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: All in all, the town is predominantly worse off (and much less populated) after Boss and Amos leave. Borders on AntiVillain at times.
* NonFatalExplosions: [[spoiler:Amos]] is buried under rubble by several sticks of dynamite but emerges unharmed.
* NWordPrivileges: Boss and Amos use the word indiscriminately, but make it illegal for the "whiteys" to use it in public.
* RefugeInAudacity: Look at the title of this movie. That actually happened.
** Although it's not all that audacious for the Blaxploitation genre. Fred Williams also starred in ''The Legend of Nigger Charley'' and ''The Soul of Nigger Charley''. Blaxploitation movies did this all the time.
* {{Sidekick}}: Amos is this to boss.
* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Film/BlazingSaddles''. While ''Blazing Saddles'' featured a black sheriff in a white [[TheWildWest Wild West]] town and examined the racism of the time too, it was PlayedForLaughs and provided an optimistic Western where [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin evil would be vanquished]]. ''Boss Nigger'' is decidedly [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism more cynical]] in its story, portraying the town's racism unhumorously and with [[OnlyInItForTheMoney opportunistic heroes]] who are [[ALighterShadeOfBlack only marginally better]] than the villains.
* XanatosGambit: Mayor Griffin wins whether or not Jed Clayton's gang gets wiped out. If Jed kills Boss, Griffin is still a CorruptPolitician, and life would be fairly comfortable for him at the expense of his constituents. If Boss kills Jed, then the town will be free of their tyranny, but Griffin is still their UltimateAuthorityMayor, [[spoiler:and, when this happens at the end of the film, he can just [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill Boss himself]] and not have to deal with a black sheriff undermining his authority. It would've worked if he hadn't taken a knife to the chest.]]

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