In 1961, "The Great Imposter", starring Tony Curtis, was released. It was based on a nonfiction book about the unusual life of Ferdinand Demara, who had an obsession with fake credentials that allowed him to do jobs for which he had no background, including being a doctor in the Canadian Royal Navy. Thus, he reveled in being a professional imposter. In this film, we have a team of 2 or sometimes 3 imposters, working together. Mostly, it's James Garner, as Quincy, and African American Louis Gossett, as Jason, pretending they are master, and slave, respectively, in the 1857 United States, repeatedly playing the con game where Jason, a free man, raised in N. J., is sold as a slave, then manages to escape by himself, or Quincy somehow engineers his escape. Quincy talks like springing Jason free is routinely easy as pie, but I'm sure that in reality, he could not be sure of this. We see him spring Jason free only once, near film's end, when Quincy is nearly shot dead for his trouble. Quincy risks a heavy fine and/or jail time if caught, and Jason risks a long or permanent stay as a slave or severe punishment if caused trying to escape. ...............It's never stated why, but according to Quincy, they've only pulled this trick in the border slave states or territories of Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Kansas, where the price of slaves was generally lower than in the deep South, for several reasons(see the web article "Slave escape, prices, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1950"). My guess is that the pair might often need to run to a free state, if being chased. Also, if Quincy were caught and jailed, a sold Gossett would stand a much better chance of successful escape by himself to a free state, if he was in a border state, discounting the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850............This film is sometimes billed as a Western comedy, but don't expect anything in the class of "Blazing Saddles", which I saw just last night! It's mainly a curious drama, with occasional humor input, mainly of the ironic sort. For example, there's the incident where pick pocket and general thief Susan Clark, as 30sh Ginger, uses a stick through a small crack in the door to Quincy's hotel room, to hook his pants and vest, which are hanging on hooks near the door. Quincy, in the bathtub, notices this and yanks on the stick, pulling her in. She's the same woman who picked his gold watch and gold piece on the street while talking to him. They have a 'getting to know you' conversation, before deciding that Ginger will join Quincy in his bath, as a warm up to some more serious intimate action, according to a later Quincy. Unfortunately, we don't get to see either! Use your imagination! They would meet and separate several other times during the remainder of the film, she sometimes serving as his accomplice in coning people out of $500. Or more for a rare serum to prevent catching a dread disease they claim is spreading in the neighborhood. Then, to end the film, they are riding horses from Mexico to Chicago when Quincy informs her that he saw Jason steal the $3000. She assumes she has in her saddlebag. This is the same $3000. That she earlier stole from Quincy, as the proceeds from a Jason sale. He explains that he figured that Jason had earned it as compensation for all the risks and suffering he had experienced as a slave. He adds that he and Jason have $10,000. In a Chicago bank. Ginger retorts that she knows about that, pulling out the bank book. She then gallops off, with Quincy galloping after..............Clearly, Quincy and Jason's con game was illegal, making them felony-status crooks. But, in the minds of the audience, this is balanced by the sentiment that buying and keeping slaves is immoral, thus justifying their thievery. That is the central irony of the film!...........I don't understand why 'uncle' Abram, of the Calloway ranch in southern Texas, where Jason is enslaved, decided to join the group of slaves who have decided to try to escape to Mexico. Clearly, at the ranch, he had a privileged position as the senior slave: even his scolding of the teen girls at the dinner table being tolerated. As a penniless elderly man, what could he hope to do in Spanish speaking Mexico that would equal or exceed his position at the Calloway ranch?? Also, I might question the wisdom of the strange clannish 4 Songay slaves, in joining this escape. They were esteemed for their facility of taming and caring for horses, and seemed to be treated well, aside from their accommodation in the barn. Speaking neither English nor Spanish, could they hope to do as well in Mexico? Incidentally, Mexico refused to sign a treaty with the US comparable to The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Thus, once slaves had made it across the Rio Grande, they were considered no longer slaves, subject to possible recapture.(That reminds me, we didn't see the escapees cross the Rio Grande, before they made it to that Mexican village. Hope it was the shallow water season!). It's estimated that around 10,000 runaway slaves made it to Mexico. In spite of the Mexican law, escaped slave bounty hunters did sometimes cross into Mexico. Thus, to be safe, it was wise to travel deep into Mexico, to discourage this illegal activity............Speaking of runaway slave bounty hunters, well known TV star Ed Asner has the unenviable role of being such, as Plunkett. He is painted as morally lower than the slave buyers, and is eventually shot dead by Jaison, just before he is about to shoot Quincy for defaming him. However, his insistence that Jason be sold with his recent girlfriend, Naomi, shows that even he, at times, had a heart. Unlike the usual bounty hunter, who returned captured runaways to their owner for a bounty, Plunkett sold them to anybody, presumably usually for a higher amount. Actually, Naomi wasn't a runaway. In fact, Quincy had bought her at a slave auction at the request of Jason. But, in the chaos following the dramatic leaving of John Brown and gang from a Kansas town, she was misidentified as a runaway and eventually transported to Texas to be sold to one of Plunkett's favorite customers: Mr. Calloway. Meanwhile, Jason was bought by Plunkett, in an embarrassing situation for Jason and Quincy, in which a man claimed that Jason was his runaway slave, and Plunkett offered to give the man what he had paid for Jason. Jason was then added to the wagon containing Naomi, and taken to Calloway.(I believe Quincy was knocked out or put in jail, at the time, so why he didn't try to interfere.)........... Ironically, just 2 days after writing this review, Ed Asner died, at 91.
Review of Skin Game
