Charming, Emotional, Authentic
Year Released: 2020
Directed by: Ricky Staub
Starring: Idris Elba, Caleb Mclaughlin, Jharrel Jerome
(R, 111 min
Genre: Drama

“Only home I’ve ever known was the back of a horse.” –Harp (Idris Elba)

Forget John Travolta in Urban Cowboy (1980), the countrified version of Saturday Night Fever (1977) and join Idris Elba in the real thing. These are no honkytonk Gilley’s Club mechanical bull riders. They ride real flesh and blood horses, and Idris Elba’s character Harp even houses his in the living room.

The closest Different Drummer ever came to having a horse in her living room was in Indiana, when my husband and I lived in a 720 square foot cabin built on stilts on a hillside. Underneath the cabin, we built a walk-inn stall for our two palominos. At night they lulled us to sleep with the sounds of chewing hay, and they let us know it was time for their morning oats when they heard the radio on the in morning and began knocking on the stall walls (actually part of the house stilts) to hurry us down there.

Here in Texas we have our own Urban Cowboys who ride their steel nerved mounts across the IH 35 Highway bridge and down Congress Avenue. One fellow with a mule used to bring him into a little western shop and sing songs to the customers. Here is Santa Mule with Gary.

***

Sent to live with his estranged father for the summer, a rebellious teen finds kinship in a tight-knit Philadelphia community of Black cowboys.

Concrete Cowboy, based on the real Philadelphia Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, tells the story of present day Black city cowboys, and several in the cast, Esha (Ivannah Mercedes) and Paris (Jamil Prattis) are actual members of that club. Of course, Idris Elba, playing Harp, the unofficial leader of the Fletcher Street Stables, has more than enough presence and natural authenticity himself, but the real life characters are a wonderful bonus, just as the chorus of gossips from ordinary people in Longview, Texarkana, as well as Carthage, Texas enhanced Richard Linklater’s marvelous 2012 film Bernie .

Much of the film involves the tense relationship between Harp and his rebellious son Cole (Stranger Things’ Caleb Mclaughlin), who has seen little of his absent dad for most of his life. When Cole’s exasperated mother leaves Detroit with Cole, a slew of black trash bags as his only suitcases in the back seat, he knows he is in trouble. Being dumped unceremoniously at his father’s doorstep in the shabby side of Philadelphia is one rude awakening.

Harp is nowhere to be seen, his townhouse apartment is a mess, except for a few cans of beer, the refrigerator is empty, and there is a large and rather unfriendly horse taking up much of the living quarters. When Cole does find Harp –“down at the stable,” a friendly neighbor Nessie tells him – his diet of tough love, rigid rules, and daily confrontations offer thin gruel indeed.

Harp: You want to ride the street life: you can’t be in my house, All right? You want to wise up, you say your goodbyes to Smush, you’re welcome back.

Cole: Welcome back to what? Old beer and sliced cheeses. I ain’t got no home here.

That’s after Cole’s dubious “cuz” Smush (Jharrel Jerome of Moonlight fame) picks him up in in a nice set of wheels, fills his stomach with thick sandwiches, his hands with easy money, and his head with tempting dreams. No wonder Cole begins to stray.

Inevitably locked out of Harp’s place and unwelcome by Smush’s live-in girlfriend, Cole finds himself breaking into the stable and ending up sharing a stall with Boo, a horse not too unlike his namesake (Boo Radley) in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Which is amazing to Nessie (Lorraine Toussaint of Netflix’s new hit,The Equalizer) the stable manager and Harp’s friendly neighbor who remembers Cole from his visits some 10 years ago. This horse is considered an outlaw. Apparently Boo accepted Cole, the human outcast, as a brother, allowing him to snuggle next to his warmth throughout the night.

Nessie: You should have got your head bashed in. What do I find? Daniel laying there in the lions’ den, snuggled up side by side.

***

Yes, we know. It is Alec of The Black Stallion, Ken from My Friend Flicka for those old enough to remember, prison convict Roman from The Mustang, as well as every little girl’s dream all over again – the rogue horse who only gentles under the touch of a single human.

Some call it a cliché. Different Drummer calls it epic, not forgetting the mythic Bellerophan and Pegasus, or the historic Alexander the Great and Bucephalas.

Sometimes animals, strangely enough those large and powerful thousand-pound plus drinkers of the wind, have an affinity for those in need. One person in France takes his horse to a hospital, where the stallion, yes a stallion at that, chooses which rooms to enter and comfort the ailing.

And right here in Austin, Texas, one of my husband’s colleague’s has found great results pairing horses with an autistic son.

***

Boo and the camaraderie of the Fletcher Street riders start to draw Cole in. Esha shows her interest and gifts him with a real cowboy hat. Their shy hint of romance is innocent and pure in contrast to the tainted world surrounding them. The stables and the horses seem a sanctuary of love and goodness.

But Smush is a strong draw, too, especially when he tells Cole the real reason he is engaged in the lucrative drug trade. His dream, if not the means to it, seems pure and fresh as well.

The pace tightens as the film, like an unknown colt speeds to the finish line, galloping for all he is worth, but with dangers ahead, behind, and right there alongside him.

True love and loyalty are tested in the fire. Some survive. Others do not.

***

Of course, another aspect of the film concerns the present-day Black cowboys populating not only Philadelphia, but many other urban centers as well. Around the campfire these concrete cowboys discuss their long and neglected history. At least ¼ of all cowboys were Black, although Hollywood has seldom shown that accurate picture. Idris Elba explains:

It’s a real community that exists that lives right now and has been a part of Philadelphia and not just Philadelphia -- other urban cities around America -- for over 100 years. There are these communities that had these beautiful animals as part of their life blood. At first, they were using horses to deliver in an industrial way. When the motorcars came the Black folk the Black community kept the horses, kept them part of the fabric of their communities. That’s why to me I was so touched by this story because it is about community, we all understand community, we all come from some version of a community. But this community has a slightly different story. –Idris Elba

At the end of the film we have interviews with some other real Fletcher Street riders who did not appear in the film.

Michael Upshur, another Fletcher Street rider, says, “The stable does a lot for us. I can pretty much sit here and say that I'm in my forties right now, and I believe in my heart because of this stable that's why I don't have a felony on my record. It helps keep you on a straight path.” –Quincy LeGardye

This interview with El-Dog, the founder of the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, adds more texture and depth:

But best of all, the film, part fictional drama and part semi documentary, ends with a call to action. Economic forces are destroying the urban stables as the real estate is taken over by high priced condos and development. Here is a link to a Go Fund Me site to help the Fletcher Street riders find a permannent home.

A fine film, especially for those of us who can’t get enough of horses or Idris Elba, although not necessarily in that order. With the exception of the perhaps authentic but grating vulgar language throughout, this is tremendous family fare. Maybe for teens but perhaps not for easily influenced little ones. Or perhaps Different Drummer, former English teacher, is just a language purist/prude. You decide.

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

One of the highlights of the Concrete Cowboys of Fletcher Street is their nightly campfire as well as their special barbecues for celebrating the urban cowboy life.

I’m thinking like a cowboy or cowgirl, here, and most of my time will be riding and caring for my horse, working whatever odd jobs necessary to keep us in oats, hay, and as a last thought, some grub for myself.

So, Different Drummer, a transplanted Texas cowgirl herself, is forgetting about all those fancy and time-consuming barbecue recipes that make their own sauce, or hype their own brand of sauce, and then have the obsessed barbecue chef tending his meal for hours on end.

I bet Harp would not ever try such a complicated feat, and cowgirls Nessie and Esha have better things to do as well. But throwing together this delicious meal in a crockpot in the morning before stable duties, and bringing them to the barbecue that night is an easy ride.

Make sure you use a crockpot that can be removed from the electric cooker for easy transport to the party.

And, oh, if you want the long, authentic barbecue deal, you can try these techniques here and here .

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

Equipment

Slow Cooker - 5 quart or larger

Ingredients

• 1 rack back pork ribs

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup bbq sauce

• 2 tsp. hickory liquid smoke

• more sweet bbq sauce for serving

Rub ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

• 1/4 tsp. onion powder

• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp. paprika

Instructions

• Remove the silver skin from the back of the ribs, I do this by lifting an edge of the middle of the ribs and tearing off in one piece. 

• Cut the ribs into 4 sections. 

• In a small bowl prepare the rub; combine the brown sugar, onion powder, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Put the rub onto ribs with hands. 

• Place the ribs in the slow cooker. Pour the water and liquid smoke in around the ribs. (note- you can add the liquid smoke into the rub instead of adding it in the water if desired). Pour over the barbecue sauce on top of the ribs. 

• Cook on low for 8 or high for 4 hours. 

• Brush with more warmed barbecue sauce if desired and serve. 

The Magicalslowooker.com