A movie that puts Corsicana and a trailblazing lawman in the spotlight opens Friday in limited theatrical release.
The western called Corsicana is a fictionalized account of Bass Reeves, a former slave who became one of the first black deputy United States marshals in the American west. The Navarro County town of Corsicana becomes the town where Reeves tracks an outlaw gang of killers.
Reeves lived from 1838 to 1910. The Oklahoma Historical Society says he was born a slave in Arkansas and grew up in Lamar and Grayson counties, Texas
The man behind the movie is none other than Corsicana Police Chief Robert Johnson. He has a part in it, but bigger than that, he wrote and produced the film.
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"I was talking to a Texas Ranger in the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame when I was in my teens, and he was the one who told me about him. And it stuck with me ever since," Johnson said. "I thought, why is there nothing out there about this man? Most prolific law enforcement officer that you can imagine. Three thousand felony arrests. Born into slavery. Escaped bondage. He fled to the Oklahoma territory which was completely lawless."
Johnson's side hustle in TV and movies goes back more than a decade and includes the 2012 reboot of Dallas, the movie JOE in 2013, and Trafficked in 2017. He stepped into production in 2016. And in June 2020, he realized he wanted to write a western and knew it would tell the story of the trailblazing lawman he'd learned about 40 years ago.
"He became a master of disguise. He had a near photographic memory, and that's what a lot of people don't know. Because he could not read, he would memorize everything. He memorized the land, people he was after. So, he became a master of disguise. This guy was so far ahead of his time. And that's how he caught these 3,000 of the worst felons that you could possibly imagine," Johnson said.
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With that kind of character, the other pieces quickly fell into place including the script.
"About 30 minutes later, I had the first two scenes done," he recalled. He sent what he'd written to Amber McNutt, a friend who acts and owns a production company. She validated his hunch that his western was on the right track.
"She said, oh, yeah, we're doing this! And, that's how it got started," he said.
Johnson also knew he'd do it featuring Corsicana, the city where he's been police chief for the past six years and has welcomed his Hollywood connections.
"I wanted to bring something to the city of Corsicana, a city I love and whose been very supportive of the projects. Everything we do, we try and leave some money with our small businesses. So, when we bring these production companies in, they spend money with these small businesses," Johnson said. "Bass Reeves never set foot in Corsicana and that's why it's historical fiction but I did want to pay homage to Corsicana."
Veteran actor Isaiah Washington of Grey's Anatomy fame signed on to star as Bass Reeves. It's also Washington's directorial debut.
Johnson calls Corsicana "a thinking person's Western."
"There's nobody getting shot off the banister. No shootout on Main Street. No saloon. No saloon girls. It's about redemption," he said.
Johnson wants people to leave the theater with an appreciation for a lawman who never really got the accolades he deserved.
"We want them to know about this man, know about Bass Reeves," Johnson said. "He was person who up until just a few years ago, the majority of the public had no clue who he was."
