Jack Black Had A Small Role In A Forgotten HBO Western Before His Rise To Fame

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Today, Jack Black is one of the most recognizable movie stars in the world. But before he became such a beloved figure, he had to work his way up just like everyone else. During those years, he managed to ruin his small role in Sylvester Stallone’s sci-fi movie “Demolition Man,” but he also managed to do a much better job with his equally brief appearance in HBO’s 1994 Western film “Blind Justice.”

Black continued to dominate Hollywood in 2025, starring in the box office smash “A Minecraft Movie” and, more recently, appearing with Paul Rudd in the delightfully silly “Anaconda” reboot. But back in the early-1990s, he was still an up-and-comer looking to break into the business. He’d been acting since the early ’80s, but it wasn’t until 1992’s “Bob Roberts” that he started to gain some traction in movies. It would take some time before he became the star we know him as today, but he was at least starting to make some headway.

Unfortunately, when Black was cast in “Demolition Man,” he botched his chance at delivering a line, which would have been a significant step up for the young actor. Luckily, the year after, he managed to land a speaking role in “Blind Justice,” where he played a United States Cavalry private who takes a beating from Armand Assante’s mysterious gunfighter Canaan. Was it good? Not really. Was it a decent role for Black? Absolutely.

Memorably, Jack Black once (briefly) forgot that he starred in “The Holiday,” which also coincidentally made our own list of the most rewatchable Christmas movies. Whether he remembers his time on “Blind Justice” isn’t clear, but his role was pretty small, so if “The Holiday” slipped through the cracks then I’m sure a long-forgotten HBO movie has, too. That might be for the best, as while Black did a perfectly serviceable job playing a Cavalry private in the post-Civil War United States, the rest of the movie wasn’t exactly the kind of project that he had probably been dreaming of making.

Two years before “Blind Justice” debuted on HBO, Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” set a precedent as the best revisionist Western ever made. Unlike Eastwood’s 1992 triumph, though, the former wasn’t concerned with subverting longstanding tropes or delving deeper into a genre that had historically relied on a simplistic good guys vs. bad guys dynamic. It just wanted to be a bit of pulpy action fun.

The movie was directed by British filmmaker Richard Spence (who worked almost exclusively in TV for his entire career) and starred Armand Assante as Canaan, a near-blind gunslinger who traverses the barren landscapes of Mexico with a baby he’s hoping to deliver to an adoptive family in a small town. When he enters a border town, however, he discovers U.S. Cavalry officers under attack from bandits led by Robert Davi’s Alacran. Elisabeth Shue, who soon after received an Oscar nomination for “Leaving Las Vegas,” played the main love interest, while Black appeared around the half-way point and only had a handful of scenes. Thankfully, they’re also some of the funniest moments in a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

John Stanley’s book “Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide” asserts that “Blind Justice” was partly inspired by the DC comic book character Jonah Hex, whom Josh Brolin once infamously portrayed onscreen. But while “Blind Justice” is arguably more worth your time than Brolin’s film, that’s not saying much. It isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it knows what it is and often has fun with its B-movie tone. (At one point, Canaan even grabs an opponent’s nether regions and asks, “How do you like your eggs? Scrambled?”)

Then, there’s the Jack Black of it all. Unlike with “Demolition Man,” the young Black managed to get a good few lines in here and shared a couple of scenes with star Armand Assante. In one, his gunslinger Canaan demonstrates his super-sharp abilities by catching flies mid-air despite the fact he’s almost blind, impressing Black’s private, who approaches Canaan in disbelief. Unfortunately, he then takes a knee to the face as Canaan attempts to escape, knocking out Black’s soldier and giving him an oddly sensual pat down before he steals the keys to his chains.

So, yeah, “Blind Justice” is hardly one of the best Jack Black movies and his role is hardly one of his most memorable. But it was significant for giving the future superstar several lines and scenes with its leading man (who, a year after “Blind Justice,” would play the villain Rico in “Judge Dredd,” the silliest science fiction movie to predict our terrifying present). That same year, Black was still taking on bit parts, but as the 1990s went on, his star continued to rise. Finally, in 2000, the actor scored his long-awaited breakout role as Barry Judd in “High Fidelity.”