This Rebel Ridge villain had a similar role in a Quentin Tarantino classic

The following contains spoilers for Rebel Ridge, now streaming on Netflix.

Like Netflix Rebel crest proves that a good action movie doesn't just need a solid hero. It also needs an intimidating, nuanced villain. That's where Don Johnson comes in. He plays Sandy Burnne, a corrupt police chief in the small town of Shelby Springs. He's a total tyrant, which makes it clear that his bail bondsmanship isn't going to end.

His men are making a lot of money off of it, so Sandy will do whatever it takes to stop people like Aaron Pierre's Terry Richmond from reporting him to the authorities and shutting him down. Coincidentally, Johnson played a similar villain in the iconic Oscar-winning film, Django Unleashed — someone who bases his business on exploiting the plight and misery of black people.

Who was Don Johnson in Django Unchained?

Don Johnson played Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennet in Django Unchained

In Django UnleashedJohnson played a landlord, Spencer Bennet, or as the whole plantation called him: Big Daddy.Spencer was involved in the plot early on when Christoph Waltz's Dr. King Schultz went on a bounty hunt. King freed Jamie Foxx's Django and killed his contingent of slavers. He needed Django for information on the Brittle Brothers.

King was a bounty hunter, so he wanted to collect the Brittles. Schultz offered Django his freedom and $75 in exchange for helping him track down the Brittles. He was essentially turning Django into a hunter, too. Together, they headed to Big Daddy's estate in Tennessee. King pretended to be interested in buying slaves from Big Daddy.

Django Unchained Reception Overview

Spencer hosted King, but continued to make scathing comments about blacks. He made a lot of money from them, not only by selling them, but also from his cotton fields. He couldn't believe a free black man was there, which infuriated Django. It was now very clear that Big Daddy was going to be a tough nut to crack.

Big Daddy loved to exploit slaves and, even more, he loved to gloat about it, especially in front of women writhing in their depths.. Unfortunately, they fell into line because they needed to survive. Some wanted to stay indoors and not in the fields, which Django saw as an abuse of power by the overlord. This gave Spencer pawns who could sell their fellow humans for benefits.

What happened to Big Daddy in Django Unchained?

Don Johnson's Big Daddy was killed by Django because he was a slaver

Django wandered the estate and gathered information from one of the slaves. He then found the Brittles trying to whip a woman. They had beaten him and his beloved Broomhilda in the past, so this triggered bad memories. Django shot one, whipped the other, and then shot him as well. King joined in the action, eliminating the last Brittle who had escaped on horseback. The bounty said dead or alive, so King could now collect and split the profits with Django. This, however, annoyed Spencer.

He didn't like white men being killed on his property, especially by a man he thought should be chained up and working the land. But King knew the law. He nursed them back to health and got them out of a sticky situation. This, however, gnawed at Spencer. His reputation would be ruined. He had to prove himself as a Big Daddy, especially since he led a chapter of a group similar to the Ku Klux Klan in the 1850s.. Pride and ego drove him to rally the team. They chased King's dentist's carriage, but they didn't know he had set a trap. King loaded it with dynamite, shot it, and blew it up. He killed most of the men.

When Spencer tried to escape on horseback, King allowed Django to use the rifle. Django graciously accepted and shot him with a sniper rifle.. King realized he had a man of potential and someone ready to be his apprentice. They both hated racists, plus King had a soft spot for Django's story. Big Daddy was the catalyst for them to become partners and find the estate where Broomhilda was being held. Freeing her became King's mission, which established Big Daddy as an essential plot anchor for this Quentin Tarantino film. It would cost a lot of blood (including King's life), but Django would achieve his goal and get his happy ending.

How is Sandy Burnne from Rebel Ridge similar to Big Daddy?

Rebel Ridge's Sandy made money off black freedom and civil rights

The Rebel Crest Sandy has a modernized and revisited method of monetizing xenophobia and fueling people's pain. Sandy allegedly arrested young black men for minor crimes and rigged the incarceration process. He raised their bail and held them for a period of time that the courts couldn’t question. Once they posted bail, he would release them and his district would pocket the money through a legal loophole. It was a well-orchestrated ordeal with no transparency or accountability in the Netflix action movie.

He turned Shelby Springs into a slaveholding in this sense. He cut the town, mostly whites, so they could get their hands dirty. The town needed money to survive, as incidents of police brutality and lawsuits in the past nearly bankrupted it. In essence, Sandy had no black men in the camps, but kept them chained and waiting for their loved ones to buy their freedom.. All without recourse or investigation. He was foolproof until he ran afoul of Terry's cousin Mike over a pot charge.

Terry, a former Marine drill instructor, exposed the plan, creating tension and a dark rivalry in this crime drama. Sandy cut through that Big Daddy energy in their conversations. She often called him “boy,” hinting at how white men treat people of color and the marginalized they consider inferior. Sandy had white cops and other community members around, ready with their trucks and guns. They even escorted Terry out once, paid him off after a rival gang killed Mike, and set boundaries, terms, and conditions. It reeked of sundown town racism.

Terry initially tries to turn a blind eye, but returns to bring down the evil empire. He has a white paralegal, Summer, who helps him as his King. He appreciates this because the only black woman in the precinct, Jessica, is understandably afraid to help him. She used to be Summer's informant, but Sandy subtly intimidates her into compliance. It's very similar to the way Spencer kept his black employees fearful and in line. Interestingly, Rebel crest Director Jeremy Saulnier doesn't go the kill-everyone route that Tarantino has taken in his films.

Jessica turns against Sandy in Rebel crest finale and helps Terry expose the corruption network. They also take Summer to the hospital to save her. Terry does his best to make sure there are no victims, not even among the evil ones. Unlike Django, his revenge is not to be a punisher, or a judge, jury and executioner. Terry wants to use the law, which is much easier in the present. His “Big Daddy” would be easier to prove thanks to the evidence gathered and the informants coming out.

Django's Big Daddy had to die because that system was built and run by white people at the time. Ultimately, Johnson makes viewers hate both characters for their bigotry, leaving them furious that villains like these have existed and will continue to persist in history.

Rebel Ridge is now streaming on Netflix. Django Unchained is available on Prime Video.