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Buck and the Preacher (1972)A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West. Director:Sidney Poitier |
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Title: Buck and the Preacher (1972)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sidney Poitier | ... |
Buck
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| Harry Belafonte | ... |
Preacher
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| Ruby Dee | ... |
Ruth
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| Cameron Mitchell | ... |
Deshay
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Denny Miller | ... |
Floyd
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| Nita Talbot | ... |
Madam Esther
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John Kelly | ... |
Sheriff
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| Tony Brubaker | ... |
Headman
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Bobby Johnson | ... |
Man Who Is Shot
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James McEachin | ... |
Kingston
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| Clarence Muse | ... |
Cudjo
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| Lynn Hamilton | ... |
Sarah
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Doug Johnson | ... |
Sam
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Errol John | ... |
Joshua
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Kenneth Menard | ... |
Little Henry
(as Ken Menard)
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Storyline
A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
Plot Keywords:
wagon master | con man | preacher | brother sister relationship | homesteader |Taglines:
The fight was against the raiders... but the feud was between themselves!Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
17 March 1972 (West Germany) See more »Also Known As:
Der Weg der Verdammten See more »Company Credits
Production Co:
Belafonte Enterprises, Columbia Pictures Corporation, E & R Productions Corp. See more »
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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The Preacher: Well, that's not exactly settled in my mind yet.
Buck: Well, you got three possibilities.
The Preacher: Oh?
Buck: North, south or east.
The Preacher: What happened to west?
Buck: We're going west.
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Did You Know?
Trivia
First time director Sidney Poitier took over the job from Joseph Sargent when he became dissatisfied with the film's point of view. See more »Quotes
Buck: Which way are you ridin', Preacher?The Preacher: Well, that's not exactly settled in my mind yet.
Buck: Well, you got three possibilities.
The Preacher: Oh?
Buck: North, south or east.
The Preacher: What happened to west?
Buck: We're going west.
See more »
This might possibly be the first Western to feature two black leads with white characters largely relegated to peripheral roles – or stereotypically villainous parts. Sidney Poitier – who replaced Joseph Sergeant as director one week into the shoot – and Harry Belafonte play the leads. Poitier is Buck, a former cavalry man now acting as a wagon-master guiding former slaves to a new life in the west. Belafonte is the preacher, a semi-reformed con man who briefly considers betraying Buck and his charges to the evil nightrider Deshay (a squinting, cigar-chomping Cameron Mitchell) before throwing in his lot with him.
This being a film of the early 70s, there isn't much of a moral code here. The good guys steal from one another and rob banks, a character defect shrugged off with the explanation that the town folk – who are pre-occupied on a posse-ride to catch the duo as they rob the bank – deserve to be robbed. The film is presumably supposed to be a semi-comic action film but it isn't particularly funny and the action scenes are few and far between. The film is also light on dialogue with lengthy spells played out in silence. This was Poitier's directorial debut and it shows in some glaring narrative gaps and a strange kind of painstaking attention that somehow transmits itself onto the screen so that the film rarely seems to flow the way it should. Poitier never really convinces as an actor either, although Belafonte is a standout as the sneaky, morally dubious preacher.