IMDb RATING
6.6/10
2.8K
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A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
Kenneth Menard
- Little Henry
- (as Ken Menard)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOn the advice of his future wife Joanna Shimkus, Sidney Poitier took over directorial duties from Joseph Sargent when he became dissatisfied with the film's point of view. As a result, this turned out to be Poitier's debut behind the camera and he would go on to direct eight more pictures.
- GoofsAfter the Preacher sees Buck saddling his horse to steal it, he puts on his hat. There is grass on the hat, but in the next shot it is gone.
- 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.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: The Civil War was over and by law the slaves were freed. But when the promise of land and freedom was not honored, many ex-slaves journeyed out of the land of bondage in search of new frontiers where they could be free at last.
They placed their hopes in the hands of the few black wagonmasters that knew the territories of the West.
None of this came easy, for for not only did they have to overcome a hostile wilderness, but nightriders and bounty hunters were hired by persons unknown to hunt them down and turn them back to the fields.
This picture is dedicated to those men, women and children who lie in graves as unmarked as their place in history.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Dick Cavett Show: Episode dated 1 May 1972 (1972)
Featured review
It's shortly after the abolition of slavery and Black people all over the south seek greener pastures where they don't have to be subjected to Jim Crowism. Some would head west with a wagon master showing them the way. And sometimes the greedy white people of the south wouldn't want to let their labor go so they'd send night riders after them to bring them back.
Buck (Sidney Portier) is a wagon master leading a group west. The Preacher (Harry Belafonte) is an opportunistic shuckster who finds himself a part of the Buck-led wagon train. The two of them have to be heroes in a sense in order to get this wagon train west.
I really appreciate this movie being made in the 70's when so many blaxploitation films were made. Instead of pimps, hoes, hustlers, and drug dealers, this movie is about positive black male figures in a western. Besides the terrible movie, "Posse," with Mario Van Peebles, I hadn't seen a Black western. I liked the history this movie presented (however dramatized), what it stood for, and the actors in it. Yes, I have seen better westerns--meaning more entertaining--but I can't readily recall a more significant western.
Buck (Sidney Portier) is a wagon master leading a group west. The Preacher (Harry Belafonte) is an opportunistic shuckster who finds himself a part of the Buck-led wagon train. The two of them have to be heroes in a sense in order to get this wagon train west.
I really appreciate this movie being made in the 70's when so many blaxploitation films were made. Instead of pimps, hoes, hustlers, and drug dealers, this movie is about positive black male figures in a western. Besides the terrible movie, "Posse," with Mario Van Peebles, I hadn't seen a Black western. I liked the history this movie presented (however dramatized), what it stood for, and the actors in it. Yes, I have seen better westerns--meaning more entertaining--but I can't readily recall a more significant western.
- view_and_review
- Jun 11, 2019
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $2,762
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