User reviews

Buck and the Preacher was the first movie I ever saw about the black experience after the civil war that was centered on their migration west. I've seen this movie three times since it was originally shown, and have enjoyed it as much each time, while Buck, a no-nonsense Wagon Master played by Sidney Poitier takes his responsibilities very seriously. Naive ex-slaves are putting their very lives and fortunes in his hands in their attempt to find the American Dream after slavery. A subtly that many non-blacks do not understand about the relationship of blacks with each other is the historical mistrust and scheming that happens within the culture and still goes on today. That is what makes the meeting of Buck with the Preacher, played by Harry Belafonte Jr. so poignant. They are at opposite ends of the cultural trust scale, but they are forced to team up against a common enemy to secure their individual survival.

The Preacher, shiftless and scheming, and the only stereotypical character in the movie, is very well known to blacks, and not really as funny to blacks as non-blacks may sometimes think.

Buck and the Preacher was one of the first modern movies about black people to provide any depth to the characters, and also to present characters and subject matter that are not normally associated with the black experience. I found it entertaining as well as informative. A well-done move about an often ignored subject.

Poitier plays Buck, one of few blacks who are qualified to be wagonmasters. It is after the Civil War and he is helping escort former slaves into the west. This is not an easy task. They face nature, bounty hunters, racist settlers, robbers, and Indians. The movie is brutally honest with the hatred that these brave men and women faced, but the film has a strong sense of hope. They are not quitters, they raise money workers for sharecroppers along the way. Harry Belafonte has the most colorful role as The Preacher - a reformed thief who befriends Buck when given no one else to trust. The movie is bleak, yet hopeful, well-acted, and exciting. It deserves to be remembered with the best of westerns from that era. Much more historical importance than its predecessor, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" with its sappy, happiness and handsome boy wonders. And Poitier rivals George Roy Hill as a director any day. Cool folksy-jazz score. Recommended to anyone who enjoys a fresh, historical angle with their westerns.

After civil war, the free black people headed to west in searching for a free land, Sidney Poitier was in charge to guide this settlers toward to western lands, however a bunch leading by the evil Deshay (Cameron Mitchel) pursued them, try out convincing by force to return to Louisiana, meanwhile appears the preacher (Belafonte) the best character in the movie, an easy going man who hidden behind in a mask of God's man, he is malicious, raunchy and cheater, quite often he speech set phases from the Bible, Buck realizes that the preacher isn't trustful, nevertheless has to live together in such circumstances, these opposing forces are the highlight of the picture, developing a perfect chemistry between two distinct characters, also it has an indelible black humor, a rare movie made at Blaxploitation era, shot at Durango on Mexico displaying a dry and beautiful landscape, enjoyable and highly underrated!!

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First watch: 1980 / How many: 5 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.5

It regards a trail guide and a con preacher join forces to help a wagon train of former slaves who are escaping from cutthroats and seeking to homestead out the West . 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 not only did they have to overcome hostile wilderness , but nightriders and bounty hunters were hired by persons unknown to hunt them down and turn them back to the Southern fields . This picture is dedicated to those men , women and children who lie in graves as unmarked as their place in history . This movie deals with a hard , long travel throughout the wilderness of a group of negroes and slaves freed after the end Civil War , being led by an intrepid wagonmaster (Sidney Poitier) along with a roguish preacher (showy acting by Harry Belafonte) wielding a peculiar Holy Bible . And being harassed by marauding white nightriders (led by Cameron Mitchell) all the way down .

Sidney Poitier performed and shot this picture , delivering it all the traditional ingredients of amusement : Riding pursuits , spectacular battles , croosfire , bank assaults , ambushes , fights with Indians , and many other things . While at the same time inserting a thought-provoking issue of accusatory coment on the ill-treatment of the ancient slaves whose graves are as unmarked as their place place in history . It has an interesting subject which is rather reminiscent of John Ford's Wagonmaster played by Ben Johnson in similar role to Poitier . Nice , though , the idea of having Indians riding and coming to rescue of the wagon train besieged by bandits , it is a gem , instead of the ordinary Union cavalry . Harry Belafonte steals the show giving an overacting and Poitier the player seems content to stand back and let the limelight falls on Harry . It is agreeable , enjoyable , and pleasant enough , but somewhat it never quite clicks , despite awesome interpretations from Belafonte and Poitier . Ruby Dee also provides a decent playing , she interprets the attractive spouse of Sidney .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Sidney Poitier . Being his fiilm debut that he took over the job from Joseph Sargent who left the filmmaking . Poitier is a fine actor and filmmaker . Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and inherent likability placed him on equal footing with the white stars of the day. He took on directing and producing chores in the Seventies, achieving success in both arenas . Sidney directed a few pictures , and most of them were comedies . As Poitier made : Ghost dad , Fast forward , Hanky panky , Stir Crazy , Piece of action , Let's do again , Uptown Saturday night , and this Buck and the preacher . Rating : 6/10 , passable and aceptable Western movie

Sidney Poitier made his directorial debut with "Buck and the Preacher", in which he played a wagon-master leading freed slaves across the Old West. The whole time, they have to battle night-riders trying to return them to slavery in Louisiana. But then, Poitier joins up with Harry Belafonte, a reformed thief spreading the Gospel across the Old West, and they figure out a way to protect the freed slaves.

Probably the most important aspect of this movie was that it came out around a time when Hollywood was releasing many blaxploitation movies portraying African-Americans as kick-ass brothers and sisters with hearts of gold. This one focused seriously on a part of black history in the United States, and did a very good job at it. I certainly recommend this movie. Also starring Ruby Dee and Denny Miller (a character actor who appeared twice on "Gilligan's Island").

This 1972 American Western is a Classic Gem! It stars three legendary Actors; the performances by Poitier, Belafonte, and Dee are magnificent. Some fool (alfredpr 69611) actually rated this 1/10 backed by stupid comments! "They" will always try to destroy all Black Cinema and give you a thumbs down when you defend it! They share the same mindset as the evil white men in this film. The ending is my favorite, I love how the Native Americans decided to help Buck and the Preacher.

I've seen this movie twice between the 70s and 90s and it was better than I remembered it being. Since his death, I've been watching everything Poitier when I find it on air. Ruby Dee, Harry, and Sidney were as great then as their legacy now. Yes, I rolled my eyes sometimes after some unbelievable scenes (a pet peeve of mine), but it was a good western with much needed black historical representation, and the viewers who have rated it here for IMDB have gotten it right on average. It's definitely moved up a bit on my list of favorite Poitier movies.

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.

I don't understand how someone could classify this film as a "comedy". It did have it's comedic moments, but no more than any other Western or Drama. Then that false comment ends up on the front page of the IMDb? Weird. This was a first rate Western by any standard. At a time when Hollywood had no interest in making such films. Blaxploitation films and comedies were the rules of the day. Poitier makes a great cowboy and fine director here. I suspect the reason this film is/was not more popular is that there were so few good guys of the White persuasion. The one fair and honest White man was the town Sheriff, who was quickly killed off by another White man for this very reason.

In post Civil War America, former slaves are heading west to escape the south. Buck (Sidney Poitier) is one of the few colored guides leading the wagons. He and his charges are hounded by marauding whites intent on driving them back to work on the plantations. The white southerners use his wife Ruth (Ruby Dee) as bait in an ambush at his home but they both manage to escape. While he's on the run, he gets into a confrontation with a traveler of questionable intent (Harry Belafonte) and steals his horse. The traveler gets to a settlement where he runs into the marauders. With some quick thinking, the traveler pretends to be a preacher and the marauders offer him $500 as a bounty for Buck.

I like the first half of this western directed by Sidney Poitier. His style is functional but it does lack a certain flair. The main question is getting more guns for the former slaves. They have the money. It needs a scene where they try to buy more guns but get rejected by the locals. Obviously, this is alluding to the civil rights movement of that era. The never cessing search for the green valley is quite an image. I do have more questions about Buck's homestead. I thought the whites burnt it down. They're also not traveling that far if they keep coming back to it. The movie does run into a rut when they go robbing a bank. It would have been much better to return to the wagon train and they wait for a big final attack. Quite frankly, they lose the moral high ground once they steal other people's money. The Indians should ride to the rescue like the Calvary of the old westerns. The second half has a few weak points which is a little disappointing.

Honestly, can't figure out why two outstanding actors, especially Sidney P made this third rate spaghetti western dismal ripoff. The acting was so wooden and lacked any type of life. Sidney and Harry had no on screen chemistry at all. The interaction between the two seemed forced at best. Harry was so over the top in his performance that he came across as cartoonish. There were stereotypes all over the place. The supporting cast was horrible. They either way overplayed or underplayed their parts. Honestly, there was nothing redeeming about this whole thing. What was the point, to see the two main stars gunning down people left and right. Gave this film a five only because I like Harry and Sidney. Pure garbage.

With their emancipation guaranteed by the Union victory in the American civil war, groups of former slaves are encouraged by the state to head west and develop and cultivate the land. Ex-bluecoat "Buck" (Sidney Poitier) sets himself up as a wagon-master for these would-be emigrants. For a modest fee, he agrees to show them the way and guarantee their safety. Now there are those who don't much like this relocation plan, and the "DeShay" gang are employed by the southern cotton farmers to try to ensure that their erstwhile property never survive the trip. It's one such altercation that sees "Buck" - trying to stay alive - swap horses with a preacher (Harry Belafonte) who just happened to be bathing in a stream nearby. The gang now follow the wrong horse only for their leader (Cameron Mitchell) to convince the preacher that he will pay him $500 for "Buck" and that it'd be in his interests to help send the slaves back to their former masters, too. Swiftly, he sets off on the trail of his quarry, but when he realises that "Buck" is actually quite a decent soul who genuinely wants to help his clients achieve their new opportunities without upsetting the balance between the native Indians and the buffalo, the two decide to unite and plan their own form of revenge. The thing has a degree of predictability about it that rather drags it down, even if the story does highlight the fact that victory in war wasn't necessarily a victory for freedom. The cinematography is grand and there is plenty of action, but somehow the film just never caught fire for me. Neither man came across as especially convincing and Mitchell just underwhelmed as a baddie. I suppose the days of the Western as a genre were coming to an end and though the underlying message of continuing fear and exploitation is clear and important, the film itself, despite quite an entertaining denouement, is maybe trying a bit too hard.

Sidney Poitier is a Civil War veteran who makes a living helping freed slaves travel to new land in the west. He's opposed by a troop of ex-Confederate soldiers lead by Cameron Mitchell, who are trying to drive them back to the South and force them back to plantation jobs.

Fleeing Mitchell, Poitier encounters Harry Belafonte, a con man posing as a travelling preacher. Poitier initially distrusts him ... and with good reason ... but after a particularly vicious attack on a wagon train, Belafonte and Poitier team up to get the settlers to safety.

Poitier initially hired Joseph Sargent to direct this film, but took over the reigns after a few days to help give the film a more authentic perspective. It was a good call, since other than really good lead performances, the perspective on the lives of the freed slaves seeking new lives is the only thing that really distinguishes this from your average western of this period. I don't really mean this as a knock on the film, since it's a well-directed and acted film, but it's also a fairly routine western.

Things do really pick up in the last act, which has some pretty tense action sequences. All and all, it's a fine directorial debut and one of the classiest Blaxploitation westerns of the period.

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.

This was very boring, how did they manage to make this film so trite and underwhelming when there was so much potential? Poitier is a powerful actor but he's the same person in every role. Belafonte is not endearing and he's an ugly man with cracker Jack colored teeth. There is no redeemable quality to this movie maybe just the "yellow hair" speech by the Indian chief. Black Western are obligated to be at least semi entertaining.

I just saw this movie for the first time on Turner Classic Movies tonight. I had heard about it, but missed it. It's just another shoot-'em-up horse opera, but this time with a difference. It's one of the only westerns ever made that is a story about black people in the Old West, with black actors in the lead roles. Harry Belafonte is excellent as the Preacher. Sidney Poitier is also very good, and although the story contains the full compliment of standard cowboy movie clichés---shoot-outs, posse chases, bank robberies, whining ricochet sounds, etc.---, it's very entertaining. The vast majority of Hollywood westerns are exclusively white, and feature virtually no black people at all. Indians are almost always featured as pidgin-speaking cigar-store cartoon characters, with white actors usually in the speaking parts. Some idiot composer came up with the pounding tom-toms, descending minor theme music played by trombones and low brass whenever Indians come into the picture. It's unbelievable how ridiculous this music is. Hollywood has a lot to answer for in its racist treatment of minorities throughout its early history, which has never been fully addressed. So it's great to see a western like Buck and The Preacher that is different. As a result, it's a lot better than your average western, even though it milks the same old clichés.

The main hero Buck is an useless tomato can while The Preacher is that of a class A actor and should've the lead. The film itself is a good tv movie but the zest of unfunny comedy throughout the theme is one reason I will never watch it again in this life or the next, being offered million dollars or not.

We tend to forget that in 1972, in the heart of the whole "blaxploitation" movement, that the very idea of casting African-Americans in traditional white roles was daring in and of itself. As such, Buck and the Preacher, starring Sidney Poitier (who also directed) and Harry Belafonte in the titular roles must have created quite a stir upon its release. The story is pretty standard for a western--a wagon train heading west, led by a tough-as-nails trail guide, is harassed by outside forces (usually bandits or American Indians), but in this case, the settlers are all freed slaves, and the "outside forces" are hired guns by the south, bend on stopping every black settler group, destroying their supplies (and murdering a few of their people), thus terrorizing them into returning to the plantations. Former military sergeant Buck (Poitier) will have none of that, and the slick-talking con man "Preacher (Belafonte), whose initial intentions may seem questionable, mans up and does the right thing, joining forces with Buck for a typical final showdown. A fun western, to be sure, but if you're looking for deeper social commentary that what has already been described, you won't find it. A traditional western with an African-American cast is daring as it gets in 1972, but don't let that keep you away. The original score by Benny Carter, heavy on the mouth harp and that weird pig-sounding instrument they use on Green Acres, will annoy the hell out of you yet stay with you for days.

this movie goes down as one of the best westerns.. ever produced... buck(sidney poitier) helps a group of black settlers.... move west... from louisiana... from the get-go.. he meets up with... a con-man... the preacher(harry belafonte).... as they show displeasure amongst each other... the plot thickens.. when the settlers are being forced back home..... Buck has other ideas... as the indians... are on his side and pave the way,.... there are casualties... and solid acting amonst poitier-belafonte-ruby dee and cameron mitchell... the setting is the late 1800's after the civil war... and tells a chilling story.... this movie will make you both laugh and cry.... and has 10-written all over it.... both poitier and belafonte(very funny man).... excelled in this flick.... stay with it... you won't be disappointed... some solid music also helps the movie along... kick back and enjoy... i have.. many times!!!

Hollywood would have us imagine the western migration as an all-white experience. This picture tells the story with black actors, although facing the same menace they flee, racism. The antagonists are a gang of "night-riders" both hunting Buck, but also terrorizing the black wagon-train.

My main complaint is a terribly annoying, invasive soundtrack, featuring a Jew's Harp of all things. (Like blues harmonica, a little goes a long way!)

I remember my parents taking me to see this film when I was 11. I loved it. I still remember there's a scene with Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, and I think, a snake...along with Car Wash, Uptown Saturday Night and others of that era, it is one of the funniest films I've ever seen as a child...Brava!