Buck and the Preacher
| Buck and the Preacher | |
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Film Poster
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| Directed by | Sidney Poitier |
| Produced by | Joel Gilckman |
| Written by | Ernest Kinoy |
| Starring |
Sidney Poitier Harry Belafonte Ruby Dee |
| Music by | Benny Carter |
| Cinematography | Alex Phillips Jr. |
| Edited by | Pembroke J. Herring |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Buck and the Preacher is a 1972 American Western film starring Sidney Poitier as Buck and Harry Belafonte as the Preacher. Buck is a trail guide leading groups of former slaves trying to homestead in the West, immediately after the American Civil War. The Preacher is a swindling minister of the "High and Low Order of the Holiness Persuasion Church". Together, they protect a wagon train from bounty hunters.
This is the first film Sidney Poitier directed. Vincent Canby of The New York Times said Poitier "showed a talent for easy, unguarded, rambunctious humor missing from his more stately movies".
The notable blues musicians Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Don Frank Brooks performed in the film's soundtrack, composed by jazz great Benny Carter.
Buck and the Preacher opens with a deep rhythm and blues soundtrack reminiscent of a John Wayne Western that was given deep soul and harmony from the 1970s. The camera switches scenes to a camp of African-Americans who have been just freed from slavery and are heading West for a better life. A band of men on horseback terrorize the camp by burning wagons and tents and killing men, women and children. The leader of these white bandits, DeShay (Cameron Mitchell), is wearing an old cavalry jacket hinting at his military past.
Buck (Sidney Poitier) enters the scene and dismounts his horse to walk up to his home. DeShay makes Buck's wife, Ruth (Ruby Dee), wave to him as if everything is all right. Buck begins to approach the house and is then caught in a firefight between DeShay's outlaws. Buck remounts his horse and flees after being chased by the bandits. He then stops at an apparently empty campsite with a burning campfire, food and a horse. A naked man, the Preacher (Harry Belafonte), is bathing at a nearby stream and approaches the campsite to dress, but Buck steals the Preacher's horse and his breakfast at gunpoint.
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