Login
Check out the trailer for the 1972 classic Buck and The Preacher.
Watch Now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ULWdZl1BM
This film was selected by AAFCA member, Lisa Kennedy, as part of the series, Sony Pictures Action Presents: A Roundtable Discussion with the African American Film Critics Association. Learn more here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtS3b7EJCpfU0kXP9FV7uBC8Olsq0cxKk
BUCK AND THE PREACHER REVIEW BY LISA KENNEDY
Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte bring powder-keg chemistry to this 1972 western. Buck (Poitier) organizes wagon trains for former slaves headed West. As a slippery preacher-man, Belafonte carries a Bible that houses more than the gospels and has been outfitted with false teeth meant to temper his beauty (they don’t). Ruby Dee’s Ruth brings exquisite backbone to her and Buck’s homestead. Hired by Louisiana plantation owners, Nightriders (led by a nasty piece of work, played by Cameron Mitchell) terrorize the settlers to force them to turn back and return South where there is “work” for them. Smart about Jim Crow labor practices, the movie is visionary in prioritizing the economic underpinnings of racism. It is equally prescient about the shifting alliance of Blacks and Indians. This was Poitier’s directorial debut. Like so many actors behind the camera, he elicits strong and subtle performances. But he nails something more elusive for first-time directors: He keeps a brisk, involving forward motion. Jazz great Benny Carter composed a killer, mouth-harp twangy score. As significant as “Buck and the Preacher” rates in the annals of black filmmaking, it also shares the rebellious vibe with other westerns of the period, “The Life and Time of Judge Roy Bean” and “Jeremiah Johnson” among them.
ABOUT BUCK AND THE PREACHER
Widely regarded at the time of its release as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with a social conscience, BUCK AND THE PREACHER is an immensely satisfying Western which marked Sidney Poitier's directorial debut, as well as his first screen pairing with superstar Harry Belafonte. Poitier stars as Buck, an ex-Union Army Cavalry sergeant who becomes a scout for freed slaves heading to the Colorado frontier. Tagging along with him are his wife (Ruby Dee in a scene-stealing performance) and a Bible-thumping con artist known as the Preacher (Belafonte). Attacked by racist bounty hunters determined to return the former slaves to a life of sharecropping in Louisiana, Buck and his followers must summon all the courage they have in order to reach their destination and help settle the Wild West.
Subscribe to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment: www.youtube.com/user/sonypictureshomeent
#BuckandThePreacher #Sony #Trailer #SidneyPoitier #HarryBelafonte
Watch Now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ULWdZl1BM
This film was selected by AAFCA member, Lisa Kennedy, as part of the series, Sony Pictures Action Presents: A Roundtable Discussion with the African American Film Critics Association. Learn more here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtS3b7EJCpfU0kXP9FV7uBC8Olsq0cxKk
BUCK AND THE PREACHER REVIEW BY LISA KENNEDY
Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte bring powder-keg chemistry to this 1972 western. Buck (Poitier) organizes wagon trains for former slaves headed West. As a slippery preacher-man, Belafonte carries a Bible that houses more than the gospels and has been outfitted with false teeth meant to temper his beauty (they don’t). Ruby Dee’s Ruth brings exquisite backbone to her and Buck’s homestead. Hired by Louisiana plantation owners, Nightriders (led by a nasty piece of work, played by Cameron Mitchell) terrorize the settlers to force them to turn back and return South where there is “work” for them. Smart about Jim Crow labor practices, the movie is visionary in prioritizing the economic underpinnings of racism. It is equally prescient about the shifting alliance of Blacks and Indians. This was Poitier’s directorial debut. Like so many actors behind the camera, he elicits strong and subtle performances. But he nails something more elusive for first-time directors: He keeps a brisk, involving forward motion. Jazz great Benny Carter composed a killer, mouth-harp twangy score. As significant as “Buck and the Preacher” rates in the annals of black filmmaking, it also shares the rebellious vibe with other westerns of the period, “The Life and Time of Judge Roy Bean” and “Jeremiah Johnson” among them.
ABOUT BUCK AND THE PREACHER
Widely regarded at the time of its release as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with a social conscience, BUCK AND THE PREACHER is an immensely satisfying Western which marked Sidney Poitier's directorial debut, as well as his first screen pairing with superstar Harry Belafonte. Poitier stars as Buck, an ex-Union Army Cavalry sergeant who becomes a scout for freed slaves heading to the Colorado frontier. Tagging along with him are his wife (Ruby Dee in a scene-stealing performance) and a Bible-thumping con artist known as the Preacher (Belafonte). Attacked by racist bounty hunters determined to return the former slaves to a life of sharecropping in Louisiana, Buck and his followers must summon all the courage they have in order to reach their destination and help settle the Wild West.
Subscribe to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment: www.youtube.com/user/sonypictureshomeent
#BuckandThePreacher #Sony #Trailer #SidneyPoitier #HarryBelafonte