Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

mark.waltz There's a combination of tragedy and triumph here as Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte combine their light-hearted personalities into emotional drama with this story of two men who, at first on opposite sides of the spectrum, find a common cause in fighting against bigotry. Poitier is a former Northern soldier who has been helping newly freed slaves go west with little help from the vigilantes hired by plantation owners in getting what they still believe their property back so they can continue living "their right way of life". The vigilantes are horrible white men who have no qualms in destroying an entire camp, killing men, women and children, in their efforts to scare these people back into slavery. It is almost like a modernized version of "The Ten Commandments" in that sense, with this group of men the equivalent of Edward G. Robinson's Dathan, and Moses being seen in the forms of Buck and his reluctant partner, a traveling preacher who initially agreed to be informer for the white vigilantes.There's a lot to like about this moving drama with a western setting, and when Ruby Dee, as Poitier's long-suffering wife, reveals how she longs to raise her children far away from even any memory of slavery, you really feel what the millions of slaves must have felt after they were allegedly freed but could not get what was promised to them, still facing adversity for decades after the end of the civil war. Poitier and Belafonte make such a great team and give such a light-hearted performance that at times, it doesn't seem like they are acting. There's a lot of sadness in the light-hearted structure of the story, including the attacks on the innocent people striving to find a new land and their dealings with the Native Americans who are fighting their own struggle against the racist white men determined to steal everything from these people that they can get their hands on. Nita Talbot, usually comical as an Eve Arden type wise-cracker, plays serious here as a madam, and Cameron Mitchell out-does the villainy he had played decades earlier in "Carousel" with a character so vile that you can't wait to see him dispatched.

pforpoed 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.

Lee Eisenberg 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").

manipool 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!