One of cinema’s most significant and influential African-American figures, the iconic Sidney Poitier had critical success such that he became the first black man to win the Best Actor Oscar, and commercial success such that he was voted America’s top box office draw in 1968. In the early 1970s, following disagreement with its original director, Poitier parlayed his clout into directorial debut Buck And The Preacher, now re-released in a 4K digital restoration. 

Unusually for a Western, it focuses on a group of freed slaves as they travel West to make better lives for themselves after the Civil War. Led by Buck (Poitier) and accompanied by a shady preacher (Harry Belafonte), difficulties include negotiations with Native Americans for safe passage and fending off attacks from a group of racist bounty hunters trying to corral them back to their former existence. 

Notes by Kevin Coyne