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Buck and the Preacher

Buck and the Preacher

Action · Comedy · Western · 1972

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.

Movie details

Buck and the Preacher

“The fight was against the raiders... but the feud was between themselves!”

1972 Action · Comedy · Western 1h 42m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.6 / 10

3.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

84 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

65 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Buck and the Preacher?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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¡Three Amigos!

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The Lone Ranger

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Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure

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A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.

American Outlaws

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When a Midwest town learns that a corrupt railroad baron has captured the deeds to their homesteads without their knowledge, a group of young ranchers join forces to take back what is rightfully theirs. They will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West and, as their fame grows, so will the legend of their leader, a young outlaw by the name of Jesse James.

Barbarosa

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Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.

The Frisco Kid

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Sidney Poitier

Written by

Ernest Kinoy · Drake Walker

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Buck

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte

Preacher

Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee

Ruth

Cameron Mitchell

Cameron Mitchell

Deshay

Denny Miller

Denny Miller

Floyd

Nita Talbot

Nita Talbot

Madam Esther

J

John Kelly

Sheriff

Court is in session

Put Buck and the Preacher on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.