Movie Summary: [Western, Drama]

    Sidney Poitier (who also directed) stars as Buck, an ex-Union Army Cavalry sergeant who becomes a scout for freed slaves heading to the Colorado frontier. Harry Belafonte tags along as a Bible-thumping con artist, the Preacher, with Ruby Dee in a scene-stealing performance as Buck's stoic wife. Attacked by racist bounty hunters determined to return the former slaves to a life of sharecropping in Louisiana, the remarkable courage of the pioneers served as a powerful metaphor during the Civil Rights movement of the 1970's.