Buck and the Preacher (1972) review

After the Civil War has "ended" former soldier Buck (Poitier), whose job is to escort emancipated slaves from Louisiana and take them out West, has a chance encounter with the less-than-reputable Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford (Harry Belafonte); later on, the two of them partner up to protect the folks from the St. Anne Parish from a posse funded by plantation owners that demand free labor.  As long-time actor Poitier's directorial debut it's decent (I've seen much worse): it mostly lacks nuance and pacing is a bit of a problem, but it does bring up a great point about tense relations between African-Americans (who were stolen from their homeland and brought here to be mistreated) and Native Americans (who had their land taken from them, were infected with smallpox and forced to live on reservations): surely they should band together to fight their oppressors.  Bug-eyed Belafonte, with his gnarled teeth and precious "Holy Bible," acts like a cartoon character just so Sid can do the whole Stoic Warrior routine ... and it leaves you with a typical Hollywood ending: those bullets to the shoulders are but flesh wounds, so let's ride into the sunset.