What an eclectic cast: Brock Peters, Burl Ives, Nancy Kwan, Jack Palance, and John and David Carradine. I had to check out The McMasters after seeing credits like that. An interesting premise sees Brock returning home after the Civil War, and while the white residents were friendly to him before he left, they're very hostile now that the South has lost. Burl Ives is nice to him, as the man who raised him, and he signs over half his land to make them equal partners - which really makes the neighbors mad.
While we never really understand why Brock sticks around, or why Burl isn't killed for his "treachery", or why Nancy Kwan is never going to show up, she finally does after thirty minutes. I can't believe she took this part, and frankly, I can't believe Brock Peters did, either. "Uglied up" to play a reservation Indian with broken English, Nancy gets given to Brock as a present. After being told that she'll do anything he wants, he chases her around the desert, rapes her, then runs away - why would either of them read the script and sign on for this movie? After making an indelible impression by stating so tearfully that he did not rape a woman in To Kill a Mockingbird, why would he ever agree to a movie where he does? And why would Nancy sign on after reading the script calls for full nudity and two rape scenes?
I can only suppose that nobody read the script. If I'd known how lousy the movie would have turned out, I never would have sat through it. Save yourself ninety minutes and skip it.
Kiddy warning: Due to racial language and a rape scene, I wouldn't let my kids watch this movie.
