''The McMasters'' is a 1970 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by Alf Kjellin and starring

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

Brock Peters Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor and singer, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of ''Porgy and Bess'', and the wrongfully convicted Tom Robinson in t ...

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series '' Kung Fu'', playi ...

and

Nancy Kwan Nancy Kwan Ka-shen (; born May 19, 1939) is a Chinese-American actress, philanthropist, and former dancer. In addition to her personality and looks, her career was benefited by Hollywood's casting of more Asian roles in the 1960s, especially in ...

. Producer Monroe Sachson had made ''The Incident'' with Brock Peters and the two were looking around for another film to make together. The budget was around $2 million. The film was shot in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. The film was cut by the US distributors, Chevron Pictures, and Peters, the writer and producer asked to have their names removed from the film. Ultimately, two versions of the film were released. For its NYC debut, it played in two different theatres, one showing the cut version, the other showing the director's cut.

Plot

An ex-slave is given half-ownership of a farm following the Civil War. He can't find anyone to work for him until Native Americans help. Bigots try to shut him down.

Cast

as McMasters *

as Benjie *

as White Feather *

as Robin *

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

as Kolby *

Dane Clark Dane Clark (born Bernard Zanville; February 26, 1912September 11, 1998) was an American character actor who was known for playing, as he labeled himself, "Joe Average." Early life Clark was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Jewish imm ...

as Spencer *

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...

as Preacher * L. Q. Jones as Russell * R. G. Armstrong as Watson *

Alan Vint Alan Richard Vint (November 11, 1944 – August 16, 2006) was an American character actor. Vint was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He appeared in a number of supporting roles during the 1970s in films such as ''The McMasters'' (1970), ''Two-Lane Bla ...

as Hank

Novelization

Concurrent with the release of the film, Award Books published a novelization of the screenplay by Dudley Dean McGaughey under his primary by-line, Dean Owen.

References

External links

* * 1970 films 1970 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films 1970s English-language films Films directed by Alf Kjellin 1970s American films {{1970s-Western-film-stub