The McMasters Reviews

This bleak, realistic-looking western is notable for being one of the first in the genre to deal with the racial prejudice of whites against blacks and native Americans. Unfortunately, its goals were ultimately undermined by the producers, who released the film with two different endings. Peters plays the black soldier returning home to the South after fighting for the North in the Civil War, only to find himself the victim of prejudice. Ives, the white rancher who raised him, offers him half of the ranch, which Peters accepts. But no one will work for a black man, so the land is about to be sold when the younger Carradine, an Indian befriended by Peters, leads his tribe to help Peters with the roundup. However, the local whites don't take to this, and trouble ensues. One ending has the local bad guys, led by Palance, win out; the other finds Peters defeating Palance. The producers, who couldn't decide whether to go for morality or box office gross, undermined what could have been an important statement about racial prejudices.