The McMasters

1970 film by Alf Kjellin

August 7, 1970 (1970-08-07) (New York City)
December 23, 1970 (1970-12-23) (Los Angeles)

Running time

90 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The McMasters is a 1970 American Western film directed by Alf Kjellin and starring Burl Ives, Brock Peters, David Carradine and Nancy Kwan.

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.^[1] The film was shot in New Mexico.^[2]

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.^[3] 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

Burl Ives as McMasters
Brock Peters as Benjie
David Carradine as White Feather
Nancy Kwan as Robin
Jack Palance as Kolby
Dane Clark as Spencer
John Carradine as Preacher
L. Q. Jones as Russell
R. G. Armstrong as Watson
Alan Vint 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

^ Briggs, Walter. (April 13, 1969). "Movies: An International Film Effort in New Mexico". Los Angeles Times. p. s17.
^ Kimmis Hendrick (May 12, 1969). "Making a western with overtones of now: 'Kind of frightening' Born a slave". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 4.
^ Kilday, Gregg (September 1, 1970). "DISAGREE WITH EDITING: Principals Disown New Film". Los Angeles Times. p. g13.