It seems that there were two ending versions for this movie. I was unlucky because I saw the smooth version, not the harsh one, as I expected to, especially for this period, early seventies, not for the squeamish.
"Benjie" (Brock Peters) is a young black man living in the South who stole a horse in order to join the Union forces during the Civil War. After the war he returns to his hometown and is greeted with hatred and animosity by almost everybody.
Helmed by a TV director, and nearly always looking like it, this rugged little western has an interesting assemblage of actors, but fails to become a memorable piece of film-making. Peters is a former slave who's been fighting for the Union in the Civil War.
The McMasters is a serious western that does deal with serious issues that may not be appropriate for kids. Set after the Civil War, an African American named Benji is shunned by the townsfolk of Ironside for not only the color of his skin, but because he was part of the Union Army.
'The McMasters' is yet another film that stands as a testament to the changing values of North American society: another case of "There's no way that could have been made today".Brock Peters plays Benji, a former slave and Civil War veteran who is adopted by kindly-old-white-man Burl Ives ('Mcmasters'), and given title to the old man's farm.
"The McMasters" is set somewhere in the American south just after the Civil War. A former slave Benjie (Brock Peters) returns home in his Union uniform following his participation in the conflict.
