THE McMASTERS
US, 1970, 90 minutes, Colour.
Burl Ives, Brock Peters, David Carradine, Nancy Kwan, Jack Palance, John Carradine, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Dane Clark, Alan Vint.
Directed by Alf Kjellin.
The Mc Masters is an unusual story. It is set in the immediate post-Civil War period with Burl Ives as a landowner who has freed a slave and the slave, Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird) returning in his Union uniform after the war and his taking up a half ownership of the ranch. There is prejudice in the town, led by Jack Palance, and support led by R.G. Armstrong and Dane Clark. There is violence, especially towards the women. Also involved are a group of dispossessed Indians, led by David Carradine, who are looked after by the freed slave.
The film paints a different picture from the usual cinema story. It is sympathetic to minorities, is against racial prejudice.
The film was directed by the Swedish actor-turned-director Alf Kjellin. He had acted in a number of films in his native Sweden, especially during World War Two and the 1950s in some of Ingmar Bergman’s films. He also acted in a number of American films like Madame Bovary and The Juggler. However, by the early 1960s he had moved to the United States, acting in many films and television programs and continuing to direct, especially for television.
1. The film seen as a western, a post-Civil War film, a race film? How well did it blend the various ingredients? The conventions used, well or conventionally?
2. The strong atmosphere of the credits, the use of music and loud music throughout, western locations, the atmosphere of the South, colour? A melodramatic tone throughout the film?
3. The film's focus on Benjy and audience sympathy for him? As a person returning from the war, fighting for the North and returning to the South, a black man with his heritage in the town and well known by people? The pre-war memories, filtered through the experiences of the war, turned into hate and racism? Could the audience sympathise with Benjy and feel against the racist attitudes?
4. How well did the film highlight the issues of the return of a Northern soldier to the South, the owning of land, the lack of support in getting workers to till the land? Issues of strength and violence? Issues of justice? The fact that Benjy received the Mc Masters’ name?
5. The importance of Neil McMasters? Burl Ives' performance, an old man who had the values of the past, his raising of Benjy, his support of him, the values of equality and justice for men, his giving him the land, helping Benjy, supporting him in violence, suffering death because of this?
6. The role of the Indians? Benjy's support of them, the racist questions as applied to the Indians? Their decision to help? The role of Robin and Benjy's attitude from attempted rape to growing love to marriage? The dilemmas that the Indians faced in supporting the white or the blacks whom they considered white equivalents?
7. The portrayal of the townspeople, their violence and cynicism, for example in the bar, their raids on Benjy's farm, the behaviour at the funeral? An atmosphere of brutality and violence?
8. How were the whites symbolized in Colby, his harshness, fighting in the South, the mouthpiece of racism, leading the raid, killing McMasters? The significance of Colby’s own death?
9. The more moderate whites as represented by Spencer? Sympathy towards Benjy, but advising him to leave and to avoid worries and violence?
10. The confrontation at Mc Masters, the brutalization of Mc Masters, Robin and Benjy? The humiliation of making Benjy drunk and making him dance? The return of violence on the intruders? The image of American racism?
11. The final siege and the role of Colby? The despair in Benjy? The Indians' decision to help? His decision to remain? The prospects for the future?
12. How credible was the plot? A basic western, utilizing the racist issues? Portraying values in the American heritage convincingly? The attempt to change attitudes in the present day? Do audiences respond to this kind of moral lesson in a western?
