Sidney Poitier’s directorial debut ‘Buck and the Preacher’ to gallop back into cinemas in a new 4K restoration

Park Circus today announce they will reissue Sony Pictures’ BUCK AND THE PREACHER (1972) back into cinemas across the UK & Ireland from 3 March 2023 in a stunning new 4K restoration.

Starring the late, great Sidney Poitier in his directorial debut alongside a scene-stealing Harry Belafonte (in their first screen pairing), this revisionist Western masterpiece expertly subverts the genre at every turn and remains ripe for rediscovery on the big screen over 50 years on.

Cinemas screening the 1972 classic include Odeon, Prince Charles Cinema, Irish Film Institute, Glasgow Film Theatre, HOME Manchester and more. The rerelease from Park Circus, who represent the international theatrical rights on behalf of Sony Pictures, will also feature striking new artwork and trailer.

Poitier stars as Buck, an ex-Union Army Cavalry sergeant who becomes a scout for freed slaves heading to the Colorado frontier. Tagging along with him are his wife and a Bible-thumping con artist known as the Preacher. Attacked by racist bounty hunters determined to return the former slaves to a life of sharecropping in Louisiana, Buck and his followers must summon all the courage they have in order to reach their destination and help settle the Wild West.