The Trackers

a fine made for tv western centering on tracker(Sammy Davis Jr) aiding Earnest Borgnine in the search for his missing daughter. Lots of action for western fans, some familiar character actors, and even some comedic moments.

The first thing that I thought about when I watched this tV movie from the early seventies is that it reminded me Bob Aldrich's masterpiece, made one year later, starring Burt the Great. Of course, that would be a mistake to expect a better movie from this one, starring Ernie Borgnine and Sam davis Jr, but it's worthwhile though, with good cast and performance. And that's a posse movie, a genre within the western one, a very specific scheme, proper to western mainly, not crime movie. As you also have the revenge topic, alone sheriff against corrupted town scheme too, or blue coats against Indians, or caravan west and of course bad white men selling alcohol or guns to good Indians. Back to this film, you have here a good character depiction, especially between Borgnine and Davis. Not that much racism oriented, only a little, it was the period for this.

Aaron Spelling made a bunch of made for television films and they mostly fell into categories like romance, suspense and horror. So imagine my surprise when I found that he also produced a western-- and it stars an actor you wouldn't suspect would be in a western, Sammy Davis Jr.!

When the film begins, Sam and Dora Paxton (Ernest Borgnine and Julie Adams) arrive at their ranch to find their son dying and daughter abducted. When Sam contacts a famous lawman and tracker, instead of this old friend arriving to help he sends his deputy...Ezekiel Smith (Davis). What follows are the sort of racial tension you have seen in films of the era. Sam is, like most folks of his day, a racist and slowly he and Ezekiel work through this as they set out on their cross-country adventure.

This is a film that offers few real surprises and ends about where you'd expect. This doesn't mean it's a bad film. It's well intentioned and entertaining but not a whole lot more.

A mysterious band of killers raids isolated homesteads. In their latest crime, they raid Sam Paxton's place, kill Sam's son, and kidnap his daughter, Becky. Sam is desperate to get the killers and recover his daughter. The efforts of a posse prove ineffectual, but Sam is determined to continue on. He sends for an old Army buddy who is a well known tracker. Unable to come, his friend sends another tracker, Ezekial Smith. Sam, a Confederate veteran, is extremely

displeased when it turns out Ezekial is black. However, the posse is making no progress so Sam reluctantly accepts this help. Ultimately, the pair gradually gain each other's respect as they pursue Becky's trail into Mexico.

Though it has some occasional comedic elements, this is a serious western

featuring a very credible performance by Sammy Davis, Jr. The supporting cast is composed largely of veteran actors with a wealth of experience in the western genre. The result is an effective and entertaining western. This is particularly remarkable given the type of material many viewers associate with producer

Aaron Spelling. The issue of racism isn't sugarcoated. None of the posse

members ever really accept Ezekial Smith and even Sam is very slow to give up a lifetime of bigotry. Recommended.

Aaron Spelling lends his gravitas to the ongoing love affair that the American TV audience has with their ridiculous motion of the historical wild west.

This rose-tinted fairytale is no different, except there's some fine talent in front of the camera.

Also, despite being half a century old, this movie has a level headed and mature approach to the issues of bigotry and racism.

But the story is really an excuse to explore the development of trust and friendship between two cowboys on the trail of some Indians heading to Mexico. Both Earnest Borgnine and Sammy Davis Jr. Both rise above the silly story to make this worth watching.