Man and Boy (1971)

Bill Cosby is Caleb Revers, a former soldier trying to squeeze a living out of a small ranch in post-Civil War Arizona with his wife, Ivy (Gloria Foster), and son, Billy (George Spell).

Most white folks aren’t happy about the fact that a black man owns land in these here parts.

They’re even more taken aback when the Revers acquires a sick horse named Jubal, supposedly on the verge of dying, and nurses him back to health.

After all, with a horse, they might just make enough of a living not to lose the land.

When the horse is stolen, Caleb and Billy set out on foot to bring it back.

Before long, Caleb faces the possibility of not only losing the horse, but his son as well thanks to a run-in with aging outlaw Lee Christmas.

Bill Cosby as Caleb Revers, ready to set out to retrieve a stolen horse in Man and Boy (1971)

George Spell as Billy Revers, realizing his family’s newly acquired horse is gone in Man and Boy (1971)

Review:

Cosby was already a TV star when the film was made, but there’s not much comedy here, except for one scene in which Caleb has to explain to his young son what it means to put a horse out to stud.

Unfortunately, it’s also not a very entertaining film. And it’s hurt by some silliness — like a lonely Indian woman throwing herself at Crosby’s character — and over-the-top performances from Douglas Ward as outlaw Christmas, who doesn’t seem all that dangerous, and Leif Erickson as the sheriff out to settle an old score with the outlaw.

The film does score points for balance. Though part of the focus is post-Civil War racism, not every white treats the Revers with prejudice. In fact, Caleb and Billy face as much trouble with blacks on their journey.

There’s a black ranch hand determined to show Caleb he’s the better man; and there’s the aging black outlaw, Christmas, who stole Jubal.

Douglas Ward as Lee Christmas, the outlaw who winds up with Billy as his hostage in Man and Boy (1971)

Leif Erickson as Sheriff Mossman, a lawman with a score to settle with Lee Christmas in May and Boy (1971)

Directed by:
E.W. Swackhamer

Cast:
Bill Cosby … Caleb Revers
Gloria Foster … Ivy Revers
Leif Erickson … Sheriff Mossman
George Spell … Billy Revers
Douglas Ward … Lee Christmas
John Anderson … Stretch
Henry Silva … Caine
Dub Taylor … Atkins
Yaphet Kotto … Nate
Shelley Morrison … Rosita
Robert Lawson … Lawson

Runtime: 98 min.

aka:
Ride a Dark Horse

Gloria Foster as Ivy Revers, ordering a white man off her property in Man and Boy (1971)

Shelley Morrison as Rosita, the Indian woman who throws herself as Revers out of loneliness in Man and Boy (1971)

Memorable lines:

Ivy Revers: “Thank you, kindly. But you’re on our property.”
Lawson: “I sure do find it hard gettin’ that in my head.”

Caleb Revers: “I’m taking the boy with me. He lost the horse; he’ll help me get him back.”

Lee Christmas: “Was you really gonna shoot me?”
Billy Revers: “Yeah.”
Christmas: “You oughta be shot for even leavin’ that horse where a man would get stuck with him.”

Sheriff Mossman, of Lee Christmas: “No outlaw. Rattlesnake. Black rattlesnake.”

Sheriff Mossman to Caleb: “If I ever see’d a combination that begged for a rope, you are it. Black. Horse thief. And a blue belly in the wrong town.”

Yaphet Kotto as Nate, a cowboy determined to prove he’s a better man than Revers in Man and Boy (1971)

John Anderson as Stretch, a cowboy who once worked alongside Caleb Revers in Man and Boy (1971)

Henry Silva as Caine, a rancher sympathetic to Caleb Revers’ plight in Man and Boy (1971)

Bill Crosby as Caleb Revers, the ex-cavalryman trying to make a living on a 14-acre ranch in Man and Boy 1971)