Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40453 in VHS
• Released on: 1999-04-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 74 minutes

Customer Reviews

Not half bad
When a group of apparent army deserters murder his son and kidnap his daughter, rancher Sam Paxton (Ernest Borgnine) sends for his friend, a US marshall and expert tracker to help him bring the perpetrators to justice. What he gets instead, unexpectedly, is black deputy marshall Ezekial Smith (Sammy Davis Jr.). Initially reluctant to set off with the black man, Paxton eventually gives in to the pleading of his wife and leaves with Smith, the racist local sheriff, and a small posse to find his girl and bring her home.

They soon learn from Smith, the tracker, that it was indians rather than army deserters who had taken Paxton's daughter. As the pursuit heads into Mexico, Smith proves to be the only man loyal to the cause as the sheriff and posse desert the group. Paxton's racism slowly begins to melt away as he begins to realize Smith's true worth. By the end, a generally warm feeling exists between the two men.

THE TRACKERS is not great art by any stretch of the imagination. It is a made-for-TV movie produced by Aaron Spelling and directed by Earl Bellamy who is more known for directing sitcoms and other episodic TV fare. The movie even comes complete with fade-outs and musical build-ups to signal commercial breaks. Nevertheless, it is quite entertaining and even comical in parts even if it doesn't come close to THE SEARCHERS, with its similar title and background plot.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

From the back cover - just the facts (plotline) -
Sam Paxton (Ernest Borgnine) is devastated when he returns home to his ranch to find his only son murdered and his daughter apparently kidnapped by Army deserters. On a mission of revenge, Sam gathers a small posse and seeks the help of an old friend, a tracker, to locate his daughter. Zeke Smith (Sammy Davis Jr.) an experienced frontier scout with a will of his own, shows up instead of Sam's friend. Sam questions enlisting Zeke, fearing that they will disagree on how to find his daughter but, despite Sam's reluctance, Zeke joins the posse. Soon the posse deserts Sam after learning that the kidnappers are not Army deserters but renegade Indians. Sam is left to depend solely on Zeke to help him retrieve his daughter. Produced by Sammy Davis Jr.