History Film / TheManWhoCameBack

In the aftermath of the Civil War, former slaves are forced to work tirelessly for meagre wages on a Louisiana plantation. To add insult to injury, they were sometimes paid in "script," worthless currency only accepted at the plantation's overpriced store, leading to the workers accumulating debts to the plantation owners. The cycle of debt made it impossible for these freemen to achieve true freedom, and they decided to strike to better their lives. Unfortunately, this action provokes the wrath of the most powerful figures in the town, including the town sheriff, preacher, and a power-hungry man named Billy Duke, who leads a gang of violent thugs. Reese Paxton, a white overseer, takes up the workers' cause but finds himself and his family targeted by Duke's rage. Despite assistance from a Yankee lawyer, Paxton is convicted by a corrupt judge and sent to prison. After enduring physical and emotional torture, Paxton eventually returns, seeking revenge against those who wronged him.

* GroinAttack: Paxton makes good on an earlier threat to the lecherous Amos--who had raped the HookerWithAHeartOfGold who was aiding Paxton--by shooting him in the groin and leaving him to bleed out.

* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: When Kate comes into the bedroom to make sure her husband Caleb is dead, she finds Paxton waiting for her. She grabs Caleb's revolver of the table, points it at Paxton and pulls the trigger. The hammer falls on an empty chamber and Paxton just smiles, saying that he is luckier than her.

* TheKlan: Billy, Amos, the warden and they rest of their posse don white hoods before the ride intro the camp of the former slaves and star shooting them down in their search for Paxton.

* ShovelStrike: When Delbert attacks Paxton with an axe at Caleb's place, Paxton grabs a shovel to defend himself. After knocking he axe out of Delbert's hand, Paxton kills him with a shovel strike to the head.

* ATasteOfTheLash: Even though slavery has officially ended, Billy Duke still carries a whip as he did when he was a slave owner, and uses it to inflict a merciless whipping on Grandpa when the catches the old man and his family attempting to leave the plantation. The scars on Grandpa's back reveal that endured many such whippings when he was a slave.

* WardensAreEvil: The philosophy of the warden of the prison Paxton is sent to is "Prisoners are not human. They are livestock".
* WaterTorture: When [[WardensAreEvil the Warden]] recaptures the escaped Paxton on the shores of the lake, he has his guards hold Paxton down and repeatedly shove his head underwater: holding him down a little bit longer each until all the fight is taken out of him.

* WouldHitAGirl: Billy Duke shows no hesitation in murdering Paxton's wife and tossing her body down the well. Later, he tortures a prostitute by burning her with a cigar in an attempt to extract Paxton' location from her. And, according to Paxton, during the war he bayoneted women and children in order to inflate his count of the number of Yankees he had killed.
* WouldHurtAChild: Billy Duke shows no hesitation in murdering Paxton's young son and tossing his body down the well. And, according to Paxton, during the war he bayoneted women and children in order to inflate his count of the number of Yankees he had killed.

* ATasteOfTheLash: Even though slavery has officially ended, Billy Duke still carries a whip as he did when he was slave owner, and uses it to inflict a merciless whipping on Grandpa when the catches the old man and his family attempting to leave the plantation. the scars on Grandpa's back reveal that endured many such whippings when he was a slave.

* WhipOfDominance: Even though slavery has officially ended, Billy Duke still carries a whip as he did when he was slave owner, and is [[ATasteOfTheLash not afraid to use it]] on his freed workers to keep them in line.