Rent Wagon Master (1950)
3.6 of 5 from 59 ratings
1h 26min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
In 1849, Ward Bond, a Mormon elder, hires young horse traders Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy (Harry Carey Jr.), to guide a party of Mormons to the distant and unexplored San Juan River Country. The party stumbles upon a stranded medicine show caravan in the desert occupied by Dr. A. Locksley Hall (Alan Mowbray) and his two companions Fleuretty Phyffe (Ruth Clifford) and dancing girl, Denver (Joanne Dru), who soon join the party on their journey. Later the group are joined by outlaw Uncle Shiloh Clegg (Charles Kemper) and his four colleagues as they attempt to avert attention from the marshal who is hot on their trail. However Clegg and his colleagues prove to be troublesome after encountering a tribe of Navajos and attacking an Indian girl. To avoid repercussions Bond allows Clegg to be horsewhipped by the tribe. However this only enrages Clegg and soon he assumes control of the group ordering Bond to navigate an extremely treacherous path after reaching a cliffs edge. - Actors:
- Ben Johnson, Ward Bond, Harry Carey, Alan Mowbray, Charles Kemper, Joanne Dru, Jane Darwell, Ruth Clifford, Russell Simpson, Kathleen O'Malley, James Arness, Francis Ford, Fred Libby, Jim Thorpe, Mickey Simpson, Cliff Lyons, Hank Worden, Don Summers, Movita, Danny Borzage
- Directors:
- John Ford
- Producers:
- Merian C. Cooper, John Ford
- Writers:
- Frank S. Nugent, Patrick Ford, John Ford
- Aka:
- Wagonmaster
- Studio:
- Universal Pictures
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics
- Collections:
- 21 Reasons to Love, 21 Reasons to Love..Modern Westerns, Cinema Paradiso's 2022 Centenary Club, Introducing the Thesping Olympians, A Brief History of Film...
More like Wagon Master
Reviews (1) of Wagon Master
Frontier Western - Wagon Master review by Steve
Minor John Ford western with a familiar narrative and most of his standard motifs. So the film opens with the rich baritone harmonies of the Sons of Pioneers. On 25 minutes there's an extended fistfight. Then a tenderfoot on a wild horse and an improvised square dance. At length, a wagon train crosses a river...
There is attractive b&w photography of the same old locations. But no stars. This has an ensemble cast drawn from Ford's stock company of support players performing the usual archetypes. Ben Johnson and Harry Carey jr. are the scouts who take a party of god-fearing Mormons- led by Ward Bond- west across the Utah desert...
They have many adventures, including picking up a medicine show run by Joanne Dru and Alan Mowbray. Naturally he's always drunk. Western veteran Charles Kemper plays the patriarch of a gang of inbred outlaws. It hasn't got the critical status of Ford's classics, but will appeal to his many disciples.
And it's such an unassuming film that it may entertain some agnostics too. There are zero surprises, but it's a short, unpretentious genre picture which presents the customary scenarios with a broad, comical approach. It inspired the popular television series Wagon Train, which kept Ward Bond in work for the rest of his life.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.