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Wagon Master Produced by Merian C. Cooper Directed by John Ford Screenplay by Frank S. Nugent Screenplay by Patrick Ford Production Company: Argosy Pictures Premiere Date: May 6, 1950 Length: 85 min. |
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Subjects: pioneers; | |||||||||||||||||
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Also Known As: Wagonmaster [incorrect] Summary: Two kind but unscrupulous horse traders named Travis and Sandy are hired by a Mormon wagon train to lead to lead them south to the San Juan River Valley, where they have been assigned to create a settlement. Enroute the group takes in the members of a stranded "hootchy kootchy" show. They are then joined by a family of outlaws hiding from a posse. After the Mormons whip one of these Clegg boys for attempting to rape a Navajo girl, the Cleggs take over, holding the entire wagon train hostage as they continue south. Just as the Cleggs are about to force the grain wagon over a dangerous pass, Travis and Sandy are able to make a move and kill all the outlaws. In the end, they and the traveling entertainers join the Mormons in settling their new valley home. Annotations: See Mormon Film: Key Films of the Second Wave Though not often regarded in America, Wagon Master is ranked among John Ford's finest films, particularly by European critics, and held a special place in his own heart: he called it the film with he was personally most pleased. It is also a landmark film in its sympathetic treatment of Mormons, who had previously most frequently been cinematic villains, but who had begun a remarkable about-face ten year's earlier with Henry Hathaway's Brigham Young. Wagon Master, however, is arguably the most sympathetic portrayal the Saints have ever received, including in their own films. The concept originated with a title agreed upon in a distribution contract but with no accompanying subject matter. While filming She Wore a Yellow Ribbon in southern Utah, Patrick Ford, John's son and one of his screenwriters, became enamored with the local Mormon people. Soon afterwards he and Frank Nugent hit upon a southward-bound wagon train from the days of Brigham Young's colonizing efforts. As this was a small, independent film, staging an expedition through the famed Hole-in-the-Rock was impossible, so the final hillside pass had to substitute. The younger Ford and Nugent both read the Book of Mormon and affiliated with Latter-day Saints, but John Ford simply knew what he wanted and how to direct the story. The inappropriately Puritan costumes were insisted upon by financier Howard Hughes, who, though legendarily close to Mormons, obviously had little of the perceptive powers of Ford. Wagon Master has been described as lyrical, nostalgic, and optimistic--Ford's most optimistic picture--in an era when westerns were becoming increasingly dark and psychological. Popular perception has therefore been that this film was a financial disaster. This is, however, not true, primarily because it cost so little to produce in the first place. Its popularity was attested to when an unauthorized television spin-off called Wagon Train, also starring Ward Bond, appeared a few years later. Despite this, Wagon Master remains arguably the films on Mormonism least-known inside the Church, even though it is one of the best-known outside it. This film marks the third time character actor Russell Simpson had played a Mormon pioneer, having already done so in Brigham Young and Bad Bascomb (1946). Dates Spanned in work: 1870s or 80s Additional details at Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043117/ Medium: 35mm black and white Cast Members: Ben Johnson - Travis; Harry Carey Jr. - Sandy; Ward Bond - Elder Wiggs; Joanne Dru - Denver; Charles Kemper - Uncle Shiloh Clegg; Alan Mowbray - Dr. A. Locksley Hall; Jane Darwell - Sister Ledeyard; Ruth Clifford - Fleuretty Phyffe; Russell Simpson - Adam Perkins; Kathleen O'Malley - Prudence Perkins; James Arness - Floyd Perkins; Francis Ford - Mr. Peachtree; Fred Libby - Reese Clegg; Jim Thorpe - Navajo; Mickey Simpson - Jesse Clegg; Cliff Lyons - Sheriff; Hank Worden - Luke Clegg; Don Summers - Sam Jenkins; Movita - Young Navajo Country: USA Language: English Certification: none Distributor: RKO | |||||||||||||||||
Total Queries: 16. Total Execution Time: 0.017 sec.
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