Wagon Master (1950)

Wagon Master
Directed by John Ford
Written by Frank S. Nugent and Patrick Ford
1950/USA
Argosy Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] [repeated line] Uncle Shiloh Clegg: You boys ever draw on anybody?
Travis Blue: No, sir. Just snakes.[/box]

This is on Ford’s lighter side with lots of singing and frontier humor.  It’s entertaining.

In one of the first pre-credit scenes I have seen, the story begins with the Clegg gang robbing a bank and shooting a teller in cold blood.  They make a get away and, after the credits roll, Travis (Ben Johnson) and Sandy (Harry Carey Jr.) ride into town with a number of horses they are looking to trade.  After pulling a practical joke on the marshall with a particularly wild horse, they are approached by Mormon elders who need both some horses and help with guiding their wagon train to the San Juan Valley where they will prepare the way for further Mormon settlement.  The leader of the party is the volatile but jocular Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond).  Sandy and Travis initially refuse.  Then Sandy gets a look at a certain red-headed Mormon lass and changes his mind.  The money is good so Travis accepts as well.

Before the wagon train has got very far, they stumble upon a medicine show whose cast is living on its own magic elixer, having run out of water in the desert.  Elder Wiggs looks at the meeting as providential and the show accompanies the wagon train west.  Among the cast is the lovely Denver (JoAnne Dru).  Travis takes a liking to her and now has even more reason to stick around.

Before long the wagon train itself is running very short of water.  Right after it reaches the river that saves it, the Cleggs arrive, guns at the ready.  The Mormons reluctantly help the gang under duress.  But when one of the boys tries to rape a Navajo (apparently, given her tears), Elder Wiggs has him whipped.  After that, the Cleggs become even more troublesome.  With Alan Mowbray as a quack doctor, Jane Darwell as a settler, and James Arness as one of the Clegg boys.

This film is Ford in his homespun mode.  Generally, I find him not to have a flair for comedy but here the humor works pretty well.  All is backed by assorted songs from The Sons of the Pioneers. Bond has one of his most prominent roles here and he is very likable in it.  It’s all on the light side despite the presence of the evil Cleggs.  I enjoyed it.

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