Movie Review // Wagon Master (1950) with Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, & Harry Carey Jr.

"The rivers are wide and rapid. The desert is vast and unforgiving. And when the trail turns craggy, men use pickaxes to dig grooves for the wagon wheels. Mother Nature can be overcome, but human nature remains deadly and unpredictable: Outlaws are using the Mormon wagon train as a hideout from a pursuing posse.

John Ford's Wagon Master is one of the legendary filmmaker's personal favorites, a visually stirring celebration of Western will and cooperation set to the soundtrack crooning of The Sons of the Pioneers. Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond (who would later lead TV's Wagon Train) and other familiar Ford stock company players take the reins in this glorious paean to the pioneer spirit. "Wagons west!" (from back of dvd)

As aforementioned, fitting in the John Ford universe, there's a massive amount of overlap in primary actors between this and one of my (still) favorites She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. (Which -- I just doublechecked my earlier review -- ironically, I did for the original Legends of Western Cinema Week 11 years ago. Wow. Talk about coincidental charm.) 

Anyway! 

In true classic style, Wagon Master is peopled with a disparate collection of characters. Initially, it was a little challenging figuring out who everyone was and also exact character motivations / keeping up with decision changes, but I'm glad I persevered. I feel like it's one of those stories with gathered threads: strangers passing, lives brought together for a while -- where you don't completely know each back story or even exactly what direction they're headed in the future -- yet, for a while, they're all traveling companions in life itself. And all with a little twist.

The overall tone is upbeat and throughout there are little bits of lighthearted, often understated tongue-in-cheek humor, which is endearing. :) There are some kooky personalities and I liked how it highlighted how -- no matter the era or setting -- people have always been people. 

There are failed dreams. There are some sad drunks. There is a fallen-ish woman, though it's unclear what all has happened in her past. The interesting thing is that she's not terribly unhappy with her lot in life. So it has that unusual, nuanced view of the characters, which I found very interesting and thought provoking.

Content wise, I don't think there were any skippable scenes. There is an incident with one of the Cleggs (i.e. the villains of the piece) raping a Navajo woman, but it happens off-screen and would have gone right over my head as a child. There isn't even any English really spoken in that scene and it culminates with the guilty party being whipped (in a very bloodless fashion filming-wise). It's all a very fast moving scenario, but I honestly thought the way it was filmed was fascinating. Thinking about it now, having no English in that moment frames the situation in a really unique way -- in essence going silent and letting the voices of those who were unfortunately sinned against in that way be heard. A fleeting scene, but I haven't seen anything quite like it.

The initial set up takes a little while, but -- when the Cleggs show up at the halfway point -- all of a sudden the stakes are Real. Everything starts coalescing and the mettle of each man ultimately shows. My husband and daughter were both in and out and both got invested in the run up to the ending.

It basically touches on all different elements of the frontier -- Indian tensions (where the Indians turn out much friendlier than the outlaws), there are the outlaws with devious intent, there are honorable (and sometimes idiotic) young men at a bit of a loose end while finding their fortune, there are homesteaders, there are strong men and women, and there's a man clearly broken by life and strong women mysteriously loyal to said man, though that clearly means they'll be living some sort of shady moral existence.

I thought Google actually had a really good summary: "Despite a lukewarm reception upon its initial release, Wagon Master has since been recognized as one of John Ford's masterpieces, with the director himself calling it one of his most personally fulfilling works. The film is noted for its themes of community, cooperation, and the humanization of various groups, including the Navajo, who are portrayed with respect."

I agree with that. It's one of those big, sweeping stories that gets bigger in your head. I love when stories do that.

Definitely one that deserves its classic status!