Customer Reviews

Wagon Master (Wagonmaster)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wagonmaster is quietly poetic and optimistic. I found it quite unlike other Ford westerns I have seen, possibly because it hasn't got Dook or Hank in the way, so the ensemble cast comes into its own. Beautiful b/w cinematography with some breathtaking shots of the wagon train (shadows and dust) desperately looking for the next watering hole, but that is expected from John Ford. The Chuckawalla Swing dance is wonderfully filmed as well. Good use of the Sons of the Pioneers music in this movie, it is much more fitting than in Rio Grande. Ben Johnson is great in this movie, the role really suits him. Ward Bond and Harry Carey Jnr are very good and the Cleggs are as creepy as you could want. It is difficult to find on video, I had to find a second hand vhs version, but it is more than worth it. With My Darling Clementine, my favourite Ford western.

A simple little story of a group of Mormons,led by Ward Bond,enlisting the help of two horse traders,Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jnr,to get them to their Promised Land.

Along the way they bump into,a love interest,Joanne Dru,and as evil a bunch of Bad Guys, The Cleggs,including a young James Arness and one of the best western character actors ever, Hank Worden;; as your ever likely to see.

Directed by the genius that was John Ford,music by Stan Jones and the Sons of the Pioneers,set in the fabulous Arizona,Monument Valley landscape and scenery,and what have you got?

;;;;;;;;A CLASSIC WESTERN;;;;;;;;

Why is this classic not been given the;;Special Edition;;treatment on DVD?

Ben Johnson,s only lead role,Harry Carey has just turned 86 years of age,Ward Bond,Hank Worden and a gallery of great western character actors and actresses.Need i say more?

Davy,Westernnut from Scotland.

Wagon Master is a wonderful film by John Ford. I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD for years. It probably hasn't been available on DVD until now because it didn't star John Wayne. Ben Johnson is the lead. Johnson appeared in many Ford films, but it was rare for him to be the star. Ward Bond, another regular for Ford films, is a Mormon elder who is taking a group of families west across Utah. James Arness is listed as one of the leads in the film. His screen time is limited, but it is a memorable performance. If you mainly know Arness from his role as Marshal Dillon in Gunsmoke, you will be very surprised with his character in Wagon Train. Wagon Train is an excellent western and shows why Ben Johnson was a terrific actor and a real cowboy.

Perhaps because it has no big-name stars, this film is sadly underrated. But it is said to have been Ford's personal favorite among all his many films, and I don't think it's hard to see why. Even though it's supposedly about Mormons heading west, really it's a distillation of Ford's favorite themes: the archetypal confrontation of good and evil and the "rediscovery of Eden" in the American West (or Ireland...). The whole thing has the authentic simplicity of folk poetry, if you will, with wonderful songs by the Sons of the Pioneers and Ford's trademark great landscape shots. Silence is used very effectively when the camera registers groups of expectant faces before a confrontation (and Ford of course learned his trade during the silent era). It's funny, it creates effective dramatic friction between the various little bands of people roving around the desert (Mormons, horse dealers, "entertainers," outlaws, Indians), and Ben Johnson is just wonderfully understated as the wagonmaster. Who needs big stars with a performance like this? (Aside: Johnson was a rodeo star whom Ford recruited for films; he didn't make many films after this, but be sure to see him twenty years later turning in an equally fine and low-key performance in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show.) It's not an epic film like The Searchers, but I would place it among Ford's five best (with My Darling Clementine, Quiet Man, Searchers, and Liberty Valance).

Nothing happens and everything happens in this tiny Western by John Ford; a group of Mormons, persecuted hither and yon, have lit out west to find the promised land; a couple of rootless cowboys join them as trail bosses. On their pilgrimage through the desert, they bond with kindred outcasts, such as friendly Indians and some similarly persecuted (loose morals, you know) theater folk, with the serpent in the garden finally rearing its head when they are hijacked by one of Ford's villainous all-male families, the Cleggs, fugitives from a bloody train robbery.

This is such a great film, Ford always cited it as his favorite, along with The Sun Shines Bright (Ford of course often denied having made his own films, or claimed he couldn't remember them when interviewers asked him about them, so such self-reference was rare coming from the cantankerous old coot). Made in conditions of complete independence, with no stars, one has the sense that here is the Fordian universe at its purest: a minimal narrative, with next-to-no action, just a collection of privileged moments among his beloved community of outcasts (here Mormons, uncorrupted by civilization because the pilgrims have yet to cease their desert wanderings, the ideal is still real), and stunningly gorgeous black and white studies of the human figure almost, but not quite, lost in the splendors of the landscape of Monument Valley. Ex-rodeo star Ben Johnson brings a tremendous amount of authenticity to his cowboy hero, the Ford stock company is in full effect, and Ford's hommages to silent cinema are overt -- such as the Clegg patriarch firing his gun at the audience recalls The Great Train Robbery (as does the whole opening sequence), the casting of Harry Carey Jr as the second lead, whose dad was Ford's silent era star.

Favorite moment: the celebratory dance between Mormons and friendly Indians. Second favorite -- Ward Bond's Mormon elder heroically failing to keep his penchant for blasphemous oaths in check. Third favorite -- Ben Johnson's wordless self-disgust after the thoroughly justifiable gunning down of a bad guy. Fourth favorite -- the endless single-take of Johnson and Carey engaging in an oblique three-cushion dialog as to whether to join the Mormon wagon train while sitting on a fence. These scenes, like every frame of the film, convey with huge power the sum total of Ford's aesthetic and personality every bit as well as the entire running time of his recognized classics like The Searchers, My Darling Clementine, or Fort Apache. A little-heralded, great, great film.

This is a gentle, sweet, lovable film about America's promises and pitfalls that while thoroughly grown up, you should be sure to show it to your kids. It is also, like most of Ford's films, as arty, abstractly formalist and aestheticized as anything by the European masters (who revered Ford).

According to Ronald L. Davis' biography of John Ford, "Wagon Master" was one of the great director's happiest pictures: `Ford had no big-name actors in the cast, no studio executives around and few visitors on the set. He was in a relaxed mood'. That exert from "John Ford: Hollywood's Old Master" defines WM. This reviewer cannot remember a more positive, feel good, optimistic Western. In the Ford Western genealogy, WM follows "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and precedes "Rio Grande". WM is a polar opposite of the far grimmer "Fort Apache". The supporting cast features Ford veterans Harry ("Dobe") Carey Jr., Alan Mowbray, Jane Darwell, Russell Simpson and Hank Worden. The leading roles are played by Ben Johnson and Ward Bond, a veritable Ford stalwart. Bond and Johnson lead a Mormon wagon train to the promised land of Utah. Both are well cast and play their roles to the max, especially BJ. There are the requisite troubles with Indians and nasty outlaws but milder than within the typical Western. James Arness and Worden (!) play black hats. The scenery around Moab, Utah shines right through the black and white background. No colorization required! More important is the sense of community and respect for the land, topics which permeate so many JF films. There is fine interwoven music from the Sons of the Pioneers and some nice dance scenes with tapping feet -shades of "My Darling Clementine". Didn't one of the Sons marry Ford's daughter? A good review doesn't reveal endings, but there is one more DC tease near the fadeout. Watch closely! WM may not qualify as a forgotten movie, but it is hardly over shown. Amazoners are encouraged to make the effort to view WM. If any Western will make a viewer smile, it is this one. Recommended!

In the DVD movie commentary John Ford observed that this film was not intended to be a big commercial success and he was satisfied that it earned enough to cover expenses. It is a personal work both unlike his other westerns and also, I think, the quintessential Ford western. Different with it's lingering episodic pace and lack of big stars and big scenes. But also a poetic distillation of Ford's Western vision. OK, so I really dig this movie!
There is a lot to like in this movie; read the other reviews for more. But let me focus on the visual aspects. The black and white print is impeccable: clear and finely detailed. The camera work: great compositions, stunning exposures, 90% filmed on location outdoors. As movie commentator Peter Bogdonovich repeatedly points out, Ford shot many of the scenes as if this was a silent film, letting the action and the actors' facial expressions do the story telling. I'm impressed.
And then there's that background: mesas, rock walls, outcroppings, pinnacles, boulders. Where else could this be but the Great American West?!
Oh,and BTW this film was not filmed in Monument Valley. If you ever want to see the locations with your own eyes just drive down Utah Highway 128 between Moab and Cisco. It runs along the Colorado River and is one of the most spectacular car rides on planet earth.

To echo many, why isn't this film on dvd? "Wagonmaster" has the visual look of a silent western. Also, it's character driven rather than plot, and the villainous Cleggs offer a perfect counter to the leisurely, unfolding story. Their unwelcome arrival in camp and subsequent conduct is the spice needed to make the rest of the story work. There's a brief, superb visual moment, when the wagon train is scene rolling along in the distance. You hear faint singing by the riders but no orchestral accompaniment. The scene is otherwise quiet and suggests looking through a time portal, and what an approaching wagon train must have looked and sounded like to a casual observer on the prairie. "Wagonmaster" is a treasure of wonderful characters (yes, even the Cleggs). Ford's comedic moments in films could be somewhat corny and overdone but not here. It's a near perfect film. Joanne Dru is very sexy as Denver and used to much better advantage than in "Red River." I hope an excellent copy will be made available on dvd very soon.

This is a wonderful movie for many different reasons. All the good things of a John Ford Western, but also a perfect representation of a a 1950 kid's view of things---and so much more. I love this movie. And Harry Carey Jr's commentary is worth the price of admission.

Don't hestitate if you love westerns, John Ford, or just a mid-century reminder of what we loved about the movies.

As the Swallows & Amazons might say, "Three million cheers!" that this undeservedly neglected John Ford Western has made it to DVD. The director's own admitted favorite and certainly one of mine, it's something many people might overlook because (a) it's in black and white, and (2) its biggest "name" is probably crusty Ward Bond (who went on to play a similar part, until his death, as Maj. Seth Adams in the classic TV series Wagon Train - The Complete First Season - Special Limited Edition - 39 episodes!), though "Gunsmoke" buffs may enjoy seeing James Arness in a non-speaking role as one of the outlaw Cleggs, and the famed Indian athlete Jim Thorpe has a part as an unspecified Navajo. But it really deserves your attention. This delightful story of two horse traders, Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy (Harry Carey, Jr.), who agree to guide a company of 100 Mormons (led by Bond as Elder Wiggs) to the San Juan Valley, is at once a family film and an action epic, and as such should please just about everyone.

Travis and Sandy have just brought a string of horses into Crystal City when they meet Wiggs and his second-in-command, Adam Perkins (Russell Simpson), who've been invited out of the town as fast as they can depart. At first reluctant, Travis allows Sandy to persuade him that it's their duty to help "all those women and children," and agrees to the job, which will pay the two of them $600 for their horses and $100 for themselves. Sandy quickly falls for Adam's granddaughter, Miss Prudence (Kathleen O'Malley), and when the party comes across a stranded medicine show headed up by "Dr." A. Locksley Hall (Alan Mowbray), Travis too finds a girl, in the person of Miss Denver (Joanne Dru), a performer with the show--though she's far too worldly wise to admit any reciprocal attraction. Then, just as the combined groups are celebrating their conquest of a 40-mile "waterless scrape," they're joined by the outlaw Clegg family, Uncle Shiloh (Charles Kemper) and his four "boys," Reese (Fred Libby), Jesse (Mickey Simpson), Luke (Hank Worden), and Floyd (Arness). At first the Cleggs seem disposed to live and let live, especially after Dr. Hall, under pressure, takes a bullet out of Uncle Shiloh's shoulder; but when, the outfits having been invited to join a band of Navajos for a social dance, Reese attempts to force himself on an Indian girl and Wiggs, to protect his own people, orders the man flogged, things change. Uncle Shiloh is patient, though, and his revenge is both delayed and potentially tragic for the Mormons, leading to a sudden and explosive climax.

It's true that in using his beloved Monument Valley for a shooting location, Ford somewhat confuses the geographically oriented viewer: if Travis and Sandy acquired their horses in "Navajo country...southwest 'a here," as Travis says, and the Mormons must cross a "waterless scrape" of 40 miles or more to get where they're going (most likely NE New Mexico or SE Utah), they're probably following the Santa Fe Trail at least part of the way (to the Cimarron Crossing) and starting out somewhere in western Nebraska, which is high plain but not desert. It's also true that his scriptwriters, Frank Nugent and his own brother Patrick, erred slightly in implying that the Mormons were pacifists who didn't carry guns (in fact all Western Mormons excelled at riding, shooting, and dancing) and favored drab clothing (Quakers did, but Mormons were (and are) forbidden chiefly "deleterious substances" such as alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea). But there are so many more pluses than minuses to the film that you can overlook these errors. The characters alone are worth your time--the formerly-sinful Elder Wiggs, quiet Travis with his hint of a past ("I thought you never drew on a man." "That's right, sir. Only on snakes."), enthusiastic Sandy with his old-fashioned courtly manners, Dr. Hall and his troupe, cowhorn-tooting Sister Lidgett (Jane Darwell), and the sinister Cleggs most of all. There's plenty of humor of the old-fashioned clean and subtle kind, gorgeous scenery (it's a pity we don't see it in color), excellent performances all around, and some thrilling scenes such as the river crossing and Travis's flight from the Navajo party. (Johnson, who started out as a cowboy, was one of the best horsemen in Hollywood, and he proves it in at least two sequences.) This is a DVD that will stay on my shelves till the floor falls through.