Wagon Master (1950) - January 16, 2009 1:00 p.m. EST

[MissGoddess]

I hope western fans will tune in to TCM this
Friday to catch a rare showing of one of director John Ford's personal
favorites of all his films---and it is Wagon Master, not The Man
Who Shot Liberty Valance or The Searchers, that he spoke of as
the western coming closest to realizing his intentions.

It's not currently available on DVD, but one hopes it will be one
day. Until then, don't miss it and let me know what you think.

Below is an excellent TCM article on the film:
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.js ... eId=146791

"Be gentle," repeats Ben Johnson over and over early in Wagon Master
(1950). He's talking to his horses, but in a way, he's talking to the
audience, too. There's not much action forthcoming (especially for a
Western), and there is barely a story. And yet Wagon Master is one of the
most poetic narrative films ever made. What little plot exists is secondary
to the movie's real concern: celebrating a way of life, that of Mormon
pioneers, and placing it in the context of nature. Director John Ford, one
of the most visual of directors working near the peak of his career, called
Wagon Master not only his favorite Western but described it as, "along
with The Fugitive (1947) and The Sun Shines Bright (1953), the closest to
being what I had wanted to achieve."

In a rare starring role, Ward Bond plays the leader of a group of
Mormons who, shunned by society, struggle to cross the American West
to reach their "promised land," where they can settle and form a
community. They ask two horse traders (Ben Johnson and Harry Carey,
Jr.) who know the territory to lead their wagon train. It takes some
convincing, but they finally agree to do it, and the rest of the story follows
their journey and the obstacles they must overcome, including Indians,
gunmen, and Mother Nature. Yet the story often pauses to revel in the
characters dancing, whittling or singing (the soundtrack is packed with old
Western songs), and to show pastoral sequences of the wagons simply
moving through the landscape or crossing a river. These scenes become
the emotional core of the film, and they undoubtedly are what Ford was
so satisfied to have achieved.

By all accounts, the production of Wagon Master was as relaxed and
enjoyable as the movie itself. Fittingly, it was a family project: John Ford
received story credit and directed. His son Patrick shared screenplay
credit (with Frank Nugent). His brother Francis was in the cast (as Mr.
Peachtree), and his daughter Barbara was assistant editor! With a budget
just under $1 million (the highest paid actor was Ward Bond at $20,000),
Ford was able to shoot the picture in under a month by filming between
10 and 28 setups a day, often doing just one take. Filming took place
mostly near Moab, Utah, then a tiny town. On weekends, with nothing else
to do, the movie company took over the town theater and put on Robert
Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew," staged and narrated by John
Ireland, who was in Moab to be with his wife Joanne Dru - the leading
lady of Wagon Master.

Ford liked Moab because of its landscape - especially its river crossings -
but also because of the look of the local populace. Patrick Ford
remembered, "Moab had the greatest faces in the world. John wouldn't
credit a Hollywood extra if he could do otherwise. He wouldn't use a
Hollywood Indian if there was still a real Indian alive." Furthermore, wrote
Harry Carey, Jr., in his memoir, Company of Heroes, "To Ford, there was
no such person as an extra, and because of that, they all adored him. He
knew most of them by name by the end of that first day. They'd do
anything for him."

Ward Bond gave one of his most endearing performances in Wagon
Master. At one point he accidentally fell off his horse, luckily not hurting
his left leg, which had been damaged some time earlier in a car accident
and on which he often wore a brace. With the camera still rolling, Bond
remained in character, got up and angrily berated the horse - a bit that
remained in the picture.

An even more amusing incident happened on the day that Ford decided to
work into the film two local dogs who were constantly getting into fights
with each other. Ford wanted to stage a fistfight between Carey and a
stuntman with the dogs fighting in the background. Ward Bond was then
to enter the frame and separate the two men. Ford methodically
explained the logistics to everyone, and the two men started their fight.
But when the dogs were let loose, they didn't fight - they froze. Then one
ran away while the other attacked Bond, ripping his left pant leg wide
open. "I have never in my life seen Jack Ford laugh so hard,"
remembered Carey. "Ward ran into the scene, torn pants and all, and
separated the two of us." This scene remains in the finished film.

Producer: Merian C. Cooper, Lowell J. Farrell, John Ford
Director: John Ford
Screenplay: John Ford (story), Patrick Ford, Frank S. Nugent
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Film Editing: Jack Murray
Art Direction: James Basevi
Music: Richard Hageman, Stan Jones
Cast: Ben Johnson (Travis Blue), Joanne Dru (Denver), Harry Carey Jr. (Sandy), Ward Bond (Elder Wiggs), Charles Kemper (Uncle Shiloh Clegg), Alan Mowbray (Dr. A. Locksley Hall).
BW-86m. Closed captioning.

by Jeremy Arnold

[Lzcutter]

Thanks April for posting this!

I know what I'll be doing for my b'day. Tivo'ing one of my favorite Ben Johnson movies!

[movieman1957]

Lynn:

I hope you have a lovely day. "Wagon Master" is a very nice film. Johnson and Carey pair up very nicely. It is a small western but it is a fun way to spend 90 minutes.

[mrsl]

Thanks Miss G:

I've already set my DVR timer.

Anne

[mrsl]

Well, I just watched it, and I'm so glad I taped it. This is definitely a film for re-watching. Like Fort Apache, I wish it were in color, just for the scenery. B&W is fine for any movie, but when it comes to scenic films like this, I can't help but wish I could see the colors of the desert. Mountain scenes are fine but when you see one tree, you've seen them all - Mr. L used to hate when I said that, but that is how I feel, whereas the desert . . . all the colors in the rock formations, and the different cacti - I'm weird, I know.

Anyway Wagon Master was a nearly perfect pioneer movie. No other country in the world has had people with the spirit to go into unknown areas like the American pioneers did (except maybe Alaska). The good people were obvious, the bad guys were specific. I thought the story/plot were well shaped and acted, and I never doubted that Travis and Sandy would save the day eventually. Thanks Miss Goddess for the two bits about Ward Bond and how about that Ben Johnson catching on and playing along - 'atta boy!

My impression of Jim Thorpe was always Burt Lancaster of course, so I was happy to see the real Jim in this, although 20 years older than when he won his medals.

In any case, I'm glad I taped it, because I paused it twice to look things up on the computer, so I was able to enjoy it all the more.

Again, Miss Goddess, thank you for the heads up.

Anne

[MissGoddess]

I'm happy to see someone enjoyed it, Anne. Personally, I'm partial
to the stark, black-and-white photography, but I know what you mean
about the desert colors.

[klondike]

I've always adored this movie, and as many times as I've seen it, still often roar with laughter at the ripped pantsleg scene . . especially when Bond calls Jane Darwell over, and she gapes at Bond's exposed leg, moving the tear open wider, and Bond's surly embarrassment as he pulls back & tries to conceal his exposed leg . . ! So instinctively in character!
. . . "Sister Liggett, sound your horn!"

[movieman1957]

In that scene Darwell gives an approving look and they both play it so beautifully.

My favorite scene is the whole horse trading scene at the beginning. Johnson and Carey seem so natural and throw in very nice little pieces. Watching Johnson and Bond whittle as they negotiate is a treat. I love the way Bond changes his tone so quickly. It certainly seems he is new to the faith as the rest have to keep calming him down.

Remember "Hell is geography."

[JackFavell]

Months ago, someone asked me why I love the movie Wagon Master so much, and I told them I didn't know why, I just did.

Well, I have been thinking and chewing and pondering on it in the back of my mind, and I have finally come up with an answer.

Wagon Master is not a movie at all, it's a tone poem, a moving piece of impressionist art. The plot is barely important. As The Searchers is a movie about age, Wagon Master is about youth. It isn't even about it, it IS youth. It perfectly captures how it feels to be young with everything ahead - the feeling of a young country and young people. There is a reason it is set in 1849, before the war, before the United States grew up. It is all innocence and exuberant energy and flowing, foolish confidence, the things (besides bravery and hard work) it took to make it to the west. It is about belief, in one's self and in one's fellow men, no matter who they are, and in one's country. It is Biblical without ever letting you know it.

Even the older actors in the movie seem young - Ward Bond is a newly saved Mormon, leading his little trickle of settlers into the San Juan Valley in search of the promised land. He has been reborn, and this theme of rebirth plays out throughout the film. After all, the United States is a country of people who continually remake themselves. The Mormon settlers are foolhardy, but full of enthusiasm. Jane Darwell has never been more girlish, her plump cheeks flushed bright with adventure and almost virginal trust.



Russell Simpson plays the foil for Bond and Darwell, but one can see he is easily overpowered by the juvenile gusto of his more tender-hearted companions. Francis Ford shines here as a childlike innocent, unable to speak, though he makes it clear the peril the medicine show folks are in. There is something unusual in having a mute show others how to communicate. Perhaps there is a biblical connection here, I don't know.



The film moves like a bright, beautiful sparkling stream in the sunlight. It flows along like a river past the little problems and dalliances of the cast of characters. It pools and eddies, only to flow along stronger for each rock or pebble they encounter on the way. It flows on inexorably to it's destination.

Though I said the film is like an Impressionist painting, it is really pre-Impressionistic .... for the film is far more indicative of the Romantic era. After all, the film takes place just as that era was reaching it's height. The American west can be seen as the living, breathing embodiment of the Romantic ideal. Wagon Master is a Turner painting or a Schumann impromptu (for it is musical as well), showing the sublimity of untamed nature. It seems offhand, prompted by the spirit of the moment. When Carey and Johnson burst out into song, it feels fitting that they do, and it is unexpectedly cheering and spontaneous, like an improvisation.

The movie takes place entirely out of doors, except for the prologue. This gives the film an almost unreal heavenly quality, a lyrical love poem to the land. The earth is man's home, not a building. Freedom, above all, was the goal of these Byronic characters - freedom from convention, from society's strictures and from industrialism. Freedom to be a man as he once was, in the beginning, in nature. Folklore is of supreme importance here and native peoples are seen as exotic and gentle. They are striving for a new Garden of Eden, a place where emotion and thought could run free and people would live as one.

One could actually say that Ford was a romantic above all else. Turner was known as the "painter of light", and Ford evokes Turner in every frame. I think "painter of light" could apply to either man.





I compare the movie to a stream or a river, and in fact, after watching it again, the analogy holds true. These folks are cutting a stream through the middle of the plains. Little by little, the few will carve a place for the many, just as a trickle of water will eventually cut out a riverbed. We are still in the very early stages of that process.



Our heroes are ordinary men, but Travis is smart, spontaneous and intuitive, mysterious and heroic enough to elevate society to a new and higher level. Sandy is a young man of strong emotion, another highly valued trait to the Romantics. He is the comic version of the Byronic character.



Travis intuitively follows Sandy's emotional lead, seeking a new purer life for himself without ever realizing he is seeking it. Together, they will rescue and protect the tiny caravan of Mormons, and along with Elder Wiggs, will set a tolerant example for their flock. These three can see the worth in a human being, no matter what race, creed, sex, or background. And by seeing the good, they create good - redeeming those who have fallen, by never seeing their faults.



Travis' past is shady (just as his lady friend Denver's is) - we know he is a card player, a gambler, and there is some question as to whether he is altogether honest in his horse trading. He doesn't want to take on the job of wagon master.... he's seen things, knows how hard it is....doesn't want the responsibility for a group of novice settlers. An ordinary guy. But when he takes the job, he accepts the risk as his own, just as Elder Wiggs before him. He's going to do the best job he can. He shows great manliness in his thoughtful protection of the Mormon wagon train. He also shows us a tiny bit of his past in his careful judgment as to when to use a gun. He could be Shane, 3 years before he appears at the Starrett's homestead. Travis must make that same tough decision. He has a sworn code of conduct ("I thought you never drew on a man?" "That's right, sir. Only on snakes.") but it finally becomes clear that that code must be broken one last time in order to protect his "family" and the lives of countless others he doesn't even know. He becomes purer, the more responsibilities and difficulties he takes on. The ripples of his actions will quietly affect the entire group, and others to come, far into the future. And he will be reborn as a good man and leader.



There is a sweetness about the movie, and in the performances of Bond, Johnson, and Carey. There is no sarcasm, or bitterness. It is poignant beyond anything I have ever seen. So when folks say that the movie lacks a leading character, I say, hallelujah! Because that is not the point.... yes, it's about community, but more than that, it is about the flowing on and on of innocence and purity of spirit.

[movieman1957]

As the Mormon subtext came up at TCM do you think it would have worked as well if this group was just a regular wagon train headed west?

[JackFavell]

That's a good question.... I think the movie needed a unifying, magnetic force. The point of the movie would have been muddied had they not been Mormons or some religious group.... I felt that the religious aspect tied the movie together beautifully and made the story more significant.

I hate to bring this up after all my complaining at TCM city about comparisons but .....Stagecoach is a band of disparate people without any affiliation at all. I felt a deeper spirit and feeling in Wagon Master and that is directly tied to the religious aspects of the film. I am not a religious person, but I can believe in the goodness of man, and appreciate the deep spiritual qualities of the movie - and a lot of that would be lost if the group were just people on a wagon train.

[klondike]

That's a good question.... I think the movie needed a unifying, magnetic force. The point of the movie would have been muddied had they not been Mormons or some religious group.... I felt that the religious aspect tied the movie together beautifully and made the story more significant.

An historical factor which I believe adds to the backdrop here of compulsory migration, of which I believe John Ford & his writers were keenly aware, but found no room for in the flow of their script, was that at the time of Wagon Master, Mormons had been violently banished from most states east of the Mississippi, and bore in their adult memories the tempering tragedies of many new settlements being burnt-out, and their messiah, John Smith (born a Vermonter, as was Brigham Young), being vigilante-murdered in an Illinois jail cell.
These people weren't just pilgrims, they were the children of a martyred prophet.

[JackFavell]

Very interesting, Klondike! I did not know that.

[ken123]

Wagon Master - a master work. Cleggs - a fine family of men - love da uncle. Do love Movita & da dancing !

[JackFavell]

Well, that was succinct.

Though I'm not crazy about the Cleggs, I do have a favorite scene with them. I absolutely love the part where Pa Clegg, at the Indian dance, is surrounded by his sons. He says threateningly to Travis, "We don't want any trouble with the wagon master..." and Hank Worden, the Clegg son with severe brain damage starts to say something. Pa Clegg roars out, "Get offen my bed!!" and the giant gangling James Arness immediately picks up a huge rock to bean Worden with.... Pa Clegg barely looks up, just says, "Lloyd" and Arness drops the rock. Now we know why Worden is...um ....not right. It cracks me up every time.