Wagon Master is said to be Ford’s own favourite picture, although he also spoke of The Fugitive (US 1947) and The Sun Shines Bright (US 1953) in the same way. It’s a relatively short and simple narrative with a modest budget, partly because there is no A List star. Instead, the ensemble of Ford stock company actors takes the reins. The ostensible objective was to complete a film which would see out Argosy’s arrangement with RKO. The film is notable for the lead appearances of Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr alongside other familiar Ford regulars such as Ward Bond, Russell Simpson and Jane Darwell. Joanne Dru also returns after She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and she is second-billed as the ‘glamour’ attraction. The script is credited to Frank Nugent and Ford’s son Patrick but Ford himself appears to have created the story to be exactly what he wanted.

Three members of the Cleggs gang that includes Hank Worden (left) Charles Kemper (with his arm in a sling as ‘Uncle Shiloh’) and James Arness

Ford doesn’t give us too many clues as to exactly where or when the action is set. The narrative opens with a robbery by the Clegg family, ‘Uncle Shiloh’ and his ‘boys’, none of whom appear particularly bright. They include Hank Worden in his sixth bit part for Ford and James Arness, later the lead character, ‘Matt Dillon’, in the No 1 TV Western Gunsmoke. A wagon train is then seen crossing a river and then a pair of horse traders. These latter two groups each separately arrive in ‘Crystal City’ where they are met by the sheriff who is looking for the Cleggs. There is a small settlement in New Mexico called ‘Crystal’ but it wasn’t founded until 1879 so ‘Crystal City’ is likely to be a fictitious town. However, when the leader of the small wagon train, ‘Elder Wiggs’ (a blustering Ward Bond) meets the horse traders Travis (Ben Johnson) and Sandy (Harry Carey Jr.), he asks them if they know a trail through the San Juan Valley which runs from the New Mexico/Colorado border into Southern Utah. We get a clue about the date in the song that plays through the credits sequence when we learn it is 100 years since 1849. This fits the history of Mormon wagon trains which begins in 1847.

Ben Johnson as Travis Blue and Joanne Dru as Denver

Once the wagon train is underway with Travis as ‘wagon master’ (i.e. choosing the route) Ford introduces two more groups. First the Mormons meet the ‘not so Godly’ troupe of Dr A. Locksley (Alan Mowbray, previously the Actor-Manager in My Darling Clementine for Ford in 1946). This quack doctor, dentist and purveyor of hair restorer is accompanied by Fleuretty (Ruth Clifford), ‘Denver’ (Joanne Dru) and Mr. Peachtree with his drum (Ford’s older brother Francis). Later they will come across a group of Navajo. This is a 1949 shoot and the Navajo language is spoken. At least one of the actors playing a Navajo warrior appears to have been born in the former Indian territory of Oklahoma. The Navajo appear to be aware of the Mormons and treat them as non-threatening compared to other white settlers.

After many days the wago train finds fresh water

Tag Gallagher (1986) presents an interesting analysis of the film in which he sees these six groups (the sixth being the sheriff and his posse searching for the Cleggs) as representative of “the basic mythic elements of the Western”. The film was criticised for its ‘lack’ of plotting and narrative development. But what Ford achieves is something much more interesting than a conventional Western narrative. He presents the coming together of these six different groups during the journey and investigates what these interactions mean. The Cleggs are ‘evil’ in direct opposition to the Mormons. Travis and Sandy are the cowboys who come between them. The sheriff/marshal represents the establishment which is expansionist but intolerant. The Mormons are driven out of Crystal City as soon as possible, just like Doc Locksley and his group. There is a journey, a ‘quest’, but this isn’t really the focus. It is the interaction which seems to matter to Ford so the high spots are the dance which the Mormons stage with the Navajo and the difficult crossing of the mountains by the wagon train. Music is of great importance with four main songs written by Stan Jones and recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers. Singing is as important here as it is in Rio Grande also in 1950.

An early sequence in which Travis and Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond) discuss a possible offer to be ‘wagon master’ while both ‘whittling’.

I think this is one of the best Ford pictures. It’s short (86 minutes) but there is not a wasted foot of film anywhere. It’s beautifully shot with Bert Glennon as DoP and Archie Stout on the second unit. Richard Hageman is in charge of the music. I know many people aren’t keen on Ford’s music choices but I’m a fan of the songs and the arrangements. I’m also a fan of Ben Johnson. Ford thought Johnson was the best horseman he’d ever seen and he’s very good in this, both on his horse and off it.  Tragically he and Ford fell out soon after this film and he didn’t appear for Ford again (apart from an uncredited role in Cheyenne Autumn in 1964). Ford could be very cantankerous and he played cruel jokes on everybody. Johnson was a proud man and perhaps the break-up was inevitable. Johnson left the movies for a while in 1953 and became a rodeo champion again. He returned for a long string of film and TV appearances in supporting roles before turning up in Major Dundee (1965) and other Sam Peckinpah films and famously as an Oscar-winner in The Last Picture Show (1971) for Peter Bogdanovich. The other lasting impact of Wagon Master was the launch of the very successful TV series Wagon Train in 1957. The show lasted on TV screens around the world for eight seasons. Ward Bond played Major Seth Adams, the wagon train boss up to his death in 1960. John Ford had no specific interest in the production but he did direct one episode which also featured John Wayne and other Ford regulars. The TV show was clearly inspired by Ford’s basic set-ups and characters. New travellers played by ‘guest stars’ would join the wagon train each week, much like the groups in Ford’s film.

Joanne Dru as Denver ignores the order to save water and has a bath. Travis berates her watched by Sandy (Harry Carey Jr.)

Ford shot his picture in 19 days on location and a further 12 days in the studio and on the RKO ranch. Despite its large cast and complicated set-ups he made the film for around $900,000. It was criticised by several reviewers for not conforming to expectations. One even said “Unfortunately it avoids all Western clichés”. Others argued that by treating the Navajo as friendly, Ford missed out showing an “Indian attack on the wagon train”. The film made around $1 million in cinemas. It did have its defenders, including Lindsay Anderson in the UK who thought it was an “avant-garde Western . . . one of the most purely lyrical films Ford has yet made” (McBride 2004). Here’s the opening credit sequence of the film. Note the noirish photography in the robbery sequence, par for the time in 1950. Wagon Master is one of the RKO titles seemingly available on BBC iPlayer in the UK for perpetuity. It should be easily accessible in most territories online.

References

Tag Gallagher (1986) John Ford: The Man and His Films, Berkeley: University of California Press

Joseph McBride (2004) Searching for John Ford, London: faber and faber