Finally Saw "Wagonmaster"

Welllll, doggies!

I finally----finally----got to see John Ford's "Wagonmaster" yesterday for the very first time. Hey! That's a really good movie! Ben Johnson and "Dobe" Carey are excellent in it (interestingly they play two guys named Travis and Sandy-----their trooper names from "Rio Grande"). Joanne Dru is there for the non-geological scenery, while Monument Valley serves as the latter. James Arness (in pre-Gunsmoke days when he was still a blonde) is there, and Hank Worden, and Jane Darwell, and a few other "Fordian" character-actor regulars.
Amusingly there is NO Duke Wayne, BUT Ben Johnson's "Travis" (could his last name be Tyree???) wears a pair of jeans and a dark shirt with "Stagecoach" style Ringo Kid suspenders that sure look familiar, LOL !!!!

Good dialog in this thing, great performances, and great actor chemistry.
Its just a winner all around.

And Ward Bond is totally stalwart as the Mormon elder leading the train.
Though Ben Johnson is supposedly the wagon master, Bond is TRULY the expedition leader (and a strong prototype for Major Seth Adams), with Ben Johnson as more of a scout, foreshadowing Robert Horton's Flint McCullough
in the later "Wagon train" teleseries.

Would recommend this flick to anybody. It's a winner.

"Cole"

Three other Ford stock players had good roles in this one as well. Russell Simpson as one of the Mormon Elders was in many of Ford's films, as were two of the Clegg Brothers...Mickey Simpson & Fred Libby. I agree, Cole, this is one good movie. The fight between Dobie Carey and the other guy ... if you look close you will see a dog or two get into a row at the same time. These were two local dogs that hung out on the set and when they started fighting Ford said to get them into it too.

Good info about the dogs, Tom. Ford seems to be fond of including dogs in his flicks. They are found in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon , too, and in others. Duke Wayne picked up the dog characterizations, too, in Hondo and in Big Jake.