Wagon Master

Two young horse traders, Travis and Sandy, come across a Mormon wagon train on the road. The train is heading west to the San Juan valley and nobody in it knows the way. They hire the two men as guides. Others join along the road: a travelling show, and then an armed family on the run. There is a river, desert and rock; the real danger is inside the train. John Ford directs. Ben Johnson plays Travis, Harry Carey Jr plays Sandy, and Ward Bond plays Elder Wiggs at the head of the train. There is no major star in it; Ford did that deliberately and built the cast from the supporting players around him. Ford said for years that this was among the films of his own that came closest to what he intended. The structure is loose and the plot is slight; the film is about the journey itself, the daily work, and the relations inside the group. The songs performed by the Sons of the Pioneers are used as transitions between scenes and turn the narrative into a ballad. Years later a television series came out of the same idea, and Ward Bond appeared in it. Who it is for: viewers who like John Ford's westerns and quiet films built on atmosphere. Who it is not for: there is little conflict, the characters stay thin, and it is calm for a viewer expecting the action of the genre.