Wagon Master

A Mormon leader (Ward Bond) hires a pair of horse traders (Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.) to lead his followers to a colony across the Utah desert.

Wagon Master, with its Monument Valley exteriors, looks and feels like one of director John Ford’s Calvary westerns, minus stars John Wayne and Victor McLaglen. Indeed, the rest of the Ford stock company are present, Ward Bond, Ben Johnson, and Harry Carey Jr., and you spend a good portion of the movie waiting, at least subconsciously, for Wayne or McLaglen to make their entrance.

But they don’t. And, believe it or not, that’s okay.

Johnson and Bond do a good job of carrying the picture, which is a fairly by the numbers, yet enjoyable, western adventure that highlights Ford’s beloved Utah locations. Indeed, this entry ranks as one of the most fun of Ford’s westerns, with easy to root for good guys, really despicable bad guys, and some great set pieces to distract from the rather flimsy story. If Wayne and McLaglen were present this might have been something really special, but as is it’s more than passable.

And that’s what makes Wagon Master such an easy film to recommend to fans of Ford’s other western adventures. Though it lacks the gravitas of his later entries in the genre, such as The Searchers, it’s an enjoyable 86 minutes. Those not taken with the western genre needn’t bother, however.