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Wagon Master |  | Director: John Ford
Actors: Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, Charles Kemper
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $11.87
as of 11/28/2009 04:54 CST details
You Save: $8.11 (41%)
New (28) Used (4) from $11.87
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Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 6452
Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 1000103559
UPC: 883929082179
EAN: 0883929082179
ASIN: B002BIULMQ
Theatrical Release Date: 1950
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | The rivers are wide and rapid. The desert is vast and unforgiving. And when the trail turns craggy, men use pickaxes to dig grooves for the wagon wheels. Mother Nature can be overcome, but human nature remains deadly and unpredictable: Outlaws are using the Mormon wagon train as a hideout from a pursuing posse. John Ford s Wagon Master is one of the legendary filmmaker s personal favorites, a visu |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
How is it that John Ford's greatest film remains largely unknown? All right, let's not kick sand on The Searchers, or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, or Ford's many other masterworks. But the director himself numbered Wagon Master among his personal favorites, and it's an utterly unique and original film no one else could have made. This crusty, eccentric production, slipped in between installments of Ford's Cavalry trilogy, doesn't really star anybody. Ward Bond plays a Mormon elder, a reformed sinner still given to "the words of wrath" who asks a slightly larcenous young horse trader to lead a wagon train through the desert to a valley "the Lord has reserved" for them. The newly anointed wagon master is played by Ben Johnson, an amazing horseman Ford had been bringing along in character roles; at this point Johnson was still getting used to delivering lines, though that's part of his charm and serves his character beautifully. A transcendent allegory of the opening of the frontier, Wagon Master follows no conventional, linear itinerary. The Lord moves in mysterious ways and so does the movie, which begins before it begins (that is, before the opening credits) and ends a few luminous seconds after THE END has come and gone. Storytelling takes a backseat to poetry, with long passages consecrated to savoring faces, landscapes, and raw sunlight. Some of these passages are supported by songs, and sometimes music rises faintly like an auditory mirage borne in from a great distance. The musicality extends to communal dancing, and to the demonic jingling of spurs that signals the appearances of "Uncle" Shiloh Cleggs (Charles Kemper), patriarch of an inbred outlaw clan whose dog-legged journey eventually intersects the wagon train's. In keeping with Ford's vision of civilization and its discontents, Wagon Master is populated mostly by pariahs. Besides the deservedly outcast Cleggses, there are the Mormons, the vagabond horse traders played by Johnson and Harry Carey Jr., a medicine-show troupe, and the first people on the land, the Navajo. As individuals and groups drift and coalesce, then separate and coalesce again in fresh configurations, a new nation gets its footing while marching west--"out across the backlands, where the dust has lain so long...." This is the heart's-core of American cinema. --Richard T. Jameson
Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/15/2009 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
 TERRIFIC FILM; MARRED COMMENTARY November 4, 2009
Dan W (Long Island, NY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great, under-appreciated Western starring the great, under-appreciated BEN JOHNSON (RIO GRANDE / SHANE / MIGHTY JOE YOUNG / ONE-EYED JACKS / WILD BUNCH / LAST PICTURE SHOW / GETAWAY / DILLINGER / ETC.). Terrific story, acting, direction, cinematography - the film actually overcame my natural aversion to singing in Westerns. ONE COMPLAINT: The DVD's excellent commentary (especially by Harry Carey Jr.) was almost ruined by overlong, distracting excerpts from Bogdanovich's well-known John Ford interview, which took way too much attention from the film at hand (even during the climactic shootout!).
John Ford's best black&white western without John Wayne... November 1, 2009
Alejo (Andorra)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great western. (In a subdued and low budget way).
Professional direction and wonderful characters... recommended to cinephiles... and the rest who enjoys westerns... actually it is probably close to "how the west was won" than the CINERAMA epic!
It shows how good a Director John Ford was... Wayne or no Wayne... in fact I must admit you are waiting for him to pop off in the screen at any moment!.
A solid cast (actor's in Ford films were in a way like a theater troupe... more or less continuously appearing as "secondaries" in a rol or another).
To be perfectly clear and honest one of the films I bought again in DVD after having it in VHS... (I think I am going to skip the Blue Ray period as long as DVD machines are available...).
ADB
Unique Ford Western October 29, 2009
J. Bozeday
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the DVD movie commentary John Ford observed that this film was not intended to be a big commercial success and he was satisfied that it earned enough to cover expenses. It is a personal work both unlike his other westerns and also, I think, the quintessential Ford western. Different with it's lingering episodic pace and lack of big stars and big scenes. But also a poetic distillation of Ford's Western vision. OK, so I really dig this movie!
There is a lot to like in this movie; read the other reviews for more. But let me focus on the visual aspects. The black and white print is impeccable: clear and finely detailed. The camera work: great compositions, stunning exposures, 90% filmed on location outdoors. As movie commentator Peter Bogdonovich repeatedly points out, Ford shot many of the scenes as if this was a silent film, letting the action and the actors' facial expressions do the story telling. I'm impressed.
And then there's that background: mesas, rock walls, outcroppings, pinnacles, boulders. Where else could this be but the Great American West?!
Oh,and BTW this film was not filmed in Monument Valley. If you ever want to see the locations with your own eyes just drive down Utah Highway 128 between Moab and Cisco. It runs along the Colorado River and is one of the most spectacular car rides on planet earth.
Overlooked Ford western October 27, 2009
P. LINDUP (Blackpool England)
Totally agree with the other reviewers. Only a lack of a 'star' name (which in fact is an asset) has prevented this being recognised as a classic Ford Western - though obviously not by us!
 Classic Ford western October 16, 2009
Fred Cody (Coral Springs, FL)
Totally underrated, but, great to see it finally out on DVD. I have to wonder if two well known actors would have carried this to even higher critical acclaim, although, the use of two character actors made in more believable at times. A hidden gem that all western fans should watch.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
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