An American Western. A story about a large caravan of settlers attempting to cross the Oregon Trail to California featuring a young fur trapper who wants to avenge the death of a friend who was killed along the Santa Fe Trail for his furs. He is put in charge of a California-bound wagon train and discovers the killers are in the train. This a spectacular film, notable for its authenticity of life between 1837 and 1845 of Prairie schooners following ox-drawn trains of Conestoga Wagons, as the first major group of settlers move west along the Oregon Trail. It has high production values and holds dramatic sweep, recreating conditions the pioneers faced, like the blistering desert heat and blinding snowstorms, negotiating steep cliffs, treacherous rivers, uncharted forests and other such natural obstacles. The plot and characters are simplistic, and the comic relief is modestly delivered but it has a charm and is riveting for its atmosphere, setting and art direction. John Wayne rose to the challenge as leading man, cutting a dashing, athletic figure as the mountaineer man. Raoul Walsh directs with skill, giving his audience a sense of the pressures associated with pioneering - uncertainty, dangers from native indian attacks, and adverse weather conditions and other overwhelming physical challenges. The scattered narrative helped create the impression that the travelers never quite knew what was going to happen from one day to the next.
As an aside, this was John Wayne's first leading role. The Big Trail was made in an attempt to save Twentieth Century Fox. However, due to its new widescreen format (and therefore a lack of theatrical distribution), failed financially, and persuaded the big 8 Hollywood studios that big budget Westerns would now be a thing of the past; urban dramas would be the main film subgenre. Wayne would wait 8 years before he made another A picture. That film would be a Western, and required the determination of its director, John Ford, to get it greenlighted, against all the odds. It was called Stage to Lordsburg, released as "Stagecoach".
As an aside, this was John Wayne's first leading role. The Big Trail was made in an attempt to save Twentieth Century Fox. However, due to its new widescreen format (and therefore a lack of theatrical distribution), failed financially, and persuaded the big 8 Hollywood studios that big budget Westerns would now be a thing of the past; urban dramas would be the main film subgenre. Wayne would wait 8 years before he made another A picture. That film would be a Western, and required the determination of its director, John Ford, to get it greenlighted, against all the odds. It was called Stage to Lordsburg, released as "Stagecoach".