The Oregon Trail | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gene Fowler Jr. |
Screenplay by | Louis Vittes Gene Fowler Jr. |
Story by | Louis Vittes |
Produced by | Richard Einfeld |
Starring | Fred MacMurray William Bishop Nina Shipman |
Cinematography | Kay Norton |
Edited by | Betty Steinberg |
Music by | Paul Dunlap |
Color process | Color by Deluxe |
Production company | Associated Producers |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $300,000 [1] |
The Oregon Trail is a 1959 American CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color Western film directed by Gene Fowler Jr. and starring Fred MacMurray, William Bishop and Nina Shipman. [2] [3] [4]
The film's sets were designed by the art directors John B. Mansbridge and Lyle R. Wheeler.
In the midst of the Oregon boundary dispute with British North America, President James K. Polk (1845–1849) is secretly sending military agents, disguised as pioneers, out west on the Oregon Trail so that they can protect American settlers in the event of war. Rumors of this conspiracy reach James Gordon Bennett Sr., publisher of the New York Herald . He assigns one of his reporters, Neal Harris, to go on the Oregon Trail himself and find out the truth. On the trail, Harris befriends the eccentric Zachariah Garrison, who is bringing pots with apple tree saplings to plant in Oregon. Harris clashes with George Wayne, the leader of the wagon train, and secretly in command of Polk's agents; they become involved in a love triangle with a young pioneer woman named Prudence Cooper.
After they survive various hardships on the trail, Harris discovers who Wayne really is, and declares that he will expose Polk's military buildup. Wayne tries to have Harris arrested, but he escapes, hoping to send a dispatch back to James Bennett in New York. Harris reaches Fort Laramie (in present-day Wyoming) shortly before Wayne and his men arrive at the fort. After arriving, Wayne discovers that his secret mission has become moot due to the signing of the Oregon Treaty and the commencement of the Mexican–American War. Not knowing this and still fearing arrest, Harris pays a mountain man and fur trapper named Gabe Hastings to take him to hide out in a nearby Arapaho village.
However, it turns out that Hastings and the Arapaho are hostile to the Americans, and are planning to attack the fort. But Harris escapes with the help of Hastings' beautiful half-Arapaho daughter, Shona, who has fallen in love with Harris. They reach Fort Laramie in time to warn the troops based there of the impending attack. The film concludes with a ferocious, climactic battle between the Americans and the Arapaho. In the end, the Arapaho retreat, but dozens on both sides have been killed, including Zachariah Garrison. Harris resigns his job as a reporter so that he can continue on to Oregon with Garrison's apple trees. Shona renounces her people because of the terrible bloodshed, and joins Harris. Prudence ends up with George Wayne, who is now heading south to join the war against Mexico.
The film was shot in May 1959. [5] It was financed by Robert L. Lippert who made B films for Fox; The Oregon Trail was more expensive than most of his films, being budgeted at around $300,000. Lippert said the film "won't lose" but could "have used another $100,000." [1]
Gene Fowler had made a number of Westerns for Lippert. He remembered The Oregon Trail as being "a son of a bitch – Lippert really screwed that one up. He made a bet with Spyros Skouras that he could make a big outdoor Western without ever leaving the Fox lot and like an idiot I agreed to direct it." [6]
The Los Angeles Times called the film "below standard". [7]
Red Cloud's War was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States and the Crow Nation that took place in the Wyoming and Montana territories from 1866 to 1868. The war was fought over control of the western Powder River Country in present day north-central Wyoming.
Fort Laramie was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joined in the upper Platte River Valley in the eastern part of the present-day U.S. state of Wyoming. The fort was founded as a private trading-post in the 1830s to service the overland fur trade; in 1849, it was purchased by the United States Army. The site was located east of the long climb leading to the best and lowest crossing-point over the Rocky Mountains at South Pass and became a popular stopping-point for migrants on the Oregon Trail. Along with Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, the trading post and its supporting industries and businesses were the most significant economic hub of commerce in the region.
The Powder River Expedition of 1865 also known as the Powder River War or Powder River Invasion, was a large and far-flung military operation of the United States Army against the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians in Montana Territory and Dakota Territory. Although soldiers destroyed one Arapaho village and established Fort Connor to protect gold miners on the Bozeman Trail, the expedition is considered a failure because it failed to defeat or intimidate the Indians.
The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the Western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863 to 1868. Despite the fact that the major part of the route in Wyoming used by all Bozeman Trail travelers in 1864 was pioneered by Allen Hurlbut, it was named after John Bozeman. Many miles of the Bozeman Trail in present Montana followed the tracks of Bridger Trail, opened by Jim Bridger in 1864.
The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho. Roughly 60 mi (97 km) east to west by 50 mi (80 km) north to south, the Indian reservation is located in the Wind River Basin, and includes portions of the Wind River Range, Owl Creek Mountains, and Absaroka Range.
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was signed on September 17, 1851 between United States treaty commissioners and representatives of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations. Also known as Horse Creek Treaty, the treaty set forth traditional territorial claims of the tribes.
Gloria Maude Talbott was an American film and television actress.
Stephen Hall L. Meek was a fur trapper and guide in the American west, most notably a guide on a large wagon train that used a trail known as the Meek Cutoff. A native of Virginia, both he and his younger brother Joseph Meek would spend their lives as trappers west of the Rocky Mountains.
Robert Lenard Lippert was an American film producer and cinema chain owner. He was president and chief operating officer of Lippert Theatres, Affiliated Theatres and Transcontinental Theatres, all based in San Francisco, and at his height, he owned a chain of 139 movie theaters.
Yellowstone Kelly is a 1959 American Western film based upon a novel by Heck Allen with a screenplay by Burt Kennedy starring Clint Walker as Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly, and directed by Gordon Douglas. The film was originally supposed to be directed by John Ford with John Wayne in the Clint Walker role but Ford and Wayne opted to make The Horse Soldiers instead.
Desire in the Dust is a 1960 American neo noir crime film released by the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, directed by William F. Claxton, produced by Robert L. Lippert and starring Raymond Burr, Martha Hyer and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Charles Lang based on a novel by Harry Whittington.
The Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as a route alternative to the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails through central Wyoming. The Overland Trail was famously used by the Overland Stage Company owned by Ben Holladay to run mail and passengers to Salt Lake City, Utah, via stagecoaches in the early 1860s. Starting from Atchison, Kansas, the trail descended into Colorado before looping back up to southern Wyoming and rejoining the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger. The stage line operated until 1869 when the completion of the First transcontinental railroad eliminated the need for mail service via stagecoach.
The 11th Ohio Cavalry Regiment, known in vernacular as the 11th Ohio Cavalry, was a cavalry regiment raised in the name of the governor of Ohio from several counties in southwest Ohio, serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was stationed in the Dakota and Idaho territories on the American frontier to protect travelers and settlers from raids by American Indians.
Gregg Barton was an American actor, who played various roles in feature films and television series.
Plunder Road is a 1957 American crime film noir directed by Hubert Cornfield and starring Gene Raymond, Jeanne Cooper and Wayne Morris.
Nina Shipman is a retired American film and television actress. Shipman is a member of the Shipman show business family.
Showdown at Boot Hill is a 1958 American Western film directed by Gene Fowler Jr., written by Louis Vittes, and starring Charles Bronson, Robert Hutton, John Carradine, Carole Mathews, Fintan Meyler and Paul Maxey. The film was released on May 1, 1958, by 20th Century Fox.
Gang War is a 1958 American crime film directed by Gene Fowler, Jr. and written by Louis Vittes. The film stars Charles Bronson, Kent Taylor, Jennifer Holden, John Doucette, Gloria Henry and Gloria Grey. The film was released in July 1958, by 20th Century Fox.
Black Bear was an Arapaho leader into the 1860s when the Northern Arapaho, like other Native American tribes, were prevented from ranging through their traditional hunting grounds due to settlement by European-Americans who came west during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Conflicts erupted over land and trails used by settlers and miners. A watershed event was the Sand Creek massacre of 1864. This led to the Northern Arapaho joining with other tribes to prevent settlement in their traditional lands. In 1865, Black Bear's village was attacked during the Battle of the Tongue River. People died, lodges were set on fire, and food was ruined, all of which made it difficult for them to survive as a unit. He died during an ambush by white settlers on April 8, 1870, in the Wild Wind Valley of present-day Wyoming.
Margaret Poisal was "the only woman who was an official witness, interpreter, and consultant at many meetings and treaty councils held along or in close proximity to the Santa Fe Trail." The daughter of French Canadian trapper John Poisal and Arapaho Snake Woman, Poisal was educated at a convent school. She married Thomas Fitzpatrick, an Indian agent, and they worked together negotiating peace between Native American tribes and the United States government. After Fitzpatrick died, Poisal continued to work as an interpreter and peacemaker.