Plot
Former U.S. Senator William Tadlock (Kirk Douglas) is leaving his home in Missouri in 1843, heading west on the Oregon Trail by wagon train to the Oregon Country (Pacific Northwest region). His son and slave come along, with mountain man Dick Summers (Robert Mitchum) that he recruited as a hired guide and scout. Joining them on the expedition are cantankerous farmer Lije Evans (Richard Widmark), his wife Rebecca (Lola Albright), and 16-year-old son Brownie (Michael McGreevey). Among others there are also the newlyweds Johnnie (Michael Witney) and Amanda Mack (Katherine Justice), plus the Fairman and McBee families.
Shy young wife Amanda Mack isn't satisfying his needs, so Johnnie Mack gets drunk one evening and strays with young flirtatious Mercy McBee (Sally Field). He also shoots at what he drunkenly thinks is a wolf, and ends up killing a young boy in the woods who happens to be a nearby Lakota Sioux chief's son. When the chief arrives later with the body of his boy dressed up and sitting stiff on a horse and demands satisfaction, Senator Tadlock knows that no other form of justice will do for the Indians if the wagon train is being pursued by them out of vengeance, so he hangs Johnnie, for the safety of the traveling party, but to the settlers outrage. The Indian chieftain speaks to the body of his child that justice has been done, then calls up to the surrounding hilltops, where hundreds of warriors now suddenly appear over the edge of the horizon. So now the settlers can see that they would have had no chance being so out-numbered and that a massacre has been prevented. Further along the trail, it turns out young Mercy is now pregnant as well with the now dead Johnnie Mack's child, and admirer / suitor Brownie Evans proposes marriage to her.
Tadlock's own young son is later killed in a stampede when a wagon crashes and overturns, causing the senator to be so distraught with grief that he becomes more harsh and despotic towards his wagon train charges. The last straw comes when Senator Tadlock destroys Rebecca Evans' antique clock after Lije Evans refuses to abandon it and lighten their wagon to get over some rough terrain. A fight ensues when Tadlock is then attacked by Evans, for which Tadlock retaliates by trying to shoot Evans, only for scout Dick Summers to stop him. The others form a lynch mob and attempt to hang increasingly dictatorial wagon master Tadlock, but then even Lije Evans talks them out of it and now takes charge of the caravan and trek.
Nearly to the end, the trek reaches a steep ravine, which offers the only shortcut to their westward destination. Rebecca Evans shows the others Senator Tadlock's grand plan for a future planned city he wanted to eventually build in Oregon, that he had earlier confided to her, and so Evans relinquishes command back to Tadlock. The settlers lower their possessions, livestock, and each other down the steep escarpment cliffs gradually by ropes to reach the lower continued wagon road west to their destination of the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Emotionally destroyed by the loss of her man Johnnie, Amanda Mack cuts the rope that Tadlock is descending on, causing the senator to plunge to his death along the cliffs. Amanda runs off into the desert, but the others, after commemorating and remembering Tadlock's efforts and sacrifice, press on to Oregon. Mountain man Dick Summers stays behind, departing to parts unknown.
Production
Andrew McLaglen recalled that though United Artists was pleased with the film, they wanted 22 minutes at the beginning of the film cut out to reduce the running time. [1]
The film is notable for being the first big-budget western since 1930's widescreen John Wayne spectacle The Big Trail to show pioneers lowering a wagon train over a cliff with ropes.
This was the third time that Mitchum and Douglas appeared in a film together, following Out of the Past (1947) and The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). Douglas had previously filmed another A.B. Guthrie novel, The Big Sky .
Filming took place in Tucson, Arizona, and various places in Oregon, including Bend, Christmas Valley, and the sand dunes and lost forest in Crooked River Gorge. [2]
The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what is now the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. The western half crossed the current states of Idaho and Oregon.
Out of the Past is a 1947 American film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring from his 1946 novel Build My Gallows High, with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M. Cain.
A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. Before the extensive use of military vehicles, baggage trains followed an army with supplies and ammunition.
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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 important period was from 1863 to 1868. While the major part of the route used by 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.
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The Big Trail is a 1930 American epic pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. It is the final completed film to feature Tyrone Power Sr. before his death in 1931, as well as his only sound role.
Andrew Victor McLaglen was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart.
Chisum is a 1970 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, starring John Wayne in the title role, and adapted for the screen by Andrew J. Fenady from his short story "Chisum and the Lincoln County War." The supporting cast features Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett, Andrew Prine, Bruce Cabot, Patric Knowles, Richard Jaeckel, Lynda Day George, Pedro Armendariz Jr., John Agar, John Mitchum, Ray Teal, Christopher Mitchum and Hank Worden with Geoffrey Deuel and Pamela McMyler receiving "introducing" credits. The picture was filmed in Panavision and Technicolor.
The Way West is a 1949 western novel by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1950 and became the basis for a film starring Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark.
The Rare Breed is a 1966 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith in Panavision. Loosely based on the life of rancher Col. John William Burgess, the film follows Martha Evans's (O'Hara) quest to fulfill her deceased husband's dream of introducing Hereford cattle to the American West. The film was one of the early major productions to be scored by John Williams, who was billed as "Johnny Williams" in the opening credits.
Katherine Justice is an American actress with many television guest star roles in the 1960s on through the 1980s and a few major film roles.
The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Money raised at the award banquet was used to help finance various services offered by the Fund to those in the entertainment industry.
The Elliott Cutoff was a covered wagon road that branched off the Oregon Trail at the Malheur River where present-day Vale, Oregon, United States is today. The first portion of the road was originally known as the Meek Cutoff after Stephen Meek, a former trapper who led over 1,000 emigrants into the Harney Basin in 1845. There were considerable difficulties for the 1845 train, and after reaching a hill known as Wagontire, the people left Meek and split into groups. They turned north at the Deschutes River and finally returned to the traditional Oregon Trail near The Dalles.
Dr. Elijah White (1806–1879) was a missionary and agent for the United States government in Oregon Country during the mid-19th century. A trained physician from New York State, he first traveled to Oregon as part of the Methodist Mission in the Willamette Valley. He returned to the region after a falling-out with mission leader Jason Lee as the leader of one of the first large wagon trains across the Oregon Trail and as a sub-Indian agent of the federal government. In Oregon he used his authority to regulate affairs between the Natives and settlers, and even between settlers. White left the region in 1845 as a messenger for the Provisional Government of Oregon to the United States Congress, returning in 1850 before leaving again for California in the early 1860s.
The Indian Fighter is a 1955 American CinemaScope and Technicolor Western film directed by Andre de Toth and based on an original story by Robert L. Richards. The film is the first of star Kirk Douglas's Bryna Productions that was released through United Artists. The film co-stars Elsa Martinelli, Walter Matthau, Kirk Douglas's ex-wife Diana Douglas and Walter Abel.
Kit Carson is a 1940 Western film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Jon Hall as Kit Carson, Lynn Bari as Delores Murphy, and Dana Andrews as Captain John C. Frémont. This picture was filmed on location at Cayente (Kayenta), Arizona and was one of the early films to use Monument Valley as a backdrop. The supporting cast features Ward Bond as a character named "Ape", future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore without his mask, and Raymond Hatton as Jim Bridger.
The Roxy Theater is a former movie theater located at 1527 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach, Florida. In 1994, the Roxy was converted into an adult nightclub and renamed Club Madonna. It is owned and operated by theater and nightclub proprietor and former Broadway theater producer Leroy Griffith.
Michael McGreevey is an American actor and screenwriter. He starred in several Walt Disney films as a young actor and later became a writer for the Fame TV series. He is the son of Emmy Award-winning television and film screenwriter John McGreevey.
