IMDb plot summary: Breck Coleman leads hundreds of settlers in covered wagons from the Mississippi River to their destiny out West.
Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, and El Brendel.
The Big Trail turns out to be John Wayne's very first starring role. I didn't realize that when I started watching it. He plays a scout for a group of wagon trains heading across the country to Oregon. There are varying plots going around in the different wagons, but the main two are the young woman that Wayne's character falls in love with but who won't give him the time of day, and the three men leading the wagon train who turn out to be murderers and scoundrels. While westerns are very much not my genre, I really enjoyed seeing both a very young John Wayne and a very straightforward story with some really interesting visual effects and cinematography work. The scenes where the wagons are being lowered down the cliffs or where they have to ford the river really bring the harrowing nature of the trek they're all making. The personal drama doesn't do as much for me, but there are some great filmmaking techniques here and it's probably worth watching if you like the genre to begin with.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Big Trail < Monsters
The Big Trail > War of the Buttons (1994)
The Big Trail > Sullivan's Travels
The Big Trail < A Star Is Born (2018)
The Big Trail < Deep Red
The Big Trail > The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Big Trail < Legends of the Fall
The Big Trail > Naked Lunch
The Big Trail > Fun Size
The Big Trail < Hello, Dolly!
The Big Trail > No Country for Old Men
Final spot: #2127 out of 3529, or 40%.
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