Classic Rewind: Wagon Master (1950)

Wagon Master ('50) is pretty much like every other John Ford western - gorgeous, majestic, vivid, warm, goofy. Unlike an Anthony Mann, whose westerns are heightened by big emotions, ambiguously or vengefully motivated characters with elements of film noir, Ford takes the picturesque, wholesome, humanistic approach.
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Ben Johnson, free from the shadow of the the Duke, plays horse trader Travis Blue, called upon by a group of Mormon settlers to take them across the San Juan Valley, using their extensive knowledge of the terrain and their reputable relationship with the Navajo. 
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As per usual, Ford stocks the film with a colorful, talkative ensemble to fill out his wide-angled compositions of the Utah valleys (Moab sits in for Monument here) and keeps the risky journey generally perky, vivacious and buoyant.
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Along the way, the Mormon expedition picks up a traveling medicine sideshow (romantic diversions) and the inauspicious Clegg family (gotta have bad guys) and their wounded leader, Shiloh (played wonderfully by Charles Kemper). 
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A folksy, hoedown soundtrack, rather than sweetening, is nearly suffocating, yet Ford's landscapes and lively cast win out in this prototypical western by the American auteur - solidly second-tier. [B]