Mormons and stunt ridin' cowboys take us through the red scare and communist hunters in Hollywood, the debate between consumerism and producerism, and whether or not some buckaroos have free will. (Also, a guy who dreams of a gorilla eventually directs King Kong.)

It's John Ford's 1950 film, Wagon Master.

Director: John Ford

Writer: Patrick Ford, Frank S. Nugent

Cinematography: Bert Glennon

Editor: Jack Murray

Starring: Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Harry Carey, Jr, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper

Sources

McBride, Joseph, Searching for John Ford. St Martin's Press, 2001.

Eyman, Scott, Print the Legend: the Life and Times of John Ford. Simon and Schuster, 1999.

Gallagher, Tag, John Ford: the Man and His Films. University of California Press, 1986.

Carey, Jr, Harry, Company of Heroes. Taylor Trade Publishing, 2013.

Lim, Dennis, "'Wagon Master' Rolls on" LA Times, 2009.

De Tocqueville, Alexis, Democracy in America, Vol II.

Whitman, James Q, "Consumerism Versus Producerism: A Study in Comparative Law." The Yale Law Journal, 2007.

Utah Blackhawk War

Pod Info

Music: Western electric Guitar Riff by Bertsz

Email: [email protected]

Power dynamics amongst the powerless. Morality in the face of the unknown. The beginnings of a 'whites only' state. Learning the nearly lost language of Nez Perce. Post 9-11 paranoia. And the cynical savior complex of the US during the Afghan and Iraq Wars.

This is 2010's Meek's Cutoff.

Director/Editor: Kelly Reichardt

Writer: Jonathan Raymond

Cinematographer: Chris Blauvelt

Music: Jeff Grace

Starring: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Rod Rondeaux, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson, Neal Huff, and Tommy Nelson.

Sources

“Woman, War, and the Politics of Emancipation in Afghanistan” by Ashraf and Kennedy-Pipe

“Meek’s Cutoff: Mind and Matter” by Richard Brody

“In Such a Place, A Person Might Die in a Day” by Thomas Powers

“Out on the Frontier, Bringing All That Baggage With Them” by A.O. Scott

“Film Review: Meek’s Cutoff” by Kate Stables

Going West: the Making of Meek’s Cutoff (Fresh Air, April 14, 2011)

Cayuse War

Cockstock Incident

Oregon Black Exclusion Laws

Pod Info

Music: Western electric Guitar Riff by Bertsz

Email: [email protected]

A production that could rival a military expedition. The first leading role of John Wayne. A film so massive in scale that it contributed to the downfall of a studio. The Big Trail is a mostly forgotten epic, but represents a unique era of America culture.

Debuting in 1930 at the dawn of sound films, just before the Great Depression, this film tried to elevate Westerns from their b-movie status to something more prestigious. Unfortunately, its financial failure would scare-off any attempt at a 'prestige' Western for almost a decade.

Director: Raoul Walsh

Screenplay: Jack Peabody, Marie Boyle, Florence Postal & Fred Serser

Based on the Novel The Shaggy Legion by Hal G. Evarts

Cinematographers: Lucien Andriot & Arthur Edeson

Editor: Jack Dennis

Starring: John Wayne, Marguertie Churchill, Tyrone Power, Sr, Ian Keith, Charles Stevens, Ward Bond, Tully Marshall, Ward Bond

Sources:

Simmon, Scott. The Invention of the Western Film: A Cultural History of the Genre's First Half-Century. Cambridge University Press, 2003 .

Nick Pinterton - "The Big Trail", 2013

Fred Camper - "Wide West," Chicago Reader, 1988

Mordaunt Hall - "A Grandeur Production," New York Times, 1930

Walt Whitman - Pioneers! O Pioneers!, 1865

Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden. 1899

Mark Twain - To the Person Sitting in Darkness, 1901

William James - The Philippine Question, 1903