Wagon Master

The rivers are wide and rapid. The desert is vast and unforgiving. And when the trail turns craggy, men use pickaxes to dig grooves for the wagon wheels. Mother Nature can be overcome, but human nature remains deadly and unpredictable: Outlaws are using the Mormon wagon train as a hideout from a pursuing posse. John Ford's Wagon Master is one of the legendary filmmaker's personal favorites, a visually stirring celebration of Western will and cooperation set to the soundtrack crooning of the Sons of the Pioneers. Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond (who would later lead TV's Wagon Train) and other familiar Ford stock company players take the reins in this glorious paean to the pioneer spirit. "Wagons west!"

• western