Wagon Wheels

Wagon Wheels is the worst western film of Randolph Scott's career. Why? It is something you never expect to see in a Scott film: It is boring. Scott is one of my western favorites ( maybe number three behind Gary Cooper and Alan Ladd). Speaking of Cooper, Wagon Wheels is a remake of Cooper's Fighting Caravans, and although the original was not Cooper's best it was far better. Lili Damita ( Felipe) was better looking and a better actress then Gail Patrick ( Nancy) and Cooper's Clint Balmet beats the Randolph Scott version. I will say that if you have not seen the original, you will probably like Wagon Wheels better then I did. I think Fighting Caravans is twice as good as Wagon Wheels and I gave Fighting Caravans 8 of 10 stars, so I give Wagon Wheels 4/10 stars.

A wagon train bound for Oregon, a couple of bad guys, a dash of romance, a charming hero with grizzled sidekicks, and some "Cowboys and Indians" shoot outs make for a classic old Western.

One of about twenty Zane Grey novels filmed by Paramount from 1930-1940, WAGON WHEELS is a remake of FIGHTING CARAVAN, a movie about the Oregon Trail. It's definitely a B movie, with its running time under an hour, plenty of library footage to give it some size, Charles Barton sitting in the director's chair for the first time and singing to eke it out -- Even Randolph Scott warbles a couple of lines of the title song.

It's worth seeing for Scott in an early western. His first appearance in one had been a bit part in THE VIRGINIAN, but since his success in WILD HORSE MESA and THE THUNDERING HERD, Paramount had been giving him one or two oaters a year, in between the usual assortment of comedies, dramas and even lending him to other studios for musicals. He's solid here, opposite Gail Patrick, with some good support from Raymond Hatton as an old Mountain Man. However, it's still an okay B movie, even if he would do great things in the genre over the next three decades.

In 1931 Paramount filmed Zane Grey's Fighting Caravans and turned it into an A picture western with Gary Cooper. It was the mentality of the studio bosses back then, why waste good stock footage. So a shorter version of this same story was done three years later with Randolph Scott playing the leading role of Clint Belmet.

Having both versions, I could compare them side by side. Same footage involving the wagon train going west and of the Indian attack climax. Just juxtapose close-ups of the current cast and you got yourself another movie on the cheap.

Since this version is only 56 minutes it was part of Paramount's B unit and played second on double bills.

Like in the first Fighting Caravans, Wagon Wheels has one young scout and two old ones leading the wagon train west. Gail Patrick gets one of her first and only leads. Usually Patrick is cast as the other woman. Maybe her best know role was as Carole Lombard's sister in My Man Godfrey.

Gary Cooper was an A list star, but Randolph Scott was on the way up and would get to not quite the top of the heap soon. He acquits himself well here.

Great stuff for the Saturday matinée crowd.

Randolph Scott handled this Zane Grey classic with ease. Of course he had two of the best sidekicks in Raymond Hatton and Olin Howland to skillfully invigorate the plot when needed. Who better to play the leading lady than Gail Patrick as the widow with a child running from the past. A most artful character actor Monte Blue showcases his talents as the spy throwing every trick in the book in trying to stop the Wagon Wheels. I loved the music that was wonderfully interspersed throughout the film by various artists. With all this, my favorite performances were by Jan Duggan as Abby Masters and little Billy Lee as Sonny Wellington.