Joel McCrea plays Ramsay MacKay, a young cowboy who plays a key role in the early success of Wells Fargo.
One day he’s rushing a shipment of oysters to Buffalo from New York when he comes across a broken down buggy. He gives the occupants, Mrs. Pryor and her lovely daughter Justine (Frances Dee), a very bumpy ride back into town.
But it’s pretty much love a first sight, and the love between the two persevere, though duty often requires Ramsay to head West, forging new trails and establishing new business for Wells Fargo. At one point, he’s gone for more than a year, setting up way stations for a stagecoach run from St. Louis to California.
A bigger problem arises when the Civil War breaks out. Wells Fargo is shipping goods for the Union. The Pryors are from the South; their only son Nicky has died in the war. And following an attack on a supply train, Ramsay finds a note written by his wife, tipping off the Rebel troops to that very shipment.
They split, with Justine and their children moving in with her parents while Ramsay continues his career with Wells Fargo.
Review:
This marked the first Western for Joel McCrea and his third film with wife Frances Dee. And though the story is supposed to be about the building of Wells Fargo, the focus of this version of the film is very much on their relationship.
Originally, the film was released at 115 minutes with a villainous character named Dal Slade in a key role. But that subplot was removed when the film was shortened to 97 minutes. Shame, it’s a film that could have used a stronger plot device to hold viewers’ attention.
As it is, some of the best scenes don’t involve the leads at all. They include the quick switching of horse teams as the stagecoach rushes to meet a deadline, and an entire telegraph station, already built, being pulled into place as news of the Civil War spreads westward.
Western series star Johnny Mack Brown plays the Confederate officer whose outmanned patrol tries to take the gold from McCrea and his convoy.
Directed by:
Frank Lloyd
Cast:
Joel McCrea … Ramsay MacKay
Bob Burns … Hank York
Frances Dee … Justine Pryor MacKay
Lloyd Nolan … Dal Slade
Henry O’Neill … Henry Wells
Mary Nash … Mrs. Pryor
Ralph Morgan … Mr. Pryor
Johnny Mack Brown … Talbot Carter
Porter Hall … James Oliver
Jack Clark … William Fargo
Clarence Kolb … John Butterfield
Robert Cummings … Dan Trimball
Granville Bates … Bradford
Harry Davenport … Ingalls
Frank Conroy … Ward
Brandon Tynan … Edwards
Peggy Stewart … Alice MacKay
Bernard Siegel … Pawnee
Runtime: 97 min.
Memorable lines:
Ramsay MacKay: “I’m sorry to have given you and your mother such a wild ride, ma’am.”
Justine: “Don’t mention it. With plenty of rest and quiet … I’m sure we’ll be as good as ever. In time.”
Hank, to newspaper reporter: “You ain’t goin’ with us, are you?”
Newspaper reporter: “Why yes.”
Hank: “Well, hope your hair’s fastened on good.”
Ramsay MacKay, upon finding a massacre at one of the stage line’s way stations: “I knew every one of those boys. Never thought I’d be burying them.”
Hank: “I thought me and Ramsay had been in some tight spots in our travels. But they didn’t bother me half as much as the tight spots in this store suit.”
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