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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Circle the Wagons, 23 September 1999 Author: Brian J. Smith from Gloucester, Ontario, Canada
The first great western epic, The Covered Wagon established many of the cliches that appear in many subsequent westerns, both "A" and "B" features alike.Here for the first time, we have the wagon train of eastern settlers trekking west in search of a new land and a new start. We have the circling of the wagons in preparation for the Indian attack, the attack itself and the ride to the rescue of the besieged wagons.Cruze captures the feel of what a real wagon train journey must have been like. The long lines of slow moving covered wagons, the dusty trails, life and death situations on the prairie, as well as the celebrations around the campfire. The sub-plot of boy-girl-villain is "B" western calibre, however, the players carry it of admirably. J. Warren Kerrigan as the hero is adequate but not memorable. The lovely Lois Wilson as the heroine and a young Alan Hale as the villain are much better. It is curious that the Cruze portrayed legendary mountain man Jim Bridger (Tully Marshall) as an absent-minded, liquor swilling comedy relief.The ending is strictly Hollywood. Boy gets girl of course and the villain is defeated, but I thought that the final shoot-out left a little to be desired.Despite its apparent faults, The Covered Wagon remains today as powerful a film as it must have been in 1923.
10 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :- A million dollar lawsuit., 26 May 2003 Author: charlie_in_kc (charlie_in_kc@ yahoo.com) from Kansas City, Mo.
Good accuracy on most of the equipment and clothing. The leading characters' make-up was almost clown-like and over-acting was running rampant, but that was the norm of the time and cannot really be criticized. What cannot be excused is the pathetically weak and insipid story line.Jim Bridger's only surviving child, Virginia K. Bridger Wachsman Hahn, reacted violently after viewing Tully Marshall's portrayal of her father in the then newly-released `The Covered Wagon' in 1923. She instituted a $1,000,000 libel action against the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, charging that they wrongfully depicted her father as a drunkard and a man of questionable morals, defaming his character and casting a stain upon her birth.Judge Albert L. Reeves, of the federal court at Kansas City, sustained a demurrer filed by the defendants on the grounds no one could recover damages for defamation of the character of an ancestor, setting the precendent for Hollywood's dismal record of accuracy in its portrayal of historic personages.
5 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :- the saga of the pioneers going west in the covered wagons, 17 September 1999 Author: tmwest from S. Paulo, Brazil
This film is a great classic, but it is not easy to see it, because it's silent, also the makeup of the male main character is overdone. But still it grabs you. The main star of the film is the covered wagon itself, presented in a way that makes it more real than in any other western that I've seen.
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