The Big Trail

"A mighty drama of the early pioneers"

1930 2h 2m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 138🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes★7.2IMDB · 5,259

DramaWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to get the affection of the beautiful pioneer Ruth Cameron and plans his revenge on the harsh scoundrels who murdered a friend of his in the past.

“A mighty drama of the early pioneers”

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Cast

John Wayne
Breck Coleman
Marguerite Churchill
Ruth Cameron
El Brendel
Gus
Tully Marshall
Zeke
Tyrone Power Sr.
Red Flack
David Rollins
Dave Cameron
Frederick Burton
Pa Bascom
Ian Keith
Bill Thorpe

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Raoul Walsh
Writers: Hal G. Evarts, Marie Boyle, Jack Peabody
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

96 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Raoul Walsh, shot by Arthur Edeson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by R. H. Bassett. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jack Dennis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Wayne and Marguerite Churchill and El Brendel carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A mighty drama of the early pioneers".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Raoul Walsh directs. Arthur Edeson behind the camera. R. H. Bassett scores. Jack Dennis cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
296 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Directed by Raoul Walsh, shot by Arthur Edeson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by R. H. Bassett. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jack Dennis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7John Wayne and Marguerite Churchill and El Brendel carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A mighty drama of the early pioneers".
9IMDB entry: tt0020691 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "mississippi river", "pre-code", "river crossing", "wagon train".

The technical file

Cinematography: Arthur Edeson
Original score: R. H. Bassett
Editing: Jack Dennis
Production design: Harold Miles
Makeup / hair: Jack Dawn
Stunt coordinator: Jack Padjan
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Big Trail (1930)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 5,259 votes
MPAA: Passed

Awards

5 wins total

Also by

Raoul Walsh

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-06-13
★ 7/10
There is a scene very near the start of this film where John Wayne ("Breck") walks through a doorway, bedecked in his finely crafted suede leathers and you almost want to applaud - like it was the entrance of great actor onto a stage. There can been no doubt that Raoul Walsh and his bosses at Fox were determined to make a big star of their man - and have thrown pretty much everything at it. The story concerns pioneers on a long and dangerous wagon trail leaving the Mississippi heading west into the unknown, It's the epitome of an American adventure film - the travellers face perils both human and natural as they head for their promised land, and the scale of the production is of a high quality with beautiful and grand cinematography contributing really well to our sense of just how tough their task was. Wayne oozes charm, his smile explains a great deal about why Hollywood and the public at large fell in love with this decent, honourable young man. A competent Marguerite Campbell ("Ruth") provides his suitably feisty love interest and the rest of this slightly over-long tale is held together by a relatively small cast who keep the story interesting and focused. Sure, it isn't without it's idealism - the all American boy blazes a trail against the odds, gets the gal, makes friends wherever he goes (largely), but there are some more sincere touches - "Breck" isn't quite so good with his alcohol! At times this borders a little too much on the documentary, but that doesn't really impact detrimentally on the overall narrative - it further reinforces the scale of this unyoked land and to a considerable extent helps us to understand what drove these folks to suffer all the hardships this hostile environment could throw at them. As cinema goes, this is proper stuff - and seeing it on a big screen even now (90 years later) is still quite an experience.

Production companies