"The Colter Craven Story" (spelled as The Coulter Craven Story in the episode but with the first name somehow winding up more commonly spelled as "Colter" in countless publications and references) is the November 23, 1960 black-and-white episode of the American television western series, Wagon Train, which had an eight-season run from 1957 to 1965.Photographs, illustrations and other images associated with "The Colter Craven Story" Presented as the 9th installment of the hour-long program's 4th season, it is the third of four episodes of various television series directed by filmmaker John Ford, the only four-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Director.Levy, Bill. John Ford: A Bio-bibliography, pages 202-203 (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998)
Cast with a collection of actors who repeatedly appeared in Ford's films and were known as the John Ford Stock Company, "The Colter Craven Story" was done as a favor to Wagon Train star Ward Bond, who played supporting roles in 24 Ford films (and in one TV episode, "Rookie of the Year").John Ford "taking the assignment as a favor to series star and old pal Ward Bond…" (Wildest Westerns, 2015) Filmed in September 1960, it was broadcast 18 days after Bond's sudden death from a heart attack on November 5."Tonight's Wagon Train directed by John Ford" (Eugene Register-Guard, November 23, 1960, page 6)
Production notes
Ford's previous TV episode, "Rookie of the Year", a December 1955 half-hour installment of the 1955–56 anthology series Screen Directors Playhouse, represents John Wayne's sole starring acting role on television, but Wayne made cameo appearances in "The Colter Craven Story" (as one of the key Union Army generals in the Civil War, William Tecumseh Sherman) and, two years later, in Ford's final TV episode, "Flashing Spikes", an October 1962 hour-long entry from another anthology, Alcoa Premiere, which aired from 1961 to 1963. The name seen in last place among the actors listed in the end credits of both episodes is "Michael Morris", a variation upon Marion Michael Morrison, which is the most frequently indicated form of Wayne's birth name.Rich, Michael. "The Colter Craven Story" at Fifties Web
The central plotline of "Rookie of the Year" concerns a baseball player (portrayed by Ward Bond) who, decades earlier, was accused of throwing a game, which is also the key theme in "Flashing Spikes", in which the disgraced middle-aged former player is portrayed by James Stewart, with Wayne playing a cigar-chewing Marine sergeant umpiring a soldiers' baseball game on the sidelines of the Korean War, whose recognizable voice and figure, rather than his face (partially obscured by a baseball cap), provides the instant identification. The honorable sports reporter played by Wayne in "Rookie of the Year" decides against exposing Bond as the father of a talented young "rookie" player portrayed by Wayne's 16-year-old actor son, Pat Wayne who, seven years later (listed by his most frequent billing, Patrick Wayne), again portrays a similarly-positioned young player in "Flashing Spikes", where the snide, baseball-hating opportunist columnist at the opposite end of morality from John Wayne's character in "Rookie of the Year", is portrayed by "Colter Craven" himself, Carleton Young who, between 1958 and 1964, appeared in 5 John Ford films (The Last Hurrah, The Horse Soldiers, Sergeant Rutledge, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Cheyenne Autumn).Turnour, Quentin. "Flashing Spikes" (Senses of Cinema: Cinemateque Annotations on Film, Issue 31, April 2004) All three TV episodes also feature another member of the Stock Company, Willis Bouchey, who was in 9 Ford theatrical features between 1955 and 1964.
In early 1962, about a year-and-a-half after directing "The Colter Craven Story", John Ford recreated a longer version of the General Grant–General Sherman scene for "The Civil War", the third of five segments comprising the Metrocolor Cinerama epic, How the West Was Won (three of the lengthy production's other storyline sections were directed by Henry Hathaway and one by George Marshall). The film, which held its initial public exhibition in Britain on November 1, 1962 (the US premiere was in February 1963), presented the scene in Cinerama's ultra-wide-screen perspective, but Ford still staged it in its 1960 television form, with extended dialogue content between Grant [played in How the West Was Won by Henry (Harry) Morgan, and in "The Colter Craven Story" by Paul Birch, who had previously portrayed both Ulysses S. Grant and his Confederate counterpart Robert E. Lee in episodes of other TV series] and Sherman (John Wayne), whose face is partially hidden in shadows throughout the conversation, in a manner reminiscent of its presentation in the TV episode.McBride, Joseph Wilmington, Michael. John Ford, pages 193-196 (Da Capo Press, 1975) Wayne, whose scene with Morgan lasts just under four minutes, receives 12th billing among the 13 alphabetically-billed top-tier stars of How the West Was Won and is again recognized more through his posture and distinctive vocal delivery, than by the indistinct sight of his unshaven face, mirroring his "Michael Morris" one-line performance as Sherman in "The Colter Craven Story".Arnold, Jeff. "The Colter Craven Story – episode of Wagon Train (NBC TV, series 4, 1960)" (Jeff Arnold's West, May 23, 2013) Although the film is occasionally listed as the sixth Carleton Young big screen performance under Ford's direction, Young's brief unbilled appearance (as a poker player with Gregory Peck) is in the second segment, "The Plains", directed by Henry Hathaway.
Plot
Doctor Colter Craven joins the wagon train As Major Adams (Ward Bond) leads his wagon train through Utah's Monument Valley (using footage from Ford's 1950 frontier adventure/western Wagon Master, which co-starred Bond), the trail cook, Charlie Wooster (Frank McGrath) informs the Major that the water supply is running low. At that point, the trail associate scout, Bill Hawks (Terry Wilson), rides up with news that he spotted smoke "three miles up ahead". When the Major asks him, "Fort Mescalero?" and then, "Think it's Apaches?", Hawks replies, "Well, Major, at thirty-two dollars a month, I ain't paid to think". The Major tells Hawks, "Hah, let's have a look. Come on".
The source of the smoke turns out to be cooking fire alongside a broken-wheeled lone horseless wagon stranded in the wilderness. In the wagon, the Major and Hawks encounter a semi-drunken gentleman who introduces himself as Colter Craven (Carleton Young) and calls for his wife, Allaryce (Anna Lee), who addresses him as "Doctor". He tells the Major that as far as Fort Mescalero was concerned, "I'm wanted out of there" and adds, "Major, if we may join your train… in return for... our transportation... I can offer a compendium of my… medical services". He then continues, "Major, the only thing that really lies ahead is… tomorrow. And tomorrow comes regardless of which way we're headin'"."Major Adams: Trailmaster. The Colter Craven story" OCLC WorldCat
Doctor Craven is unable to offer medical aid for a passenger expecting a difficult birth During an evening rest stop, Doctor Craven hears from Major Adams that the wagon train is still intent upon heading to Fort Mescalero and explains that he cannot return there because he had refused to remove an inoperable bullet from Buck Clayton — "the Claytons run this part of the world". At that point, Creel Weatherby (Cliff Lyons), whose wife is expected to give birth soon, runs to the Major for help. The Major heads to the doctor, but he protests that "in a party this large, there must be at least fifty midwives". When Creel insists, Craven turns to his wife to ask if she would mind "going with this gentleman and looking at his wife". Taking full measure of the doctor's alcoholism, Major Adams then tells him that "among other things, we don't allow whisky on this train, except that which is used for medicinal purposes — and that we carry on my wagon". Spotting the doctor's supply of kegs marked "XXX", the Major asks, "what's in these kegs?". The doctor replies, "why… ah… uh… that's… uh… Formaldehyde, sir". The Major says, "I want to see the heads of those kegs knocked in. On this train we don't have any use for… Formaldehyde".
Inhospitable reception in Fort Mescalero In another scene from Wagon Master, which detailed a westward trek by a Mormon wagon train, men and women in Mormon garb are seen walking and riding through Monument Valley. The doctor and his wife are riding in the back of the Major's wagon, driven by Charlie. During the ride, the doctor reaches behind him to fill a cup from the "medicinal supply" barrel and shares a drink with Charlie. Upon arriving in Fort Mescalero, the Major tells Craven and his wife to "stay out of sight" and dips a bucket into the water trough. He is observed by Kyle (Ken Curtis) and his brother Quentin (Chuck Hayward) who shoots into the bucket. As the outraged Major demands an explanation, Kyle tells him that this is "our water" and Quentin calls him "Grandpa". The Major angrily exclaims, "Grandpa!", hits Quentin over the head with the bucket and slaps Kyle to the ground with the back of his hand. Chastened, Kyle tells him that "all this water belongs to us".... "my pa…" The Major says, "Well then, shoulder up your sidekick and we'll go see your pa". As Quentin, holding his aching head, attempts to stand up, the Major kicks him in the posterior and shouts, "Come on, get up, there!" Reduced to helplessness, Kyle whines accusingly at the Major, "big bully".
Major Adams bargains for water, Craven sets a boy's broken leg and the river is reached The Major, alongside the two humbled brothers, with Kyle holding up the unsteady Quentin, enters into a room where their aristocratically-mannered father, Park (John Carradine), wearing a dandified jacket atop a shirt with ruffled sleeves, is sitting on a throne-like chair at a heavily ornate table, building a house of cards, next to a mid-game chessboard. Slowly interrupting his task, he leans back and comments, "That's a most interesting tableau". The Major says, "I'm sorry I had to push your boys around out there, mister, but they were gettin' rambunctious". "My boys are simple enough without somebody hitting them on the head", replies Park. He subsequently offers to sell water at 25 dollars per barrel. "That's piracy", the Major shouts, offering a dime, maybe even 20 cents, stating "that water belongs to the Lord". Park is unmoved and responds, "the Lord didn't dig the wells — I did", but eventually an unspecified [the majority of scenes from the Fort Mescalero sequence were edited out] arrangement is reached allowing animals to be watered "at ten cents a head". The Major is forced to leave the fort without water, hoping to reach the nearest river before the trail's meager supply is gone. In the evening, as the wagons are stopped, an injured little boy, Jamie (Dennis Rush) is brought to Doctor Craven. With the boy's worried mother (Beula Blaze) watching, Craven skillfully diagnoses a broken leg and quickly sets it with splints.
Bill Hawks suggests letting the thirsty horses loose and, as they stampede to the nearest river (in still another scene from Wagon Master), Bill follows them and is able to pinpoint the shortest, but hilly and barely passable, route to water. Footage of Mormon travelers is shown, as they walk alongside their wagons in Monument Valley. The terrain is very rough and the Major's wagon crashes and breaks apart. Extended excerpts from Wagon Master show the wagons moving through uneven rocky pathways, while horses are whipped and men are shouting. Finally, the river is reached and the Mormons drink and splash while their horses stand in water. The Major tells Charlie that the subject of his Sunday sermon will be "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" and pushes him off his horse into the river.