there a unique place in the pantheon of john ford film for wagonmaster and sergeant rutledge and and the sun shine bright . it be these three film with no box office name in them that ford do not have to tailor the film around the persona of a star be it john wayne and henry fonda and or any of the others he work with . not surprising that ford consider all these a favorite of one kind or another . ben johnson and harry carey and jr. a couple of likable cowpoke sign on to guide a mormon wagon train to a valley in arizona territory . along the way they be join first by a group strand player from a medicine show and then by a family of outlaw on the run name clegg . their story merge and what happen be the basis of the film plot . have wagonmaster be do even 10 year earlier on the strength of the two performance turn in by johnson and carey and both probably would have have substantial career a b picture cowboy . in the case of johnson it would have be art imitate life . johnson be a real rodeo cowboy and come to hollywood with a string of horse for john ford to use in fort apache . ford be strike by his presence and the rest be history . but the day of the b western be draw to a close and johnson and carey have great career a two fine character actor . ward bond play elder wiggs leader of the mormon . bond be a recent convert though and have trouble remember to not use some four letter word . but he the leader because of his strength of character and not his impeccable lds theology . he turn out to be a wise and compassionate leader . in portray the clegg and ford only have to reach back four year to his my darling clementine . they be the reincarnation of the clanton gang and pure evil . in fact if walter brennan who after my darling clementine refuse to ever work for ford again be willing i could easily see him be cast a shiloh clegg the head of the family . a it be charles kemper do a fine job and this be probably the role he most noted for . shortly after this film be do and kemper be kill in automobile crash . he might very well have work for ford in the future . ford make the mormon pacifist here and i do not recall that pacifism be part of lds doctrine . nevertheless it work here and the whole idea be that these people who carry no weapon be innocent when deal with evil people like the clegg . it take some gun tot cowboy to properly dispose of them . i think that this post world war ii film be try to say that pacifism isn not always the best policy . another carryover from my darling clementine be alan mowbray play the same kind of role he do there a head of the medicine show troupe . part of that troupe be joanne dru who do another turn a a woman of elastic virtue the same a she do in red river . dru use to do so many western that she long to be out of gingham and into some modern fashion . wagonmaster be great entertainment and i be willing to wager in the state of utah it a pretty popular film .