Highest-Rated Movies about 'Wagon Train'

Days of Heaven (1978), Red River (1948), Blazing Saddles (1974), Westward the Women (1951), Busanhaeng (2016), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Sweet Bean (2015), Bend of the River (1952) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Wagon Train movies.

#16. Virginia City (1940)

Storyline: During the American Civil War, Captain Kerry Bradford escapes from a notorious confederate prison. He and two of his men are sent to Virginia City where Confederate sympathizers are prepared to donate $5 million dollars to the cause of Southern independence. The war is going badly for the Confederacy and money may tip the war in their favor. On the stagecoach to Virginia City, Bradford meets and falls in love with Julia Hayne not realizing that she is one of the conspirators. When he gets to Virginia City, he also runs into Confederate Captain Vance Irby who has been sent to collect and safely deliver the gold. Irby manages to get out of the city but the Union cavalry is in hot pursue. When Bradfoed catches up with them, he not only has to fight Irby but also John Murrell, a bandit who has his own plans for the gold. He also—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: american civil war, arizona, hay, saloon, wound, bar, blonde ...

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#17. Seraphim Falls (2006)

Storyline: In the 1860s, five men have been tracking a sixth across Nevada for more than two weeks. They shoot and wound him, but he gets away. They pursue, led by the dour Carver, who will pay them each $1 a day once he's captured. The hunted is Gideon, resourceful, skilled with a knife. Gideon's flight and Carver's hunt require horses, water, and bullets. The course takes them past lone settlers, a wagon train, a rail crew, settlements, and an Indian philosopher. What is the reason for the hunt; what connects Gideon and Carver? What happened at Seraphim Falls?

Plot Keywords: river, flashback, falling from a tree, waterfall, underwater scene, rifle, escape ...

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#19. The Undefeated (1969)

Storyline: After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.—Alfred Jingle

Plot Keywords: american civil war, revolution, mexican revolution, father daughter relationship, teenage girl, government agent, corpse ...

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#20. The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

Storyline: A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

Plot Keywords: miner, based on novel, native american, whiskey, slapstick comedy, indian war, u.s. cavalry ...

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#21. Thunder Over the Plains (1953)

Storyline: It's 1869, Texas has not yet been readmitted to the Union, and carpetbaggers have taken over the state. Federal Captain Porter, a Texan, has to carry out orders against his own people. He brings in the rebel leader whom he knows is innocent of the murder for which he is charged. But in trying to prove his innocence, Porter now finds he is a wanted man.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: gun, henchman, horse, informer, killer, lynch mob, lynching ...

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#22. Meek's Cutoff (2010)

Storyline: The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon team of three families has hired the mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a short cut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage. Over the coming days, the emigrants must face the scourges of hunger, thirst and their own lack of faith in each other's instincts for survival. When a Native American wanderer crosses their path, the emigrants are torn between their trust in a guide who has proven himself unreliable and a man who has always been seen as the natural enemy.

Plot Keywords: existentialism, boy, enigma, storytelling, prayer, singing, song ...

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#23. Buck and the Preacher (1972)

Storyline: After the American Civil War, many freed slaves head out West in search of free land and a better life. Former slave and Union Army sergeant Buck becomes a self-employed wagon master to wagon trains of freed slaves heading West. Buck knows the region well and he charges fair wages from the wagon trains employing him. He also has a working relationship with the local Indian tribes that charge trespassing fees from the wagon trains heading West across Indian lands. In return, they allow the settlers to move across Indian territory unhindered and to hunt a few buffalo needed to feed the wagon train settlers. However, not everyone in the region is friendly toward the black settlers traveling West. Owners of Southern plantations, dismayed by the loss of slave manpower that previously worked the plantations for free, hire band of white rogues and outlaws to prevent former black slaves from going West. In order to achieve this aim, the hired bands of rogues attack wagon trains and destroy the wagons, the supplies and the food resources of the former slaves. They threaten the black settlers with harm and they tell them to return to the Southern states where they came from and work the plantations. Wagon master Buck encourages the freed slaves to continue their trek westward and to not give up their dream of settling in the West. Knowing this, the band of rogues led by DeShay plans to capture and kill Buck. The DeShay gang sets up ambushes and traps but Buck always manages to avoid capture. The gang resides in the town of Copper Springs where the sheriff, an honest man, doesn't agree with the gang's ruthless tactics against wagon trains of freed slaves. Chased by the DeShay bunch, wagon master Buck and his tired horse arrive at a river where a black preacher, Reverend Willis Oakes Rutherford, is bathing. A desperate Buck switches horses with the preacher, against the man's will, and rides off to meet his wagon train. The preacher heads to Copper Springs where he bumps into DeShay's gang. Recognising Buck's horse, the gang interrogates the preacher about Buck's whereabouts. DeShay promises a 500 dollar reward to the preacher if the preacher finds Buck and captures or kills him. DeShay also instructs the preacher to convince all black settlers to turn back east toward the Southern plantations and abandon their trek Westward. The preacher agrees with DeShay and leaves town. Outside town he meets a wagon train formed of freed slaves and led by none other than Buck. After an angry exchange between the preacher and Buck, the preacher joins the wagon train. During the following days of travel, the preacher notices that all the money of the wagon train is kept in a money belt carried by one of the women around her waist. A few days later, a distrustful Buck orders the preacher to leave the wagon train and he himself rides away to scout the area and to pay in cash a right of passage to the local Indian tribe in behalf of the trespassing wagon train. The preacher follows Buck and he witnesses the payment made by Buck to the Indian chief for safe passage of the settlers. When Buck, followed by the preacher, returns to the wagon train, a gruesome scene awaits. DeShay's gang attacked the wagon train, stole the settlers' money, destroyed their food and supplies and even killed a few settlers. Heartbroken, the surviving settlers want to turn back but Buck encourages them to go on. Angry at the devastation, Buck and the preacher decide to ride to the town of Copper Springs and exact revenge on DeShay's gang and also try to retrieve the money DeShay stole from the black settlers. There only are two against many but Buck and the preacher are determined to do it.—nufs68

Plot Keywords: character name in title, sidekick, cowboy boots, cowboy shirt, cowboy hat, cowboy, opening action scene ...

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#25. Thunder Trail (1937)

Storyline: When a wagon team headed by John Ames (William Duncan),loaded with gold and heading for California, is ambushed by Lee Tate (Charles Bickford) and his renegades, only Dick Ames (Gene Reynolds) and Bob Ames (Billy Lee), John's two young sons escape. Bob is taken away by Tate, who brings him up as his own son. Dick, left for dead, witnesses the massacre, and is later found by Rafael Lopez (J. Carroll Naish), a Mexican prospector. Years later, Dick (Gilbert Roland), now known as "Arizona", and Lopez ride into a small town where Tate and his men are running things their own way. He is engaged in stealing a gold mine owned by Jim Morgan (Barlowe Borland) and his daughter Amy (Marsga Hunt), when "Arizona" recognizes him as the man that led the massacre years before. He is trying to find proof of Tate's guilt when he is confronted by Bob (James Craig), who starts a fight with him. "Arizona", during the fight, recognizes Bob as his brother by an old scar. Bob joins "Arizona" in his fight against Tate, and together they rid the town of Tate and his gang.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: death of father, gunfight, gunfire, held at gunpoint, henchman, latino, marriage ceremony ...

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#26. The Tall Stranger (1957)

Storyline: Ned Bannon comes across rustlers and is shot and left for dead, but is found in time by a wagon train heading for California. When he recovers he becomes suspicious of the two outsiders who are leading the train into a dead-end valley owned by his hostile half-brother. Braving his relative's animosity going back to the Civil War, Bannon makes contact to try and avoid a showdown.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: stranger, kiss, beating, male female relationship, gang of outlaws, cowboy shirt, cowboy hat ...

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#27. Kit Carson (1940)

Storyline: Trapper Kit Carson and his band of men join John C. Fremont on his way to California. Enroute they are subjected to Indian attacks that are propagated by the Mexican Government, that does not want the contingency to reach California. Once in California, Fremont and Carson initiate a campaign to free the state from Mexican control.—Buxx Banner <buxx572@aol.com>

Plot Keywords: flintlock pistol, flintlock rifle, epic battle, historical event, self sacrifice, romantic rivalry, military officer ...

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#28. Fort Worth (1951)

Storyline: Southern veteran Ned Britt returns home to Fort Worth after the Civil War with his mentor, newspaperman Ben Garvin, along with his young apprentice, in hopes of building the town into a modern metropolis. However, the area is terrorized by the ruthless Gabe Clevenger and his gang of hired guns. Britt wonders whose side his old friend Blair Lunsford is on. Lunsford has used the unrest to buy up parcels of land on the cheap and hopes to profit from this speculation after the territory is cleaned up and ultimately become governor. Britt sees through his friend's ambition, and they are alternately allies and antagonists. Britt is also distracted by girl-next-door Flora Talbott and and seductive Amy Brooks.—duke1029@aol.com

Plot Keywords: parade, newspaper publisher, wagon, texas, shotgun, sheriff, horse riding ...

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#29. Cavalry (1936)

Storyline: Just after the Civil War, Captain Thorn is sent west to help protect the new telegraph line that is under construction. Leeds is out to establish an independent nation in the west and tries stop its construction and also incoming wagon trains by inciting the Indians to attack both of them.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: arson, general, henchman, opening action scene, cavalry charge, year 1865, kentucky ...

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#30. Abilene Town (1946)

Storyline: In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation. A line has been drawn down the center of the town where the homesteaders and the cattlemen have come to a very uneasy truce. The delicate peace is inadvertantly shattered when a group of new homesteaders lay down their stakes on the cattlemen's side of town, upsetting the delicate balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed and property lines drawn, and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam.—Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>

Plot Keywords: based on novel, arson, house on fire, jail, wagon train, knocked unconscious, jail break ...

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