Ward Bond Movies
American actor Ward Bond was a football player at the University of Southern California when, together with teammate and lifelong chum John Wayne, he was hired for extra work in the silent film Salute (1928), directed by John Ford. Both Bond and Wayne continued in films, but it was Wayne who ascended to stardom, while Bond would have to be content with bit roles and... (read more) character parts throughout the 1930s. Mostly playing traffic cops, bus drivers and western heavies, Bond began getting better breaks after a showy role as the murderous Cass in John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). Ford cast Bond in important roles all through the 1940s, usually contriving to include at least one scene per picture in which the camera would favor Bond's rather sizable posterior; it was an "inside" joke which delighted everyone on the set but Bond. A starring role in Ford's Wagonmaster (1950) led, somewhat indirectly, to Bond's most lasting professional achievement: His continuing part as trailmaster Seth Adams on the extremely popular NBC TV western, Wagon Train. No longer supporting anyone, Bond exerted considerable creative control over the series from its 1957 debut onward, even seeing to it that his old mentor John Ford would direct one episode in which John Wayne had a bit role, billed under his real name, Marion Michael Morrison. Finally achieving the wide popularity that had eluded him during his screen career, Bond stayed with Wagon Train for three years, during which time he became as famous for his offscreen clashes with his supporting cast and his ultra-conservative politics as he was for his acting. Wagon Train was still NBC's Number One series when, in November of 1960, Bond unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and died while taking a shower. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1989
This made-for-cable documentary traces the filming of the imperishable classic Gone with the Wind, from its inception to its triumphant Atlanta premiere in December of 1939....
Rio Bravo
1959
Set in Texas during the late 1860s, Rio Bravo is a story of men (and women) and a town under siege. Presidio County Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) is holding {%Joe...
Alias Jesse James
1959
Bob Hope plays a 19th-century insurance agent whose miserable sales record prompts his boss to send him out West, where he can (supposedly) do little harm. Hope manages to...
China Doll
1958
Cliff Brandon (Victor Mature) is a US pilot serving in China in 1943, flying supplies to Allied soldiers in Burma. He's the best at what he does in the air, but he's also...
The Wings of Eagles
1957
The Wings of Eagles is filmmaker John Ford's paean to his frequent collaborator--and, it is rumored, drinking buddy--Cmdr. Frank "Spig" Wead. John Wayne stars as Wead, a...
Wagon Train: The Willy Moran Story
1957
...
The Halliday Brand
1957
It's "Freud on the Frontier" time in the tension-filled western The Halliday Brand. Ward Bond plays Big Dan, the despotic head of the Halliday clan, while Joseph Cotten and...
Dakota Incident
1956
Some good performances overcome the scripted cliches in Dakota Incident. In the tradition of Stagecoach, the film offers a disparate group of travellers whose lives are...
Pillars of the Sky
1956
Pillars of the Sky is the lyrical title bestowed upon this cinemadaptation of Will Henry's novel Frontier Fury. Jeff Chandler stars as Sgt. Emmett Bell, whose job it...
The Searchers
1956
If John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor spectacle like such Ford classics as She Wore a...
The Long Gray Line
NR 1955
The life story of West Point athletic director Marty Maher was the inspiration for John Ford's The Long Gray Line. Told in flashback, the film recalls the first days at...
Rookie of the Year
1955
...
A Man Alone
1955
Ray Milland made his directorial debut with the Republic western A Man Alone. Milland also starred in the film, playing fugitive gunslinger Wes Steele. While escaping a lynch...
Mister Roberts
1955
Henry Fonda returned to films after an eight-year absence in this masterful adaptation of the actor's Broadway hit Mister Roberts. Written and partially directed by Joshua...
Johnny Guitar
1954
One of the strangest westerns on record, Johnny Guitar has less in common with Zane Grey than it does with Sigmund Freud and Krafft-Ebbing. The title character,...
The Bob Mathias Story
1954
Taking into consideration the success of the 1953 biopic Crazylegs, Allied Artists cooked up its own sports biography in the form of The Bob Mathias Story. Olympic...
Gypsy Colt
1954
Gypsy Colt was based on a story by Eric Knight, better known for his enduring dog saga Lassie Come Home. This time, a beautiful black colt subs for Lassie, undergoing all...
Hondo
PG 1953
Hondo is so "perfect" a John Ford western that many people assume it was directed by John Ford--or at the very least, Andrew McLaglen. Actually the director was...
The Moonlighter
1953
Disreputable wanderer Wes Anderson (Fred MacMurray) has been thrown in a frontier town calaboose, accused of being a "moonlighter" -- a cowpuncher who herds cattle by day...
Blowing Wild
1953
With Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck in the cast, Blowing Wild was a guaranteed hit even before the cameras began turning. Cooper plays oil wildcatter Jeff Dawson,...