Joseph Cotten made the first of two appearances on Wagon Train in this season
5 opener. He plays a Buffalo Bill type character who has decided to give up his
Wild West show act and return to the Rocky Mountains of his youth and where
he made his bones as a frontiersman. He has offered his services to the Chris
Hale Wagon Train.
But John McIntire already has a scout, two of them in fact, Robert Horton and Denny Miller. Never mind that Cotten uses the prestige of his celebrity to force his way on the Wagon Train and then does a lot of undermining McIntire's authority.
The parallel between Cotten's Dan Brady and Buffalo Bill Cody is quite real. Cody was a frontiersman who had the acquaintance of Ned Buntline who with his penny dreadful novels created his celebrity far and wide. And he also made his initial fame killing Cheyenne war chief Yellow Hand at the battle of War Bonnet Gorge. In this story Cotten takes and raises his opponent's son Paul Comi.
In the end Cotten doesn't make the trip, but the circumstances are for you to see. It's a Liberty Valance ending.
Joseph Cotten is always worth watching though.
But John McIntire already has a scout, two of them in fact, Robert Horton and Denny Miller. Never mind that Cotten uses the prestige of his celebrity to force his way on the Wagon Train and then does a lot of undermining McIntire's authority.
The parallel between Cotten's Dan Brady and Buffalo Bill Cody is quite real. Cody was a frontiersman who had the acquaintance of Ned Buntline who with his penny dreadful novels created his celebrity far and wide. And he also made his initial fame killing Cheyenne war chief Yellow Hand at the battle of War Bonnet Gorge. In this story Cotten takes and raises his opponent's son Paul Comi.
In the end Cotten doesn't make the trip, but the circumstances are for you to see. It's a Liberty Valance ending.
Joseph Cotten is always worth watching though.