User Reviews

The Brooklyn-born gal with a heart of gold love being a woman of the West with a big heart of gold, and for Barbara Stanwyck's second venture into "Wagon Train" as Kate Crawley (having earlier played two other characters), she gets a great entrance cracking said whip. The wagon train Tim is not pleased by her appearance, knowing that this will distract their leader, John McIntyre, who has had feelings for Stanwyck's Kate since her previous episode. they happen to meet in the wild and before long, Kate has all but taken over the Wagon Train, even telling the team when it's time for them to go to bed. Two of them, Denny Miller and Harry Carey Jr., decide that enough is enough and try to get her hooked up with her assistant Noah Beery Jr. but even cleaning him up and shaving him (in a very funny scene) doesn't get Stanwyck to reciprocate to Beery's feelings. A humiliating party scene brings atonement for the culprits, but sends McIntire out to search for her which leads him into a dangerous scene involving a wildfire.

This is the old west at his most misogynistic, and it's a combination of old fashioned macho pride and jealousy as McIntyre's team simply don't want to share their friend with a woman, especially one as commanding as Stanwyck. Never has misogyny on screen been presented so humorously even if it is wrong, and never has a bossy woman been so absolutely hysterically funny! But there in lies the problem with this episode that Stanwyck's Kate deserved something a little more dignified than just a brief exploration into her past, and while there are certainly some dramatic scenes, a good majority of it is played for comedy. Stanwyck, certainly well known for melodramatic performances, had played comedy as well, and shows that she still had it. Unlike Kate, her next Western character, Victoria Barkley, would show a mixture of toughness and femininity as well as that huge heart as the wealthy Western matriarch on "The Big Valley". It is obvious that Stanwyck is having a blast playing this character, which I could have seen having a spin-off of her own had the producers of "The Big Valley" not come a-knockin.

This episode aired a few months after 'The Molly Kincaid Story,' where Kate Crawley had been introduced as the operator of a freight company as well as a pal of Chris Hale (John McIntire). Her rough misfit character had played more of a supporting role in the earlier story; now she's back and becomes the main focus. In this sequel we learn about Kate's backstory. Mainly how she was reared without a mother, how her father turned her into the son he never had and how she took over the family business when he died, because it was something she knew how to do and was good at doing.

As the episode gets underway it is explained that Kate's running some gunpowder on her wagons for the army. During the journey she hooks up with Chris' group, and the two long-time friends are happy to be reunited. We see the men who work for Kate, including a guy named Stump (Noah Beery) who for some inexplicable reason is clearly smitten with her. Stump must fight his jealousy when it seems that Chris and Kate are growing closer. The unusual courtship is eyed by the gossipy women on the train who disapprove of Kate's masculine ways as well as by Chris' men who fear Chris will marry Kate and it will change everything. Charlie (Frank McGrath) and Duke (Scott Miller) even wager a bet on the outcome of this relationship.

There are some highly entertaining scenes between Stanwyck and Beery, as well as between Stanwyck and McIntire. I particularly enjoyed the sequence where the men help Stump clean up, and how it results in Kate taking a softer view of him. There's also a key sequence where a special party has been given that's really meant to humiliate Kate, because the guys know she doesn't have proper attire and will embarrass Chris and herself.

Probably the best part, however, occurs in the last half hour. Chris has officially proposed to Kate, but she's afraid things won't work out. While he goes to get a preacher, she takes off with Stump and her men. But they encounter a raging forest fire, and this causes the gunpowder on one of her wagons to explode. Some excellent stock footage is blended in seamlessly with the studio stuff, and the on-location shots of Kate running her horse through the fire are well choreographed. That whole sequence is exciting to watch, and surprisingly it leads to Stump's death, whom I had expected would pair up with Kate at the end.

The rest of the story has Kate returning with Chris to his wagon train. The wedding is still on, and it seems as if Chris is now about to marry Kate. Of course, since we know Stanwyck's not joining the show as a permanent full-time character, I figured the marriage would either get interrupted by Stump coming back from the dead. Or else it would take place, but something tragic would prevent Chris and Kate from living happily ever after.

They definitely do not get married, but not for the reasons I expected. Instead there's a hilarious wedding scene where Kate's unfeminine behaviors get the best of her. It seems she just can't keep from using that whip of hers, and she's just not ready to be a lady yet. The last part seemed a bit open-ended, probably so they could bring Stanwyck back again later for another story, where she would finally get married (to Chris or to someone else). Kate's last moment on screen is a wonderful poetic shot where she rides off alone with her team of horses.