For Ben Johnson fans ...

[elisabeth]

... Good news: Wagonmaster is now out on DVD.

It's a lovely clean, crisp edition, too. Gorgeous.

Re-watching the movie, it's more astonishing than ever that he wasn't groomed up at once to be a major superstar. He demonstrates that he can do everything: fabulous riding, obviously, but also authority, humour, charm, charisma, the lot -- even dancing, for crying out loud. Incomprehensible that it took so long for him to be elevated beyond those "Sgt. Tyree" roles. One can only think that in this movie Ford was using him as a shot across Wayne's bows, or something. Otherwise, any sane director -- or studio (this was RKO, who had a very good eye for actors at the time) -- would have exploited him to the hilt. Thank God for Bogdanovich, having the wit to bring him back to centre stage with The Last Picture Show.

Anyway, it's a joy to be able to see this again. Yes, the story is bonkers, and it's virtually Wagonmaster: The Musical, but it's none the less delightful. Highly recommended.

[crawdaddo]

Wasn't that an excellent piece of casting ? that movie still passes muster to this day,I really like it .....cheers craw.

[biggordie]

It was while making Wagonmaster that Johson and Carey Jr. ran afoul of Ford's genormous ego, apparently having the temerity to suggest to the Great Man that certain scenes could be handled better, or would be more believable if handled differently. Both were, it is said, threatened with blackballing is they didn't apologize and kowtow to Ford. Junior supposedly did, and was taken back into the "family" - while the recalcitrant Johnson became persona non grata, relegated to stuntman work and minor roles in for the most part minor movies. He did appear in a few good ones made by independent-minded producers and directors [George Stevens, Marlon Brando, Sam Peckinpagh].

During his "hiatus," Johnson followed in his father's footsteps in joining the PRCA and competing in several rodeos. In one year, he and his partner were World Champions in Team Roping; but I have to plead ignorance of which year it was.

Ben Johnson was my favorite actor, and I always wondered what had happened to him after Wagonmaster, which I thought would be the launch vehicle for his career. It wasn't until The Wild Bunch was screened that I found out what had transpired between Ford and him. They eventually reconciled, but the damage had been done.

It was one of the great disappointments of my life that I never got to meet Ben Johnson [that rotten Steve Andrews had lunch with him one time]. I liked him so well that I was going to name my son Travis Tyree Harper, but his mother put the kibosh on that idea.

Thanks for the info, Elisabeth.

Gordie

[elisabeth]

So that's the explanation.

Unwise, I suppose, to get a reputation as a "difficult" actor so early in your career ... but good for him, for not backing down.

Was he under contract to Ford personally rather than to a studio? I assume he must have been, otherwise RKO would have used him regardless of any bad-mouthing Ford might do. You can only imagine the movies he could have starred in if things had gone differently. Infinite westerns; noir movies along the lines of Double Indemnity, as innocent hero ensnared by evil femme fatale; all sorts. But who knows, maybe it turned out for the best, and real life did more for his acting than early superstardom would have done ... There's a depth and a laid-back wisdom to his later performances that might not have been there if he'd spent his formative years frolicking around Hollywood swimming-pools. Hard to know.

[grahamew]

This happened during Rio Grande, made just after Wagonmaster and Ford instantly knew he'd gone too far

[biggordie]

grahamew:

I stand corrected . One of my favorite Ben Johnson stories was told by Burt Reynolds when he was guest-hosting the Tonight Show, and had Ben as a guest. According to Reynolds, he had been attending a party where he met Johnson, some months after his Academy Award win for LPS, and the two were talking together, when a woman came up to them and told Johnson how much she had admired his work in LPS, rather gushingly, but had called him by the wrong name. Reynolds asked Johnson why he hadn't corrected the woman, and Johnson had replied to the effect that in the long run it "didn't amount to nothing," and why ruin the moment?

During the interview, Reynolds asked Johnson how he came to be an actor in the first place, and Johnson said it was all due to a fluke. He had, he said, originally come out to Hollywood with a bunch of horses as a wrangler, and found that the money paid him as a wrangler was about ten times what he had made as a working cowboy, so he stayed on, working fairly regularly as a stunt double and sometime extra. This was, I think, during WWII.

During the filming of Fort Apache, Johnson said, there was an occasion when a wagon team ran away with the wagon imperiling the two or more people on board, and he, being nearby, galloped off after it, caught it, and pulled one of the lead horses in a circle until it fell over, causing the whole shebang to come to a crashing halt, without actually crashing. Later that day, he was called into Ford's "office" and was thanked profusely and asked if he'd ever contemplated being an actor, to which he replied that he had. Ford then offered him a "standard" contract at $5000 per month. Johnson said that he was no mathematical whiz, having never finished high school, but he knew enough to be able to figure out that $5000 a month was more than $100 a week, which was what he was currently making [take pity on an old man if the numbers aren't exactly correct], so he "signed her, right then."

Were that story true, then it would appear that Ford had him under personal contract, perhaps even a personal services contract, and could dictate what work he could undertake during the length of the contract [which may have been as long as seven years, which was one of the "standard deals" - but I don't know]. That may be why Johnson did so much uncredited stunt work during the early fifties.

Gordie
also uncredited

PS He could also play " a nasty piece of work" or as Marlon called him in One Eyed Jacks "a scum-sucking pig" - Bob somebody or other.

[elisabeth]

There are some nice quotes from him on IMDb; you can just hear him saying these things ...
www.imdb.com/name/nm0424565/bio

The personal contract makes sense, given the way Ford was able to limit his work.

Haven't seen One Eyed Jacks for donkey's years, so I don't remember much about it -- but yes, I should think he could do a pretty scary villain too. The combination of the baby face, the slow drawl, and yet the hint of steel behind it all: could be very powerful. Come to that, his character in The Wild Bunch wasn't someone you'd want to meet in a dark alley, especially when drunk (the character, I mean). Remarkable that he managed to make Tector both as frightening as an unexploded bomb, and sympathetic too. What a movie that is. Magic.

[biggordie]

Magic, indeed!!

Who could ever forget William Holden's "Let's go get Angel" and Warren Oates' reply"Hell, why not!!"? Ernie Borgnine's almost-silly grin, and Johnson's stolid stoicism - and then the walk down the street, four abreast, with Mexicans looking on dispassionately, children scurrying, a sad song wailing in the background, Johnson cradling a shotgun , and the bloodletting waiting to be begun.......

"You want Angel - I give him to you......." Pause, hold it, pause, look around..........

Magic is right on, Elisabeth. It's too bad Ford didn't leave the schmaltz and "humor" out of his westerns - I think they could have been much better for it.

Gordie

[elisabeth]

Absolutely. "Let's go.'"-- "Why not." Oh my.

I've just been re-watching it these last two hours or so, and the tears are still streaming down my face ... It's the best ever.

You're so right about Ford. If he'd left things alone -- and especially avoided the "comic" fist-fights -- his stuff might have achieved consistent true greatness instead of just near-greatness. He does stay almost clear of silliness in Fort Apache, and almost entirely in Stagecoach; maybe that's why those two seem the purest. But ... nothing comes near The Wild Bunch. Nihilistic yet moral, bleak yet romantic, tragic yet triumphant, and above all built on character -- well, what can one say. I have to fall back on "magic" once again. Fabulous movie.

[grahamew]

I think I'm with Welles, Kurosawa, Bogdanovich and Anderson on Ford.

[crzhrs]

And don't forget he was in the "classic" Red Dawn . . . the anti-communist movie where a bunch of kids take on the Cuban/Russian military who invaded the country!

[clw]

Great movie, Horse! And I'm feeling absolutely lost that I've never seen The Wild Bunch. Must attend to that very soon.

As to Ben Johnson, there's none better. I can't think of another actor that can portray such depth in a few words. And there's such a basic honesty in the man, I don't know how one can help but admire him.

Did you know there's a documentary film about Johnson's life -- Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right ? I haven't seen it, but I'd sure love to.

[crzhrs]

Wasn't Johnson in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG? I believe he was . . . it's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I believe he helped capture Joe in the Jungle and helped save in once in the big city.

A classic movie, not quite on par with KING KONG but one of the best "monkey" movies.

[grahamew]

"MIGHTY JOE YOUNG" - made for Ford and Merian C. Cooper's Argosy Pictures.

[biggordie]

I have a lobby card from Mighty Joe Young [with Terry Moore playing "Beautiful Dreamer"] - maybe two, as well as two from Fort Defiance [with Peter Graves and Martha Hyer]. I dunno where they are - around here somewhere.

One of the things I liked about Ben Johnson was his ability to never take himself too seriously - witness his wonderful performance as Jesse Bookbinder, cavalry scout, in Something Big, with Brian Keith and Dean Martin. In one scene with Keith, who is the cavalry commander, Johnson is recounting his latest scouting sweep [pardon me if I get the directions and mileages wrong - I'm old]:

"So I rode twelve miles south where I run up against tracks leading away to the west. I followed them for some distance and found thet they wuz made by two Navahoes headed home. I ast them what they had heard about what was going on, and they tolt me. Then I went along east to Little Lost Boy Canyon, where I spoke to a couple of prospectors, who had heard pretty much the same thing. Then I headed back..."

"For God's sake, man, what was it you found out? What did they say was going to happen?"

"Somethin' big."

Gordie

PS Mighty Joe Young ends with Johnson and Moore waving goodbye [with Joe playing nearby] to the departing airplane [one would guess] in a home movie sent to the man who had sponsored the expedition which had captured Joe in the first place. If memory serves, that part was played by Robert Armstrong, who had also played the part of the movie producer in the original King Kong [don't scream at me if I'm wrong].