James MacArthur stars here in the title role as a runaway kid who joins the Wagon
Train and stays pretty aloof from the rest of the passengers. Save for Anne Helm's sisters whom he gravitates to.
Helm doesn't like him or so she let's on. She's got to be both parents to her five younger sisters with her mother ailing and pregnant and her father killed en route to California. MacArthur she sees as shiftless and no good and a bit strange hanging around her family.
What we eventually learn is that MacArthur was an indentured kid which perennial western villain I. Stanford Jolley bought from an orphanage and treated as a slave.
What MacArthur does do is help Helm and her family through a very serious crisis affecting all of them. The young man proves his worth.
Nice performances by MacArthur and Helm and I. Stanford Jolley as well. Just being bound to Jolley is enough reason for anyone to flee.
Helm doesn't like him or so she let's on. She's got to be both parents to her five younger sisters with her mother ailing and pregnant and her father killed en route to California. MacArthur she sees as shiftless and no good and a bit strange hanging around her family.
What we eventually learn is that MacArthur was an indentured kid which perennial western villain I. Stanford Jolley bought from an orphanage and treated as a slave.
What MacArthur does do is help Helm and her family through a very serious crisis affecting all of them. The young man proves his worth.
Nice performances by MacArthur and Helm and I. Stanford Jolley as well. Just being bound to Jolley is enough reason for anyone to flee.
