Zane Grey Westerns were apparently good early vehicles for Henry Hathaway and Randolph Scott. Hathaway's first directorial effort was 1932's "Heritage of the Desert", which also featured Scott in his first starring film role. Scott also appeared in 1934's "Wagon Wheels", a remake of 1931's "Fighting Caravans", both based on the Grey story of the same name. One of the plot lines of this picture follows that of 'Caravans', whereby the hero Tom Doan (Scott) has intentions of marrying the story's romantic interest (Judith Allen as Milly Fayre), but a couple of grizzled old timers (Harry Carey and Ray Hatton) find it objectionable. Guess who wins out?
There's also a creepy element offered here with the character of Randall Jett (Noah Beery), who has designs of his own on stepdaughter Milly. This doesn't sit well with Mrs. Jett (Blanche Friderici), who for my money, might be the meanest female character I've run across in just about any picture, and that includes Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West. Jett's also a mean cuss in his own right, operating a rival fur trade operation to the Sprague outfit, based on banditry against whites and Indians alike.
The film utilizes a fair amount of stock footage at the opening as well as in sequences involving the buffalo stampedes of the title, which I learned from other posters on this board were first used in the silent version of this movie from 1925. There were a couple of other cool elements as well, like the use of a leveraged timber to temporarily replace a broken wagon wheel, and Randolph Scott's use of a tree limb during a running dismount to see his gal. The only question I have as far as the story goes - whatever happened to Buster Crabbe?
There's also a creepy element offered here with the character of Randall Jett (Noah Beery), who has designs of his own on stepdaughter Milly. This doesn't sit well with Mrs. Jett (Blanche Friderici), who for my money, might be the meanest female character I've run across in just about any picture, and that includes Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West. Jett's also a mean cuss in his own right, operating a rival fur trade operation to the Sprague outfit, based on banditry against whites and Indians alike.
The film utilizes a fair amount of stock footage at the opening as well as in sequences involving the buffalo stampedes of the title, which I learned from other posters on this board were first used in the silent version of this movie from 1925. There were a couple of other cool elements as well, like the use of a leveraged timber to temporarily replace a broken wagon wheel, and Randolph Scott's use of a tree limb during a running dismount to see his gal. The only question I have as far as the story goes - whatever happened to Buster Crabbe?