The Big Trail

The Big Trail was a 1930 film starring John Wayne. Although the 23-year-old Wayne delivered a credible performance as wagon train scout Breck Coleman, the movie was a huge flop as it was released at the height of the Great Depression. It would take another nine years and Stagecoach to make Wayne a star. Legend has it that the director Raoul Walsh had co-star Tyrone Power, Sr. almost beaten to death for forcing himself on the leading lady, Marguerite Churchill. Power would die just a year later from a heart attack.

Further Reading

• Chapter 8, "The Big Trail and Beyond", Donald Shepherd and Robert Slatzer with Dave Grayson, Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne, Doubleday (1985), hardcover, 372 pages, ISBN 038517893X