January 2025

Visions of Grandeur on The Big Trail

This article originally ran in AC April 2015. All images courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library. It was the movie that made John Wayne a star — and nearly ruined his career. It was the most ambitious Western of it's time — and nearly ended the genre for good. It’s a movie about which everything was genuinely big, from its 70mm Grandeur cameras, to its payroll of 20,000 extras and five separate casts, to its epic behind-the-scenes tales of Prohibition-era carousing. It was director Raoul Walsh’s sprawling, rambunctious 1930 feature, The Big Trail, and nothing about it was small — including its legacy. As The Big Trail celebrates its 85th anniversary this year, it’s worth looking back at this hugely innovative film that not only...more