John Wayne’s first leading role came in 1930 with the pre-code WesternThe Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh, and it set the 23-year-old actor on a path to stardom and Western dominance. Before this legendary film, Wayne had starred in only minor roles, with studios unsure of what to make of the fledgling actor. Would he be a sensitive heatthrob, a dashing hero, or an unscrupulous villain?
The Big Trail was the film where Wayne hit his stride and found his niche, endearing himself to the Western genre and moviegoing fans everywhere as Breck Coleman, a young fur trapper out to get revenge on Red Flack, played by silent film star Tyrone Power, for the murder of Coleman’s friend. Coleman’s rugged exterior, independence, and individualistic attitude tempered by his ethical code are attributes that are now synonymous with the characters played by Wayne. Coleman is, in many ways, the ideal Western-American hero and an iconic Western film protagonist, able to meet justice and endure hardship with grace, which Wayne portrays with ease, blurring the line between actor and character.
What Is ‘The Big Trail’ About?
John Wayne’s Breck Coleman is hired by a group of settlers to scout their caravan west along the yet unblazed Oregon Trail. Hesitant to take on the job, preferring the solace of his profession, Coleman agrees when he learns that Red Flack and his gang of murderous thieves are bossing a bull train down the very same path. Coleman takes on the job so he can keep an eye on Flack, believing him to have murdered a fur trader mentor of his some time ago. As both parties settle on their journey down the merciless trail, the settlers are attacked by a group of Native Americans and thrown into chaos. Coleman proves himself brave and capable, enduring the attack with grit and determination.
With the caravan in shambles, Coleman and Flack must lead those that remain west in a tense game of cat and mouse, with Flack trying everything he can to have Coleman murdered along the way before being caught. Coleman proves resilient and the harbinger of frontier justice, assembling proof of Flack’s misdeeds and ultimately bringing Flack and his company’s crooked days to an end. Coleman is exceptionally noble, delineating himself from Flack in his rigorous approach to justice; methodically collecting evidence in order to justly seal Flack’s fate. His classic nobility and toughness not only save the day but also win him the hand of the beautiful Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill), who he would join again on screen a year later with the romantic comedy Girls Demand Excitement, a film that made John Wayne almost quit acting altogether.
‘The Big Trail’ Kickstarted a Young John Wayne’s Career
John Wayne had stacked up quite a lot of acting credits by the time The Big Trail went into production, but he had yet to take on a leading role. Up until this point, Wayne had really only been in Western serials, sometimes called Poverty Row Westerns — 1930s Hollywood B-films produced by small studios with even smaller budgets and production values. He had a bit of a following, especially in the American South, but he wasn’t exactly a big name due to his youth, described as “soft and creamy, a ‘come-hither’ carved out of a half-baked cheesecake,” according to The Atlantic. But director Raoul Walsh saw something in that innocence and decided to cast him as the lead, after consulting with the studio bosses, to change his name to John Wayne from his real name.
It is the innocence of a young John Wayne juxtaposed against the harshness of the frontier that endeared Wayne to audiences. The film bombed at the box office, but Wayne was exceptional in the role. It appears as if he is merely playing himself — an extension of the morality that made him a symbol of Western masculinity and virility. The result is a dreamy John Wayne as an early Hollywood heartthrob, nearly unrecognizable from his later works as he grew to be a more rugged and tough protagonist. John Wayne always plays a tough guy with a heart of gold, and though no longer playing minor characters, Wayne would go on to be the quintessential American cowboy.
How Did ‘The Big Trail’ Set John Wayne Up For Western Stardom?
The Big Trail proved that John Wayne had leading man potential, but his career languished for a few years in lesser roles while the studios figured out just what kind of leading man he would be. Girls Demand Excitement, for example, was an attempt by the studios to make a teen heartthrob out of John Wayne, but instead, it came off as a little bit ridiculous. Just as ridiculous was the failed horror western Haunted Gold, which saw John Wayne return as a gleaming cowboy hero taking on a group of thieves inside a haunted goldmine. The film seems stifling against his performance in The Big Trail, but it is a fun watch nevertheless. It would take nine years for John Wayne, plodding his way through horse opera after horse opera, but in 1939, he landed his breakthrough role in the important Western film Stagecoach, a film that revolutionized Westerns.
Stagecoach was a film where Wayne would flex those dramatic cowboy muscles he developed in The Big Trail. The introduction alone is hands down one of the coolest scenes in a John Wayne Western. Wayne’s trademark masculinity, nobility, and grit all came into play in this film, leading to audiences loving the flick — the studios now realized what they had on their hands, as, unlike The Big Trail, this one was profitable. He was the perfect ‘everyman,’ embodying what every red-blooded American man wanted to be or at least thought a man should be at the time.
There are plenty of masculine Western protagonists, but none play it as easily as Wayne does, reflecting the attitudes of a bygone era that shines brightly through celluloid until this very day. He is a fetching example of frontier virility and masculinity, a carefully crafted persona that took shape through countless films, who came into his own in The Big TraiI, and cemented his stardom in Stagecoach.