The Big Trail: 95th Anniversary Celebration

Directed by Raoul Walsh, 1930
NR; 122 minutes

Cowtown Movie Classics is partnering with John Wayne Enterprises for a very special screening of The Big Trail (1930), the western epic that introduced Marion Robert Morrison to the world as a movie star: John Wayne.

A 23-year-old Wayne plays Breck Coleman, a trapper who finds himself leading a huge caravan of pioneers across the Oregon Trail. To lend authenticity to the production the film was shot on location, reportedly featuring over 700 Native American actors from various tribes alongside thousands of cows, horses, and other livestock.

Photographed in an early widescreen format using 70mm film, The Big Trail paints a larger-than-life portrait of western expansion, decades before Cinemascope and other similar formats became the norm.

In honor of the film’s 95th anniversary the Duke’s son, veteran actor Patrick Wayne (Young Guns, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Searchers), will be in attendance, courtesy of John Wayne Cancer Foundation.

Tickets for this special screening are $5 (FREE for Modern members) and are available at the museum’s admission desk or to buy online here.

A North Texas-based film club that celebrates vintage and cult cinema, Cowtown Movie Classics makes classic films available to the community with their proper historical context. Follow Cowtown Movie Classics on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.