Wagon Train - Season 4 - Eps 25: The Christopher Hale Story
Flint meets Chris Hale alone on the prairie. Hale has just found his entire family massacred by Indians, and Flint asks him to join the wagon train. However, the company that owns the wagon train has hired a new wagonmaster, Jud Benedict. Benedict is a ruthless and brutal tyrant who puts time above all other considerations, and does not care how many people are left behind or even die in the process of heading to the final destination as soon as possible. He has also hired unscrupulous gunmen to enforce this goal by brutalizing slower people, or anyone who stands up to him. It is revealed that Hale has also been a wagonmaster, but has retired from the job and does not ever want such a responsibility again. Still, people on the train are looking to Hale to stand up to Benedict.
About Wagon Train
Title: Wagon Train
First Air Date: 1957-09-18
Last Air Date: 1965-05-02
Status: Ended
Rating: 6.3/10 (from 26 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 8
Total Episodes: 284
Network: NBC ABC
Genres: Western, Drama, Family
Production Companies: Universal Television, Revue Studios
Synopsis
The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller a year after Horton had decided to leave the series. The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.
Cast
John McIntire
Christopher Hale
Robert Fuller
Cooper Smith
Michael Burns
Barnaby West
Frank McGrath
Charlie Wooster
Terry Wilson
Bill Hawks
