''The Missouri Traveler'' is a 1958 American
coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
period piece
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
Jerry Hopper
Harold Hankins Hopper (July 29, 1907 – December 17, 1988), known professionally as Jerry Hopper, was an American film and television director, active from the mid-1940s through the early 1970s.
Early life
Jerry Hopper was born in Guthrie, ...
starring
Brandon deWilde
Andre Brandon deWilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he comp ...
and
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
. It is based on the novel of the same name by
John Burress. The
cinematography
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
was by
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
developer
Winton C. Hoch
Winton C. Hoch, A.S.C. ( ) (July 31, 1905 – March 20, 1979) was an American cinematographer. He was earlier a lab technician who contributed to the development of Technicolor before becoming a cinematographer in 1936. His understanding of the col ...
with harmonica and banjo score by
Jack Marshall
Sir John Ross Marshall New Zealand Army Orders 1952/405 (5 March 1912 – 30 August 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He entered Parliament in 1946 and was first promoted to Cabinet in 1951. After spending twelve years ...
of ''
The Munsters
''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...
'' fame. The feature was distributed by the
Buena Vista Corporation subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions, but the film did not carry the "Disney" trademark.
It is the second of only 3 films produced by
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius "Sonny" Vanderbilt Whitney (February 20, 1899 – December 13, 1992) was an American businessman, film producer, government official, writer and philanthropist. He was also a polo player and the owner of a significant stable of Thorough ...
's C. V. Whitney Pictures; the first being ''
The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Wa ...
'' in 1956 with
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
and directed by
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
, the last being ''
The Young Land
''The Young Land'' is a 1959 American Western film directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring Patrick Wayne, Yvonne Craig, Dennis Hopper and Dan O'Herlihy. The cinematography was by Technicolor developer Winton C. Hoch and Henry Sharp. The film was ...
'' in 1959 with
Patrick Wayne
Patrick John Morrison (born July 15, 1939), better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne, is an American actor. He is the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films, including eleven w ...
and
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
.
Whitney married
Mary Hosford, whom he gave a prominent part in this film, the same year it was released. The following year, in 1959, deWilde's career would graduate to more adult themes in ''
Blue Denim
''Blue Denim'' is a 1959 film based on a Broadway play by writer James Leo Herlihy. It starred Carol Lynley and Warren Berlinger who reprised their stage roles. 17-year-old Brandon deWilde appeared in his first "adult" role as the male lead Arth ...
''.
Plot
Brandon deWilde leads a cast lengthy in
character actors
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to be ...
playing subdued Biarn Turner, a 15-year-old runaway from the Eatondale Orphan Asylum bound for Florida in the post-World War I time period of 1926. He receives a ride into the rural Missouri town of Delphi with rich land-owner Tobias Brown (Lee Marvin). There, after an episode in the town square involving most of the populace, he meets crusty newspaper man Doyle Magee (Gary Merrill).
Both of these men share an interest in the polite and mature youth; one showing kindness, the other almost outright cruelty. Eventually, both of their reasonings become clear to the lad. At the same time, the whole town of Delphi comes to not only accept Biarn, but to embrace him as one of the town's own and his dream of becoming a farmer.
Highlights include a small-town
4th of July parade and celebration with a horse-trotting race and a head-to-head between Magee and Brown.
The book version of this story, upon which the film was based, has a more complex story line than was able to be incorporated into the film version. In the book, Biarn has a significant impact on the lives of several of the townspeople without his consciously trying to affect them. This is missing from the film version, which comes across more like a family Disney type film. Unfortunately, while it is a better version of the story, the book "The Missouri Traveler" is very difficult to find.
Cast
*
Brandon deWilde
Andre Brandon deWilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he comp ...
as Biarn Turner
*
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
as Tobias Brown
*
Gary Merrill
Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television actor whose credits included more than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. He starr ...
as Doyle Magee
*
Paul Ford
Paul Ford Weaver (November 2, 1901 – April 12, 1976) was an American character actor who came to specialize in authority figures whose ineptitude and pompous demeanor were played for comic effect, notably as Mayor Shinn in ''The Music Man (196 ...
as Finas Daugherty
*
Mary Hosford as Anna Love Price
*
Ken Curtis
Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wain Gates; July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991) was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the CBS western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Although he appeared on ''Gunsmoke'' earlie ...
as Fred Mueller
*
Cal Tinney as Clyde Hamilton Baker
*
Frank Cady
Frank Randolph Cady (September 8, 1915 – June 8, 2012) was an American actor best known for his role as storekeeper Sam Drucker in three American television series during the 1960s – ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ' ...
as Willie Poole
*
Mary Field
Mary Field (born Olivia Rockefeller; June 10, 1909 – June 12, 1996) was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles.
Early life
She was born in New York City. As a child, she never knew her biological parents; ...
as Nelda Hamilton
*
Kathleen Freeman
Kathleen Freeman (February 17, 1923August 23, 2001) was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost in ...
as Serena Poole
*
Will Wright as Sheriff Peavy
*
Tom Tiner as Reverend Thomdyke
* Bill Bryant as Henry Craig
*
Barry Curtis Barry Curtis may refer to:
* Barry Curtis (actor) (1943–2019), American film and television actor
* Barry Curtis (mayor) (born 1939), served as mayor (1983–2007) of Manukau City, New Zealand
** Barry Curtis Park, a park in south Auckland, New Z ...
as Jimmy Price
* Eddie Little as "Red" Poole
*
Roy Jenson
Roy Cameron Jenson, also known and credited as Roy Jensen, (February 9, 1927 – April 24, 2007) was a Canadian American football player, stuntman, and actor.
Early years
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Jenson moved to Los Angeles with his family as ...
as Simpson
Home media
No less than six different releases of ''The Missouri Traveler'' were produced on
VHS. Similarly, multiple
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
versions were released over the years, mainly as an inclusion in a multiple film "family pack". Presently, ''The Missouri Traveler'' is available in
Region 0
DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD-Video, DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all acc ...
DVD through
Reel Enterprises and
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
in standard
pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown in fullscreen proportions of a standard-definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus ...
VHS conversion format. A new DVD of the film was released on April 14, 2015, from VCI Entertainment (VCIV8793DVD).
See also
*
List of American films of 1958
A list of American films released in 1958. The musical romantic comedy film '' Gigi'' won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
A-B
C-F
G-K
L-R
S-Z
See also
* 1958 in the United States
References
External links
1958 filmsat the Inte ...
References
External links
*
*
''The Missouri Traveler'' at RememberingBrandon.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Missouri Traveler, The
1958 films
1950s coming-of-age drama films
1958 drama films
American coming-of-age drama films
Films about horses
Films about orphans
Films directed by Jerry Hopper
Films scored by Jack Marshall
1950s English-language films
1950s American films