Wagon Train (TV Series) The Johnny Masters Story (1963) User Reviews

What they have for troopers

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 February 2018]

Anthony George is in the title role of this Wagon Train story playing a Cherokee Indian who was also a sergeant and formerly a brevet officer from the Civil War. But when Denny Miller finds him he's in shackles and running from some hostile Indians. George was being escorted to army prison for killing an officer serving at the same post he was.

But when Duke Shannon returns him he finds a dangerously undermanned fort with wounded colonel Robert Wilke in bed attended by wife Ellen Greene and daughter Carole Wells. What they have for troopers are the dregs of the post, the rest of the soldiers are on patrol.

It's the end for them and they know it. Of course Denny Miller survives to do another season of Wagon Train. As for the others a lot gets revealed before the Indians attack the fort. The centerpiece is the reason George was in the stockade in the first place.

Anthony George's performance highlights this episode with a most honorable mention going to Williams Mims playing a very psychotic private.

Did Confederate Cavalry Make That Charge?

[hogwrassler · 7/10 · 16 February 2021]

This episode takes place away from the wagon train and Duke Shannon (Scott Miller) is the only regular character to appear. Chief Buffalo Horn has returned to the area and Duke is riding to Fort David to request a cavalry escort for the train. He runs across two dead troopers and Cherokee Sgt Johnny Masters in handcuffs. Johnny was on his way to prison and Duke forces him to return to the fort. The situation there is precarious. Only a few troopers are there and Colonel Stone is badly wounded and bedridden. His wife and daughter Laurie are there caring for him, along with the post surgeon. B Company is on patrol and may return at any time, and a relief column is also expected. Leadership is what's needed and Johnny, a breveted officer in the Civil War, is the man for the job. But he refuses to do it. There's a lot of mystery about why Johnny killed an officer, but Mrs Stone or Laurie may have been involved. Whatever it was, Johnny isn't saying. They eventually find out that B Company has been wiped out by Buffalo Horn. Johnny eventually decides to try to find the relief column, but Duke decks him and takes on the job himself. The climax is a rousing cavalry charge which may or may not save the fort, but it's clearly Confederate cavalry making it! What's going on? The footage edited that has been in is from the 1951 Ronald Reagan movie, "The Last Outpost," AKA "Cavalry Charge." That was filmed in beautiful technicolor, but it was de-colored for the B/W TV series. William Mims has a good role as a drunken, low-life trooper out to save his own hide. Alvy Moore plays Private Bledsoe in a dramatic role before going on to be Hank Kimball on Green Acres. The underrated Angela Greene plays Mrs Stone, a wife seeing herself going old and unattractive. Carole Wells plays daughter Laurie. Anthony George is the title character, an actor I always confuse with Don Gordon. This is a watchable episode made better by the supporting cast.