Realistic, excellent black and white Western.

This is an excellent, realistic picture of what it was like to travel to California by wagon train. Younger viewers, unfamiliar with "normal" male behavior on the frontier --- or even in 1951, when this film was made --- may be confused by the actions of Buck Wyatt (Robert Taylor), who is supposed to be the hero. His methods of maintaining discipline and toughening up the women for the difficult journey may seem too harsh by modern standards. He shoots and kills a man, knocks a woman unconscious with a punch to the jaw, lashes a woman with a bullwhip, and slaps a woman in the face twice. IMMEDIATELY after a woman is killed attempting a tricky wagon maneuver, Buck asks the other women, "Who's next?" Buck has good reasons for his actions, and there's a happy ending --- for Buck. Not all the characters in this film are so lucky.