Wagon Tracks West (1943)
Cowboys side with an Indian doctor against crooks and bad water.
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The greatest movie ever!
A different way of telling a story
The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.
The script and story are standard fare with a few minor twists. Gabby Hayes gets amoebic dysentery from drinking contaminated water and is "saved" by "Fleetwing", a Pawnee Indian and recent graduate of Cumberland Medical School, who happens to be the son of Brown Bear, chief of the local Pawnee Tribe.Fleetwing is ridiculed by the local townsfolk but Bill Elliot trusts him. Meanwhile, Pawnees are dying from the contaminated water created by ignorant cattlemen. However, "Warren" the local Indian commissioner refuses to take any action because he is secretly plotting with "Clawtooth" to move the tribe and then take control of the land. Warren is assisted in his nefarious scheme by "Laird" the assistant Indian Commissioner.Clawtooth is being seduced by money, guns and the opportunity to lead the tribe once Brown Bear dies from dysentery and his son is framed for murder.The local sheriff is manipulated by Warren and Laird and arrests Bill Elliot, Gabby Hayes and Fleetwing. However, in the end, Laird confesses because he foolishly drank contaminated water and needs Fleetwing to cure his fever.The ranchers realize their ignorance in allowing cattle to urinate and defecate in the local stream and agree to stop such plus build a clinic for the new Indian doctor. Happy trails.This has all the elements of a low-budget cliff-hanger and appears to have been produced in a week or less. However, the double-crossing Indian commissioners seem as contemporary as recently convicted U.S. Congressman Randy Cunningham and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.Fleetwing best summarizes the story when at the end he says "I owe everything to Bill Elliot and Gabby Hayes." Amen.