Bridger on AllMovie

Based on the exploits of real-life 1830s frontiersman James Bridger, this TV movie was supposed to have graduated to a weekly series, but the fates were against it. James Wainwright plays the title role with Gary Cooper-like stoicism. John Anderson guest stars as President Andrew Jackson, who orders Bridger to blaze a trail from Wyoming to California. The film is extremely disorganized, suggesting that it was cobbled together from several shorter Bridger episodes. Moreover, the film was rather choppily pared down from 100 minutes to 78. When Bridger rescues Sally Field from bandits, we don't even know who her character is or why the hero is so interested in her plight.