Robert Fuller as James Reed 

Where did you find it? Just from this little bit I can tell it looks like a highly romanticized version of the true story & is playing fast & loose with the facts (I don't understand why film makers have to change facts when the real history is more interesting!) - but it's Robert Fuller, after all, so I want it!

That's not what really happened. I mean, John Snyder WAS whipping the crap out of the team, & James Reed DID step in to try stop him - you don't want to mistreat your animals in the middle of nowhere, as they're travel essentials. But REED was the one who pulled the knife, after Snyder wrapped the whip around Reed's head. He deliberately stabbed Snyder in the chest (today that would be a 'road rage' charge of manslaughter, since it was done in a flare of anger, self-defense or not) just under the collarbone on the left side, probably nicking an artery. Snyder staggered a few steps & promptly dropped dead. (Fun medical fact: It takes about 10 seconds to bleed out when all 3 layers of an artery to the heart are torn or cut.) And it was in view of the entire party (except for the Donners, who had pulled ahead of the rest), not just Lewis Keseberg AKA 'that douche'. George Donner, who was elected the leader of the party, commanded Reed be immediately put under guard in a tent while the wagon party deliberated his fate. (Fun historical fact: US laws were not applicable west of the Continental Divide in those days, so the wagonmaster often presided over 'courts' for serious infractions committed by a member of the party.) The majority DID think Reed was guilty of murder - which he was. Margaret Reed never pulled a rifle on any of them. She begged for mercy when they said they were going to hang her husband, so George Donner changed the punishment to banishment instead. There was also never any nonsense about taking his gun away from him, either. Even if they had taken his gun, a pistol in those days was no good for shooting game, unless you were practically right on top of it. A pistol just doesn't have the range a rifle would. At any rate, his daughter Virginia later snuck out of camp on one of their remaining horses, caught up to him, & brought him a rifle & some food. Reed was actually kind of an asshole for most of the trip. He was arrogant about being the wealthiest, thought he should've been elected the party's leader because of that, & started out with an enormous wagon stuffed to the gills that was mockingly called 'The Prairie Palace'. Most prairie schooners were about 5' x 12' & that's what most people took on their trek West. Reed's wagon was an extra-long, double-decker, specially rigged ensemble that had bunk beds installed in its upper story (wagons didn't have those, but his did) so that his family could take all their expensive goodies along. It took 8 oxen to pull the thing, & it was such hard going across the sticky salt flats that he added in 2 more to the team (he also had the most of those). Unfortunately, the party ran out of water on Day 3 of their 5-day trip across the desert, evidently his cattle weren't staked out for the night very well, & 9 of them ran away to find water on their own, so the fancy wagon's goodies had to be abandoned as it was too heavy for his remaining ox, pack mules, & horses to pull. It was probably the fact that most people didn't like his nose in the air attitude that they wanted him punished for stabbing Snyder to death. But Reed DID end up as the hero of the piece; were it not for his persistence, there would never have been any relief parties to rescue the stranded pioneers. Btw, Charles Staunton & William 'Mac" McCutcheon (in the avalanche scene) volunteered to go thru the pass & try to get help after it 1st snowed; Staunton later came back alone with some provisions, & he ended up remaining with the party & dying of starvation for his trouble. The douche gave interviews to the press about the Donner party having eaten human flesh, & he was universally reviled as a 'ghoul' - unlike the ending clip from the film, Americans were revolted at the notion & did not 'understand' why they had done it. Oh, & as the animals weakened for lack of grass to eat soon after the killing of Snyder, the wagons had to be lightened in order for them to be pulled, so everyone had to walk. Keseberg was responsible for the death of a 70 yo Belgian immigrant whose feet were bleeding & couldn't walk any longer. Keseburg bullied the rest of the party into leaving the poor old guy sitting on a rock. The whole party really were a selfish lot only out for themselves. Reed, Snyder, & Keseburg weren't the only assholes in the bunch.Teacher here, I know all sorts of fun factoids, so you got 'em! PS. YT wouldn't let most of my paragraphs take, so sorry for the ginormous wall of text if it doesn't take again on editing.

I wonder if the whole movie twisted the truth as much as was done in these clips!