''Westbound'' is a 1959 American
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
film directed by
Budd Boetticher
Oscar "Budd" Boetticher Jr. ( ; July 29, 1916 – November 29, 2001) was an American film director. He is best remembered for a series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.
Early life
Boetticher was born in ...
and starring
Randolph Scott
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...
,
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. ...
and
Karen Steele
Karen Steele (March 20, 1931 – March 12, 1988) was an American actress and model with more than 60 roles in film and television. Her most famous roles include starring as Virginia in '' Marty'', as Mrs. Lane in '' Ride Lonesome'', and as Ev ...
.
The film was shot in September 1958 in Warnercolor at cost of a little more than half a million dollars. The Laramie Street set at Warner’s Burbank was used for the setting of
Julesburg,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. The Warner Ranch was used for other settings.
David Buttolph
James David Buttolph Jr. (August 3, 1902 – January 1, 1983) was an American film composer who scored over 300 movies in his career. Born in New York City, Buttolph showed musical talent at an early age, and eventually studied music forma ...
composed the score. ''Westbound'' was released on April 25, 1959.
The film was not a part of the Ranown cycle of Westerns for which Boetticher, Scott and
Harry Joe Brown
Harry Joe Brown (September 22, 1890 – April 28, 1972) was an American film producer, and earlier a theatre and film director.
Biography
Harry Joe Brown was born in 1890 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a producer, he had a partnership with ...
partnered; Scott owed Warners one picture from an old contract, so Boetticher volunteered to direct it himself so as to protect their brand. Although Boetticher never went so far as to disown the film, he felt it was not part of the series and would only discuss it outside of that context.
Boetticher said this and ''
Decision at Sundown
''Decision at Sundown'' is a 1957 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. It is one of seven Boetticher/Scott western collaborations, including '' Seven Men from Now'', '' The Tall T'', '' Buchanan Rides Al ...
'' were the only mediocre films of the Westerns he made with Randolph Scott.
[Budd Boetticher: The Last Interview
Wheeler, Winston Dixon. Film Criticism; Meadville Vol. 26, Iss. 3, (Spring 2002): 52-0_3.]
Plot
In 1864, Union army officer Captain John Hayes is asked to take charge of the Overland stagecoach line, which makes eastbound gold shipments from California that aid the Union's war effort.
Hayes travels to Overland headquarters in his hometown of Julesburg, Colorado. He meets a Union soldier, Rod Miller, who has lost an arm, and Miller's wife, Jeannie.
Clay Putnam has quit his position with Overland and is now secretly working for the Confederacy. He has the support of a quick-draw bandit, Mace, and also has married Hayes' former love, Norma.
Mace's men pick a fight with the one-armed Miller, calling him "half a man" and raising Jeannie's ire. Rod is distraught at his condition, unable to even cock a pistol now. Hayes decides to ask the Millers if they would agree to run the local Overland station out of their farm.
Mace wants to kill Hayes, but is talked out of it by Putnam, who fears the Union's response. He orders Mace's men to destroy Overland's stations and property instead and steal its deliveries of gold.
Putnam is jealous of Hayes, though, believing Norma is still interested in him. He orders his men to avoid bloodshed. But one of his men however, decides to try and kill Hayes, and mistakes Rod for Hayes and shoots the wrong man.
Mace drives a stagecoach off a cliff, killing passengers, including women and children. A disgusted Norma decides to leave Putnam and warns she will see him hang if anything should happen to Hayes.
A final confrontation in town results in townspeople offering Hayes their help. Putnam also comes looking for Mace to stop him from killing Hayes, but is shot, whereupon Mace is killed by Hayes.
Norma hopes to rekindle Hayes' love for her, but he appears more likely to have a future with Jeannie.
Cast
*
Randolph Scott
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...
as Capt. John Hayes
*
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. ...
as Norma Putnam
*
Karen Steele
Karen Steele (March 20, 1931 – March 12, 1988) was an American actress and model with more than 60 roles in film and television. Her most famous roles include starring as Virginia in '' Marty'', as Mrs. Lane in '' Ride Lonesome'', and as Ev ...
as Jeannie Miller
*
Michael Dante
Michael Dante (born Ralph Vitti; September 2, 1931) is an American actor and former professional minor league baseball player.
Early life
Dante was born Ralph Vitti in Stamford, Connecticut. Growing up, he would sneak into a local movie theater ...
as Rod Miller
*
Andrew Duggan
Andrew Duggan (December 28, 1923 – May 15, 1988) was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage.
Background
Duggan was born in ...
as Clay Putnam
*
Michael Pate
Michael Pate OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography Early life
Pate was born in Drum ...
as Mace
*
Wally Brown
Wallace Edgar Brown (October 8, 1904 – November 13, 1961) was an American actor and comedian. In the 1940s, he performed as the comic partner of Alan Carney.
Early years
Wallace Edgar Brown was born in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Her ...
as Stubby
* John Daheim as Russ
*
Walter Barnes as Willis - Stage Depot Cook
Reception
Critical reaction was subdued despite the presence of Scott and Boetticher, with the two collaborating on a cycle that has received favorable criticism in recent years. An article in ''American Cowboy'' in 2004 called ''Westbound'' "a forgotten potboiler that Boetticher directed simply to keep the collaboration going." The ''Scarecrow Video Movie Guide'' in 2004 called this "a contractual obligation Boetticher directed out of friendship" and "otherwise forgettable." A book, ''Stagecoach to Tombstone'', describes the favorable elements: " ... only the presence of Karen Steele at her most tomboyish as Jeannie…and a vicious turn by B-movie hardman Michael Pate as hired gun Mace, are of note."
Home media
Warner Home Video released the film on DVD in June 2009 on the Warner Archives label.
See also
*
List of American films of 1959
The American films of 1959 are listed in a table of the films which were made in the United States and released in 1959. The film '' Ben-Hur'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture, among winning a record-setting eleven Oscars.
A–B
C–D ...
Bibliography
* Hughes, Howard. Stagecoach to Tombstone: the Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns. I.B. Tauris, 2008, p. 110.
* Nott, Robert. Last of the Cowboy Heroes: the Westerns of Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Audie Murphy. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, 2000, pages 136-137.
* Scarecrow Video Movie Guide. Sasquatch Books, 2004, page 24.
* Teachout, Terry. “What Randolph Scott Knew” in American Cowboy September–October 2004, page 24.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Westbound (Film)
1959 films
1959 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
Films directed by Budd Boetticher
Films scored by David Buttolph
Films shot in California
Warner Bros. films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films