Westlich St. Louis

Although Ford's movie only really starts halfway through, once the traveling folk and the outlaws meet, the second half of the film is strong enough that the lengthy roundabout beginning is almost forgotten. The outlaws are plain stereotypes, painted very similar to the Clantons in 'My Darling Clementine', but the intense interactions between them and the traveling folk are worth watching for. Oddly enough, the depth of the film does not lie in the happenings between them but rather in the singing and dancing featured. Song and dance is shown as a uniting force between very different cultures, and the songs of the film are very well suited to the Old West atmosphere. The film is a mix of different things: there is a typical predictable love interest, awkward bits of humour, and of course men slinging guns. Then there is the plot of outlaws against the good guys and the almost non-related deeper ideas about bonding between different people. The overall product is rather strange and certainly not one of John Ford's strongest efforts. That said, it is good viewing once it gets going, and Ford captures the vast western landscape as well as one would expect.