Escort West

Escort West finds Victor Mature as a former Confederate escorting his young daughter out to Oregon territory. They meet up with a troop of cavalry at a stagecoach station, some of whom are hostile. Not nearly as hostile as Faith Domergue who lost a fiancé during the Civil War who is accompanying her sister Elaine Stewart out west to marry cavalry captain William Ching.

After Mature and daughter Reba Waters meet some hostile Modocs and find what they did to part of the cavalry troop they go back to the station where all they find alive are the two women and the sutler, Rex Ingram. Ingram's been wounded and left for dead with a broken leg.

At this point the group sets out to find help and safety, whichever comes first.

Escort West bares a similarity to the Richard Widmark western of the previous year, The Last Wagon. If you've seen that you might figure out how it all turns out. Or just if you've watched a whole lot of westerns.

Escort West barely runs 75 minutes, it played at the bottom of double features in the Fifties. It was produced by John Wayne and folks like Ken Curtis, Leo Gordon, and Noah Beery, Jr., all of whom worked with the Duke before are in the cast. Best in the cast is Leo Gordon who also wrote the script and is one nasty deserting cavalry trooper.

It's a nice action western with some adult themes mixed in with enough action for the kids.

An ex-Confederate captain heads west with his young daughter and is caught up in the skirmishes between soldiers and Indians. Victor Mature is the hero of the proceedings as he rescues two women, fights off Indian attacks and saves an army payroll from the hands of renegade soldiers. The two sisters are at odds over the resolution of the Civil War and snipe at each other through the picture. The film has very little pace and spotty action and an awkward romantic plot is thrown in for good measure. Faith Domergue, a B actress who never quite made it to the first rank, is Mature's love interest. Leo Gordon appears as a bad soldier and contributes his talents as a screenwriter for this film.

Made during the height of the western film genre's popularity, "Escort West" overall isn't terribly exceptional, but it does provide an easygoing hour and a quarter of entertainment if you are not in a terribly fussy mood. Even under those circumstances, some minor flaws do arise. It was obviously shot quickly and fairly cheaply - there's nothing really in the way of eye candy on display here. The character of Victor Mature's daughter could easily have been edited out without having to rewrite the rest of the movie. And Victor Mature himself only gives an adequate performance. But the movie does move along fairly swiftly and does not overstay its welcome, and there are a few fairly tense moments here and there. This movie won't make western haters into converts, but if you are a fan of the genre it's an okay way to kill some time.

In the days following the Civil War, ex-Confederate Victor Mature (Italian accent intact!) and daughter travel west, where they're insulted by and then have to rescue two northeastern sisters from a group of marauding Indians, following a massacre of their military escort.

This is an entertaining enough western, though fairly by-the-numbers and low-budget. However, a short running time, some good suspense, great location photography (in Cinemascope), some sharp gun-play and a neat, rocky climax all help keep things moving along nicely.

Familiar western stars help out too, including Harry Carey, Noah Beery, and slim Pickens, as well as co-writer Leo Gordon and Gunsmoke's Ken Curtis, who play a couple of low-life Army deserters.

Escort West is directed by Francis D. Lyon and adapted to screenplay by Leo Gordon and Fred Hartsook from a story by Steven Hayes. It stars Victor Mature, Elaine Stewart, Faith Domergue, Reba Waters, Noah Beery Jr., Leo Gordon, Rex Ingram, John Hubbard, Harry Carey Jr. and Slim Pickens. Music is by Henry Vars and CinemaScope cinematography by William H. Clothier.

Set in Nevada 1865 at the end of The Civil War, Escort West follows ex- Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Mature) as he travels West with his young daughter Abbey (Waters). Still meeting hostile reactions from Union cavalry officers and supporters in the area, things take a dramatic turn when Ben and Abbey happen upon the aftermath of a Modoc Indian attack that has left a troop of Union cavalrymen dead. However, there are three survivors, sisters Beth (Stewart) and Martha (Domergue), and injured Nelson Walker (Ingram). The Lassiter's try to escort the survivors to safety, but with the Modocs and rouge Union cavalrymen interested in a payroll in Ben's possession a constant threat out in the terrain, it's going to be tough.

It's pretty predictable in formula, complete with an uninteresting burgeoning romance, but it's a film that's never dull and it's always compelling as a character driven travelogue. The left over attitudes born out by the war add some spice into the narrative, with Domergue portraying a bile strewn bitch from hell and Mature a contemplative father of substance, and there are a good number of action sequences that are thrillingly executed. Cast performances are strong enough for the material, where it's nice to see Mature and Waters' father and daughter relationship play out as tender and believable, and ace cinematographer Clothier's Scope photography is beautiful and keeps the picture consistently airy. 6.5/10