Escort West

"Escort West" takes place in Nevada, a few years after the Civil War has ended. Victor Mature plays Ben Lassiter, a widowed ex-Confederate soldier travelling West with his 10 year old daughter Abbey (Reba Waters). Deadly Indian warriors named the Modocs are on the prowl, and Ben realizes that they have caused death and destruction in a way station that he had very recently visited. He gathers together the survivors: the bitchy, grudge carrying Martha Drury (Faith Domergue) and her much nicer sister, Beth (Elaine Stewart), and amiable old sutler Nelson Walker (Rex Ingram). He promises to stay with them as they make their dangerous trek through hostile territory.

There's nothing particularly distinguished about "Escort West", but it's still a solid and engaging movie of this type. An uncredited John Wayne was one of the producers. Director Francis D. Lyon creates some scenes of genuine suspense, and the action is likewise decently executed. This is all photographed in atmospheric, black & white widescreen by William H. Clothier. The antagonists are not exactly a faceless bunch, but they're a fairly scary group of men: relentless, unspeaking, unemotional, one-dimensional killers. The lovely music score is courtesy of composer Henry Vars.

The cast is full of familiar faces and excellent right down the line. Mature is just the kind of hero you want in this sort of thing: kind, compassionate, but tough and dependable. Beautiful women Stewart and Domergue are effective, although some might find Domergues' character a bit tough to take. Noah Beery Jr., John Hubbard, Harry Carey Jr., Slim Pickens, William Ching, Ken Curtis, Claire Du Brey, and Syd Saylor co-star. Also in the supporting cast is the great screen heavy Leo Gordon, who co-wrote the screenplay with Fred Hartsook. Child actress Waters is appealing without becoming overly saccharine.

This is a good, diverting story told in fairly trim fashion and running a very reasonable 77 minutes long.

Seven out of 10.

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.

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.

An ex-Confederate officer and his young daughter, traveling West, rescue two women survivors of an Indian attack in a familiar yet taut and exciting little western. The typical hero escorts survivor through Indian territory story is given a shot in the arm by Victor Mature as the confederate officer, some good characters especially Faith Domergue's character who is a pretty horribly bitter person, some nifty action scenes and superb location of boulders, all set in stark black and white photography. These things lift it from its ordinariness. The end shootout is exciting and the hero's use of the rattler to overcome his enemy is well realised.

I rarely have seen a film where nearly everything about it is good but one character simply ruins the film. It's that bad with Martha (Faith Domergue)...as her character is tough to believe and is unbelievably annoying and abrasive.

When the story begins, Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) is taking his daughter out west to live. After all, the Civil War just ended and he wants to raise the child in the wilderness. But when the pair stop to get a bite to eat, a group sitting nearby make it hard for the Lassiters. As they're eating, Martha keeps talking about 'them dirty Rebs' and the like. This is rude...but not too surprising considering the war just ended.

Later, the Lassiters are attacked by renegade Modoc tribesmen*. After escaping, they soon meet up with what's left of a group who was attacked by the Modoc...and only a black soldier (played very well by Rex Ingram) and two sisters.... Beth (Elaine Stewart) and, you guessed it, Martha!

Now you'd think after Ben rescues and helps them that Martha would be a bit nicer. Well, you'd be wrong. Throughout most of the rest of the film, Martha whines, cries, shouts and pretty much behaves like a wolverine with a toothache! After a while, it becomes tiresome....not just because it's hard to believe anyone would be this nasty and ungrateful but also because you just get tired of watching her. Yes, it's THAT bad.

What makes this even more awful is that the film is generally pretty good...and if they'd totally eliminated Martha from the film, it would have worked very well. The acting (aside from Domergue) is excellent and the story interesting (aside from when Martha is in it). Rarely have I ever seen a film that could have been so good simply ruined because a character is so difficult to believe and it so annoying to watch.

*Apparently, Modoc did attack various groups of settlers during this time. Considering their land was being invaded, you could understand why....but according to one source I read, they accounted for about 400 deaths.