La route de l'Ouest

Original title: The Way West

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

In 1843, a former U.S. Senator leads a wagon train of settlers to Oregon, but his megalomania leads to growing dissatisfaction with his leadership.

Play trailer3:29

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86 Photos

Classical Western Adventure Drama Western

In 1843, a former U.S. Senator leads a wagon train of settlers to Oregon, but his megalomania leads to growing dissatisfaction with his leadership.In 1843, a former U.S. Senator leads a wagon train of settlers to Oregon, but his megalomania leads to growing dissatisfaction with his leadership.In 1843, a former U.S. Senator leads a wagon train of settlers to Oregon, but his megalomania leads to growing dissatisfaction with his leadership.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 3:29

Official Trailer

Photos86

+ 80

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Robert Mitchum and Richard Widmark reportedly did not get along with Kirk Douglas because of his tendency to usurp control of the project from Director Andrew V. McLaglen.

Goofs
The tall case clock that Widmark and family are taking in their wagon is operational during the journey. A tall case clock has to be level and stationery in order for its pendulum to function and enable the clock to keep time. This clock is working as it chimes while crossing the rolling hills of the Great Plains as well as going up a very steep incline of the mountains west of Fort Hall. Being transported inside a jarring wagon over this rough and uneven terrain would have caused the pendulum to swing wildly about inside the tall case and rendered the clock inoperable. In other words, no such clock under such conditions could chime.

The pendulum keeps the hands at the correct time. If the clock has a mainspring, (which it does- Becky wound it at 0:08;18) the chimes can sound without the pendulum, just not at the right time.

Quotes
[first lines]
[Mercy flirts silently with Brownie]
Lije Evans: Best not be lookin', Brownie.
Brownie Evans: I ain't lookin'... as hard as I can.

Crazy credits
Introducing Sally Field as "Mercy" and introducing Katherine Justice.

Connections
Featured in Discovering Film: Sally Field (2020)

Soundtracks
The Way West
Music by Bronislau Kaper (uncredited)
Lyrics by Mack David
Sung by The Serendipity Singers (as Serendipity Singers)

User reviews44

Featured review

6/10

Lightweight, Though Not As Bad As Critics Say

Hard-driving Kirk Douglas organizes a wagon train to Oregon, hiring mountain man Robert Mitchum to lead the way and squaring off with Indians, the elements, and hostility among the settlers, particularly hard-headed farmer Richard Widmark.

Almost universally panned and patronized as director Andrew V. McLaglen's attempt to ape the style of his mentor John Ford, it's actually an innocuous, inoffensive adventure saga in the mold of How The West Was Won or Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail, though not as good as those films. It's still fairly watchable, except for the endless, obnoxious subplots featuring teenage Sally Field and her deflowering by a married, frustrated loser!

Douglas and especially Mitchum are excellent, as usual. However, Widmark falls a little short, thanks to a less than interesting character, though he's always a welcome presence in anything he's involved in.