La route de l'Ouest

This western is very unusual in that it features three top leading men--Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum and Richard Widmark. Now you'd think with all this high-octane masculinity and acting that this would be a terrific film, well, you'd be wrong. While it isn't a bad film, it does suffer from a thoroughly adequate script--one that never seems to deliver the goods.

Douglas plays an ex-senator bent on starting the first white colony in Oregon in 1848. The problem is that he's not exactly 'Mr. Personality'--and his abrasive and autocratic ways rub everyone in the wagon train wrong. Can he get them all to his promised land or will the folks ditch him and make for California? Tune in and see.

For the most part, this is a pretty ordinary drama about settling the West. As for Douglas, he overacts more than usual (and what's with that whipping scene?!?!). Widmark's character is inconsistent and underwritten. The only lead who comes off well is Mitchum--as a weary Kit Carson-type. Aside from being pretty ordinary and predictable, the film did have a few pluses. There was nice cinematography and as a history teacher, I appreciated how they showed lots of mules, oxen and cows pulling the wagons--whereas most films only show horses (a mistake). But this isn't enough to raise it above mediocrity.

This film begins with a prominent former U. S. Senator by the name of "William J. Tadlock" (Kirk Douglas) trying to persuade a trapper and scout named "Dick Summers" (Robert Mitchum) to help lead a caravan full of settlers in Missouri through hostile Indian country on the way to Oregon. Although Dick Summers is initially reluctant due to his continued grieving over the death of his wife two years earlier, he eventually gets worn down and accepts the job. And although he figures he will have to deal with different personalities in this particular wagon train, what he doesn't realize is just how difficult it will be to accomplish to work with a man as mean and tyrannical as William J. Tadlock making all of the decisions. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off as one of those fairly standard Westerns but turned out to be quite entertaining due in large part to the presence of some of top-notch actors along with a couple of surprising developments along the way. One specific situation included a promiscuous young woman named "Mercy McBee" (Sally Field) and her interaction with a newlywed man named "Johnnie Mack" (Michael Whitney) and his frigid bride "Amanda Mack" (Katherine Justice) which then creates all kinds of drama along the way. Be that as it may, I have always enjoyed old-fashioned Westerns and I thought that this was one of the better ones during this particular period of time.

An attempt at an epic old-style Western from a journeyman director - he made a better stab at it later with Chisum. Perhaps its the lack of John Wayne and the rest of the John Ford rep but this is a film of striking set-pieces separated by far too much time! Douglas and Widmark both do some stirring scenery-chewing but this is a melodrama so that is allowed. Mitchum is laid-back and laconic as only Mitchum could be - and looks wonderful as ever. Not sure why others were surprised to see him in a Western - Mitchum made his share and some very good ones too (El Dorado, Five Card Stud and Bandido are all favourites of mine). The Fort Hall sequence is fun - just as a reminder that the Sioux and the French weren't the only folks that got there before the Americans! ;-)

The Way West is an epic western, but unlike another epic western How the West Was Won, it isn't a very good film. The main problem here is that the script writers and the director have got carried away, and have tried to cram far too many events and subplots into the two hour running time.

The main plot thread follows an ambitious and cruel visionary named William Tadlock (Kirk Douglas), who dreams of taking hundreds of people into the vast, unexplored wilderness of the Wild West and starting up a new town. His ambition is an obsession. It drives him and dictates his every move. Even his own family come second in his list of priorities. During the journey, his behaviour towards the other pioneers becomes increasingly irrational and unsympathetic, and in the end he loses the respect of his fellow travellers.

There are some good moments in the film. The climax is really surprising, with a twist that few viewers will predict. Sally Field has some interesting scenes as a young girl who undergoes a sexual awakening during the trip. There's also a well done scene in which a man who has killed an Indian child by accident is hanged. However, the abundance of plot threads, characters and subplots is a big drawback. The makers should have concentrated on a few elements and done them really thoroughly, instead of cramming in so much and only dealing with the themes in a shallow and all-too-brief fashion. This is not bad, I suppose, but it could have been oh so much better.

This motion picture is based on the Pulitzer-winning novel by A. B. Guthrie. It starts in Independence, Missouri, 1843, senator William(Kirk Douglas) asks volunteers to unite themselves towards Oregon. Among them find the Evans family, formed by Lije(Richard Widmark) his wife Rebecca(Lola Albright) and their son Brownnie; the justly married Johnnie and Amanda Mack and various traders from Independence. Kirk Douglas join forces with Robert Mitchum, as a taciturn explorer, he's a supreme hero in a performance that epitomises the spirit of the early West at least as Hollywood saw it.

The American West has a turbulent and mighty history , some of which is told in story and folk songs . Here is a panoramic view of the American West, concerning on the dangers, hazards, travels and tribulations of pioneers set against the background of breathtaking landscapes and risked deeds, including Indians attack and one deeply cliff. Particularly impressive for its notable cast list and expansive Western setting. Any Western that play stars such as Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark and Sally Field -film debut- is at least worth a glimpse. Furthermore a magnificent secondary casting, as Jack Elam, Stubby Kaye, John Agar, John Mitchum, among others. Sadly this epic Western doesn't hold up that well on TV set because was released on the great screen and much of the grandeur of the original version is lost. But Shootém-up and spectacular scenarios fans won't want to miss a chance to see many of the genre's greats in one movie. This is an epic movie , photographed in gorgeous Technicolor by William Clothier- John Ford's usual cameraman-, adding lustre on the groundbreaking sweep, along with an emotive musical score by Branislaw Kaper. The film is splendidly filmed on locations in America's National forests and professionally directed by Andrew W McLagen.