Westbound *** (1959, Randolph Scott, Virginia Mayo, Karen Steele Michael Dante, Andrew Duggan, Michael Pate) – Classic Movie Review 6440

Director Budd Boetticher’s 1959 classic cult Western stars Randolph Scott as Union officer Captain John Hayes, who is ordered to become the boss of the Overland Stage Line, and has to see a cargo of gold from California through dangerous territory to get to the North’s coffers.

But his former friend and co-worker Clay Putnam (Andrew Duggan) is out to stop him and get the bullion into Confederate hands. The action takes place in 1864 in a small Colorado town, which is the headquarters for the stage line.

Boetticher’s predictably plotted, rather undynamic Western is slightly below par for the highly arresting series of Scott-Boetticher Fifties Westerns. However, the star is still on very agreeable, heroic form and there is some solid action and much interest, including a notable special score. And it is certainly neatly crafted by cult name Boetticher.

Also in the cast are Virginia Mayo, Karen Steele, Michael Dante, Andrew Duggan, Michael Pate, Wally Brown, John Day, Walter Barnes and Fred Sherman.

It is written by Berne Giler (screenplay and story) and Albert Shelby LeVino (story), shot in WarnerColor by J Peverell Marley, produced by Henry Blanke, scored by David Buttolph and designed by Howard Campbell.

7 Men from Now (1956) launched Scott and Boetticher into a successful collaboration that totalled seven films, also including The Tall T (1957), Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Westbound (1959), Ride Lonesome (1959) and Comanche Station (1960).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6440

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