X
- 1967
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 2 m
- 1967
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 2 m
Summary 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.
Directed By: Andrew V. McLaglen
Written By: Ben Maddow, Mitch Lindemann, A.B. Guthrie Jr.
- 1967
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 2 m
- 1967
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 2 m
The Way West
42
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary 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.
Directed By: Andrew V. McLaglen
Written By: Ben Maddow, Mitch Lindemann, A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
42
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
40% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
42
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
40% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
If The Way West does not wholly succeed as drama, it is at least a well-made and wholly professional Hollywood Western. Western fans, myself included, might enjoy it for that alone. Widmark and Mitchum are excellent in roles unusual for them and Douglas, as always, is a seasoned old hand.
An extraordinarily predictable and uninviting western directed by McLaglen in the John Ford vein but with none of the Ford atmosphere, complexity, characterization, or inventiveness.
The cast - Douglas as a frantically visionary senator, Mitchum as the veteran trail scout, Widmark as the leader of the settlers - is fine, and William Clothier's location photography impressive. But the script meanders badly, even taking time off for a bit of teenage romance involving nymphet Sally Field in her film debut, while McLaglen's direction is simply lacklustre.
Project probably looked good on paper, but washed out in scripting, direction and pacing. Incidents do not build to any climax; excepting the first and last reels, any others could be shown out of order with no apparent discontinuity.
What they have to go through to reach Oregon is nothing to compare to what an old Western fan has to go through to keep from getting up in the middle and walking out.
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