ThiefHott Too much of everything

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Wizard-8 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.

jarrodmcdonald-1 This is a UA release, one of two that Victor Mature co-produced with John Wayne's Batjac company. It has a modest budget and plays like a TV movie or extended episode of TV's Wagon Train. But the ideas presented are grand in scope, and it's a shame there wasn't a larger budget to take advantage of all its cinematic possibilities. The film offers Mature as a no-holds barred widowed father trying to take his young daughter west to start a new life in Oregon. Along the way, they meet two sisters doing the same after one lost her fiancé in the Civil War. The backgrounds of the main characters are very well explained. Soon there is an attack by Modoc natives. We never get to see the natives as individuals; instead, we see them intermittently as a hostile element our little traveling group must occasionally fight off. After the initial attack, we are introduced to a black Union soldier, played by Rex Ingram. He's in no shape to travel, but Mature's character insists on taking him along. Of course, there is the eventual realization the old soldier is dead weight. The scene where Ingram threatens suicide to force the others to go on without him is a highpoint of the film.I liked the way the plot smartly progressed, and there was one action sequence after another, with just enough resting time in between, for us to continue getting to know the characters better. Naturally, it all culminates in a standoff involving more Union soldiers versus the Modoc. The soldiers are not all incorruptible (in a short sequence two try to steal the payroll). Adding to the complications is the fact that Mature, to protect his daughter and the one surviving sister, must join forces with the Union, though he himself had been a rebel Confederate.So there is a lot being said in ESCORT WEST, and while it is somewhat formulaic and predictable, we care about the people in the story and their relationships. As I said, this could have been expanded more cinematically if the budget had been greater. We could have seen flashbacks of what the leads experienced during and immediately after the war. We also could have seen some more of the attack involving the natives, which mostly happens off-camera. Plus I think a better denouement where they finally arrive in Oregon could have been filmed. But it's still a very effective thought-provoking independent western picture.

oldblackandwhite Escort West is an unpretentious little Western starring that unpretentious actor Victor Mature. Vic was the original muscle man. Before there was an Arnold Schwarzeneger, even before there was a Steve Reeves, there was Victor Mature. Yet unlike those two aforementioned massive hulks, Vic was graceful and athletic enough to look good in a suit, at least the loose fitting types worn in the 'forties and 'fifties, which constituted his flourishing period. In My Darling Clementine they even managed to pass him off as a consumptive Doc Holliday by keeping him in a grossly over-sized coat and using extra shadow under his eyes. Vic apparently never took himself very seriously as an actor, nor did most film critics. One wag quipped that in a certain movie Victor Mature used all of his muscles except the ones in his face. Okay, he wasn't an Olivier, but in Escort West he turned in a solid, sensitive, charming and effective lead performance.And he did it with out letting the dreaded presence of a child actress steal the show. Vic plays an ex-Confederate Captain, recently widowed and on his way to start a new life in Oregon with his young daughter (Reba Waters) soon after the Civil War. I must confess that as a life-long old grouch, I usually don't like movies where a cutesy kid plays a major part, but little Reba charmed the socks off of me in the first scene and continued to do it for 75 minutes. Seldom does a child actor or actress turn in such an understated and dignified, yet charming performance. The tender yet never syrupy relationship between the father and daughter amidst the adversity of war, losing their wife/mother and their home, and now hostile Indian attack is one of the elements that gives this story a slight edge over the average B oater.Not that Escort West doesn't have other good points. The script, co-authored by Bruce Gordon, who also plays one of his typical brutish heavy parts in the movie, is conventional but lucid and entertaining. Francis D. Lyon's direction and smooth editing keeps the action-packed story tense and exciting. Good use is made of the black and white Cinemascope format in both action sequences and panoramic views of the scenery. Characterization is a strong point helped along by a platoon of veteran western character actors the like of Noah Beery, Jr., Slim Pickens, Rex Ingram, and Harry Carry, Jr. The female lead and second lead Elaine Stewart and Faith Domegue also make competent contributions.This little B programmer displays an unusual authenticity for a western of this era. It was particularly impressive that the cavalry uniforms were true to the Civil War era and not the usual stock 1870's Indian Wars uniforms, which are quite different. The Sharps breech loading carbines used by the cavalry and the Indians were likewise accurate to the 1860's. The Remmington revolvers, though actually later cartridge models, did good service showing profiles that look like period cap and ball revolvers. The holsters looked like Civil War types, and the gun belts were lacking cartridge loops (cap and ball revolvers used delicate paper cartridges which couldn't be carried in loops). The renegade Modoc Indians, who were the principal menace, dressed as most Indians of the period would have -- not naked savages who had only just come into contact with civilization, but wearing mostly the same clothes the whites did with a few Indian flourishes like gaudy belts and leather leggings. Like any acculturated Indian criminals, they used rifles and pistols, instead of bow and arrow and spear, and they fired from behind cover instead of throwing themselves away in dervish-like rushes as we see in so many clichéd westerns.Admittedly not in a class with Red River or even one of Randolph Scott's better numbers, Escort West nevertheless delivers exciting family entertainment for an hour and fifteen minutes. In many ways it was better than any number of more sumptuously turned out westerns, and for this old, weathered oat-burner fancier at least, better than all but the very best of those whistling, ricocheting spaghetti-burners.

doug-balch This is a low budget Western that is a little corny, but highly watchable. Here are its good points:Excellent Civil War theme.Victor Mature is pretty good in the leadVery nice supporting cast with Slim Pickens, Harry Carey Jr., Leo Gordon and Ken Curtis.Story moves along nicely and holds interest. Only a couple of plot holes/inconsistenciesfilmed on location, although only in greater L.A. area, not "Nevada".Here's what dragged it downLittle girl is horribly corny and almost ruins movieFemale lead characters are weak and the actresses are lousy.Whole plot is on the thin side i.e. not that much really happens in this.Indians are not characterized.