GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

TheLittleSongbird While the western genre is not my favourite one of all film genres (not sure which one is my favourite due to trying to appreciate them all the same), there is a lot of appreciation for it by me. There are a lot of very good to great films, with the best work of John Ford being notable examples.In the late 50s, starting in 1956 with 'Seven Men from Now' and right up to 1960 with 'Comanche Station', lead actor Randolph Scott collaborated with director Budd Boetticher in seven films. For me, 1959's 'Westbound' is one of their weakest along with 'Decision at Sundown'. By all means it is a long way from terrible, it has a lot of great elements and is actually pretty decent. It just isn't in the same league as the wonderful 'Seven Men from Now', 'The Tall T' and 'Ride Lonesome' and doesn't have enough of what made those two so good, they had far better scripts and characterisation in particular as well as better supporting casts.Starting with the strengths, while not the best-looking of their outings, being smaller in scale and slightly too compact in its setting, 'Westbound' still looks pleasing. It is very nicely filmed, with some nice colour and atmosphere, and handsomely designed, it just lacks the visual grandeur of their best collaborations. The music, wonderfully perky and one of the best scores of the Scott/Boetticher western films, has presence and fits perfectly, while not being intrusive.Boetticher directs efficiently and mostly the film goes at a pace that isn't pedestrian. Numerous parts are suspenseful and fun, with some well choreographed action. The ending is effective. Scott brings likeability, charisma and intensity to his role and he is well supported by Karen Steele, oozing glamour, class and charm in the far better written of the female roles, and the wonderfully arch Michael Pate.However, the rest of the supporting cast are pretty feeble, definitely the weakest supporting cast of the Scott/Boetticher westerns. Virginia Mayo is wasted with hardly anything to do in a nothing role. Andrew Duggan's charisma-free performance is just as weak, liked him in 'Decision at Sundown' so what happened.The script, very like that for 'Decision at Sundown', is too wordy, lacking the meat and tautness of the scripts of the best Scott/Boetticher films, and can preach and be too basic. There is not enough depth to the characters, with only Scott's hero being developed enough and even then his motivation should have been explored more and more gripping. Mayo's role is especially sketchy and could have been written out. The story has a lot of great moments, but there is also some credibility straining, overload of simplicity and lack of tautness.Altogether, decent but had the potential to be much better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

bsmith5552 This film was the fifth of seven little "B" plus westerns that Randolph Scott and director Budd Boetticher made together between 1956-60. Five of the seven were made by Scott's own company Ranown and released by Columbia. "Westbound", released by Warner Brothers, departed from the Columbia westerns in that the story took place mostly in a town and not in the wide open spaces. It appears to have had a bigger budget as there is larger cast, more set pieces and more villains.The time is 1864 during the American Civil War and Captain John Hayes (Scott) is assigned to be the line manager of the Overland Stage Company. His task is to expedite gold shipments east for the Union treasury by stagecoach. Unfortunately, there are southern sympathizers who will do any thing to stop the shipments and take the gold for the south.On his way to Julesberg, Colorado, Hayes meets a young war amputee Rod Miller (Michael Dante) who introduces him to his wife Jeanie (Karen Steele). Hayes arrives in town only to find the Overland station closed. The former agent is Clay Putman (Andrew Duggan) who has acquired several properties and is a rich man with gunmen such as Mace (Michael Pate) and Russ (John Day) on his payroll. Putman has also married Hayes' former sweetheart Norma (Virginia Mayo).Putnam wants to achieve his goal of stopping the gold shipments with little or no bloodshed. Mace on the other hand, is more in favor of the violent way of doing things. Hayes sets up the Miller ranch as a relay station to help the young couple gain confidence in light of Rod's handicap.One night Russ and his gang raid the Miller Station to steal their horses. Rod is shot by Russ after being mistaken for Hayes. Putnam is outraged at the needless violence. Later, Mace and the gang chase down a coach causing it and its passengers, including a little girl, to plunge to their deaths over a steep hill.Putnam fires Mace but Mace plans to continue his attacks with his ultimate gain of killing Hayes. Norma tells Putnam that she has had enough and plans to leave him. In a drunken rage, Putnam heads for town to stop Mace. Mace and his gang have begun their attack on Hayes when.....................................................Some consider "Westbound" to be the weakest film in the Scott/Boetticher series. It does differ from the Ranown Columbia entries, but is still an enjoyable western nonetheless. After all Randolph Scott gets to have two leading ladies in this one. He is still a loner but is not strictly out for revenge as he was in the other films.Karen Steele makes her second of three appearances in the series. She was after all director Budd's main squeeze at the time. Michael Dante's role is all too brief. Duggan is a respectable if not somewhat likable villain. Virginia Mayo's part is brief but she still looked good. Walter Reed, who was in "Seven Men From Now" (1956) plays the town doctor who comes to Scott's aid at the film's climax. Wally Brown as Stubby the stage driver and Walter Barnes as the stopover cook are others in the cast.

DKosty123 There is a lot of experience in this 1959 Randolph Scott film. Scott is about 62 when this one was shot and it shows. He is still a good actor but the script makes him a romantic lead and that is a bit of a stretch here. Both the ladies are less than 40.Virginia Mayo at 39 is still quite fetching though she really has a small role. The younger Karen Steele, oh mama, looks like she has a body that will not quit. There are scenes with both women together and it is kind of like dueling blonde's on the screen in this Technicolor B feature. The plot is really far fetched. The Union needs gold shipped from the West Coast in order to continue financing weapons to fight the Confederates? The Union had all the factories so this makes little sense. It does give the actors something to fight about - Confederates stealing gold shipments, but I doubt in 1864 it could have been a factor to change the war.The color and the cast and the best looking women in many a Western gives this one some eye candy in case you have trouble with the rather predictable plot.

kenjha During the American Civl War, an Army captain is tasked with ensuring the safe transport of government gold in the Old West. This is perhaps the weakest of the seven Boetticher-Scott Westerns, thanks to a so-so script that fails to evolve into a compelling narrative. The best of the series featured the writing of Burt Kennedy, and he's absent here. Scott plays a character similar to the others in the series, an easy-going fellow pushed to fight by the bad guys. Mayo plays the love interest, although she has a small role. Featured in a more prominent female role is Steele, who also appeared in two other Boetticher-Scott Westerns.