Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

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.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

JohnHowardReid Randolph Scott (Vance Shaw), Robert Young (Richard Blake), Dean Jagger (Edward Creighton), Virginia Gilmore (Sue Creighton), John Carradine (Doc Murdoch), Slim Summerville (Herman), Chill Wills (Homer), Barton MacLane (Jack Slade), Russell Hicks (governor), Victor Kilian (Charlie), Minor Watson (Pat Grogan), George Chandler (Herb), Chief Big Tree (Chief Spotted Horse), Chief Thundercloud (Indian leader), Dick Rich (Porky), Harry Strang (henchman), Charles Middleton (stagecoach rider), Addison Richards (Captain Harlow), Irving Bacon (barber), Francis Ford, Eddy Waller (stagecoach drivers), James Flavin, Frank Mills, Ralph Dunn (men), Paul E. Burns (Bert), Cliff Clark, Hank Bell.Director: FRITZ LANG. 2nd unit director: Otto Brower. Screenplay: Robert Carson. Based on the 1939 novel by Zane Grey. Photographed in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager and Allen M. Davey. Film editor: Robert Bischoff. Art directors: Richard Day, Wiard B. Ihnen. Set decorator: Thomas Little. Costumes: Travis Banton. Music director: David Buttolph. Technicolor color consultants: Natalie Kalmus, Morgan Padelford. Associate film editor: Gene Fowler Jr. Sound recording: Bernard Freericks, Roger Heman. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Harry Joe Brown. Executive producer: Darryl F. Zanuck.Copyright 21 February 1941 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 6 February 1941. U.S. release: 21 February 1941. Australian release: 29 January 1942. 8,602 feet. 95 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Despite Indians and outlaws, Western Union constructs a telegraph line from Omaha, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City, Utah.NOTES: Although Irving Bacon is credited as Joe, the barber, in the credits of the print under review, the part — in this version at least — was played not by Bacon but by Olin Howland. These credits also state that the art directors were Richard Day and Albert Hogsett. Both Wiard B. Ihnen and 20th Century-Fox dispute this credit. Both maintain that Mr. Hogsett had nothing to do with the sets for Western Union and that they were in fact designed by Ihnen, under Day's general supervision. COMMENT: A really memorable western which fully justifies its high reputation. Spectacularly produced, with action a-plenty, agreeably acted, superlatively photographed, with lots of forceful Lang touches in direction. From the opening credits, underlined by Buttolph's stirring score, through the opening shot of the buffalo with Scott (or at least his double) hard riding into their midst, the pace hardly ever lets up until the final unexpected fade-out. Aided by marvelous color photography, the clever script (which actually owes little but its title to the Zane Grey novel) introduces at least six or seven rousing action episodes. All built around some particularly daring stunt-work. Good to see Robert Young doing a fair bit of his own riding, but most impressive of all is Dean Jagger, caught making his own leap from an overturning wagon. Of course, Jagger, aside from this action spot, is much his usual limp blanket, but at least he isn't in the movie all that much. Also slightly on the negative side of the cast roster is Virginia Gilmore, a little too postcard pretty, in my opinion, to be wholly believable. Lack of credibility is certainly not a charge that can be leveled against Randolph Scott who is every inch your typically laconic, torn-twixt-love-and-duty western hero. Unlike Gilmore, Scott really looks the part. Young is effective too. Slim Summerville is along for comic relief. Whilst some of his antics are a trifle forced, we like Slim anyway. A bearded (and unrecognizable were it not for his distinctively rich voice) Victor Kilian makes a surprisingly effective stooge.Led by John Carradine (made up to look like the Henry Hull character in "Return of Frank James"), many of our favorite character actors can be spotted along the way, including the here ill-fated Chill Wills (in a straighter part than usual); Francis Ford as the stage driver with whom Summerville tries to escape; James Flavin as a member of the bank hold-up posse; Russell Hicks as a governor reduced to horse holder; George Chandler as the victim of an "Indian" attack. Best of all is Barton MacLane as the notorious Jack Slade whose humor is strained by his kinship with our hero. In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Lang remarked that audiences tend to remember the visual aspects of a film rather than the dialogue. I'm inclined to agree with this observation, yet there's a scene in Western Union which amply demonstrates Lang's mastery of both. Kilian bets Carradine a week's wages that Chandler won't last the night, despite the doc's best efforts to save him. Later, Carradine silently exits his tent, peels off a wad of notes into Kilian's waiting hand, and without a word slowly walks off. Kilian cheerfully calls after him: "Better luck next time, Doc!" Lang tops all the spectacular action with a suspenseful double climax which ends the movie on a totally unpredictable note. OTHER VIEWS: The best of Fox's traditional western epics. — William K. Everson.The most beautiful and epic of Lang's westerns (it was the director's personal favorite), "Western Union" is an outstanding entry in the genre. — Motion Picture Guide.

weezeralfalfa Obviously intended to be an epic western, based on the Zane Gray novel of the same title. A rare, for the times, Technicolor western, it concerns the trials of the telegraph line construction crew in dealing with 2 sets of antagonists: 1)an outlaw gang working for the Confederacy, as well as for itself, often dressed as Indians 2) real Indians(Lakota Sioux), who sometimes object to the building of the line through what they consider their hunting grounds. In contrast, historically, construction apparently went smoothly, being completed in only 3 summer months. However, the line was constructed out of Chicago, instead of Missouri to hopefully avoid interference from Confederate sympathizers, and in the years after it was built, there was occasional sabotage by Native Americans. Also, strangely, historically, construction toward the east and west BEGAN, rather than ended, at Salt Lake City, not at Omaha, as dramatized. This is in contrast to the first transcontinental railway. This was a rudimentary single iron wire system. Near the end of the decade, a multi-wired system was constructed along the path of the transcontinental railway, presumably using the railway to haul equipment and provide shelter for the workmen, thus making construction much easier.Robert Young was a curious choice as first-billed. Clearly, it's much more Randy Scott's picture. Perhaps this was because Young's character wasn't tainted with a history of outlawry, as was Scott's, and because he survives to the end of the film, whereas Scott's character doesn't. In any case, Young seemed rather out of place in a western, usually playing aristocratic urbane characters. Although Scott sometimes played urbane characters, mainly in the '30s, he was also a well-established western character. Dean Jagger, as Creighton, serves as the chief engineer and office boss, to Scott's main role as field boss and trouble shooter. Scott opens the film, a lone rider, with a posse on his tail some distance away, riding through a bison herd(looks dangerous), before discovering an injured Creighton, whom he helps get to a stage outpost to rest up. Veteran comedian Slim Summerville serves as the unlucky and reluctant "Cookie", whose culinary efforts sometimes are destroyed by bumpy wagon rides, invading Indians, etc.. In an Indians attack, a stray bullet puts a hole in his pot of boiling water, spouting a leak that burns his hind side. Chill Wills and John Carridine are also sometimes present to add a bit of authenticity and humor. Virginia Gilmore serves as the romantic interest for both Scott and Young, humor included when they separately show up at the office where she is in the evening to do a bit of flirting, and find the other there. However, there's no hint of a serious romance developing, even at film's end. Young(or presumably his stuntman) also provides some humor when he wants to impress the westerners with his horse-handling skill in riding the worst bucking bronco in the town coral. He stays on for a wild ride around the coral, followed by a ride down the main street of Omaha, into and out of a saloon. Scott's character is one of those ambiguous persons that the Hays Commission hated, who straddles the fence between the 'good' and 'bad' guys, trying to go straight, but bothered by his old outlaw buddies, who could spill the beans on his past to his employer. Scott spends most of the film reluctantly deflecting blame from them for vanishing cattle or horses or unexplained fires and "Indian" attacks. But finally, he, as well as Creighton, has had enough, and he goes gunning for the outlaws, including his brother, who is the leader. This episode is the finale of the film.This film was released just 2 years after Cecil DeMille's related epic film "Union Pacific", which is based on the building of the first transcontinental railroad, which occurred a few years after the building of this telegraph system. Of course, this project took years, instead of a few summer months, to finish. Sometimes, these two films get confused in people's minds because of the rather similar subject and common word "union" in their 2 word title. I think "Union Pacific" is the more interesting of the two.

Alex da Silva Randolph Scott (Vance) is an outlaw trying to make good. He abandons his old gang and finds a job working for the Western Union company under the lead of Dean Jagger (Creighton). Joining him in his new employment is new recruit Robert Young (Blake). Both take a shine to Virginia Gilmore (Sue) who works for the company. She is Jagger's sister. As they go about their work of setting up a telecommunication system across the land, they encounter hostility from Scott's old gang, headed by Barton MacLane (Jack). And the Indians don't seem too pleased about things either.This film looks impressive in technicolour. It is definitely a bonus. The story is all rather humdrum, though. The only real interest in the first half of the film comes from the comedy sections between Scott and Young as they compete for the affections of Miss Gilmore. Hardly gripping. Talking of comedy, there is far too much with a special mention going to the very unfunny cook that is Slim Summerville (Herman).In the second half of the film, we finally get some action sequences – including a very badly acted drunken Indian – but it's nothing that hasn't been seen before. Something of concern that kept revealing itself throughout the film was the incestuous relationship between Jagger and Gilmore. They needed to get a room!

OldAle1 Lang does Hawks as well as Hawks does in the first part of this extraordinary Western, before settling down into typical deterministic, dark and guilt-haunted Lang for the finale.This is one of those films that shows its greatness almost instantly but at the same time very subtly. Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) is on horseback and being pursued, we know not why -- he stumbles on wounded Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) and decides to take his gun and horse, but discovering that Creighton is in a bad way, decides to fix him up first. This is conveyed mostly through facial expressions and very brief, clipped dialog - in 2 minutes we know that Shaw is an outlaw, but basically a good guy. Shaw ends up helping Creighton on his way to civilization, then disappears.Cut to a few weeks or months later, with Creighton on the mend and in charge of an expedition to lay telegraph wire going west from Omaha. He hires Shaw as a scout, who tries to leave when he finds out that Creighton is in charge; but Creighton wants him anyway, repaying a debt and sensing something quality. Also hired is a tenderfoot, son of a benefactor of the project, but atypically the Easterner Richard Blake (Robert Young) is quite competent as he shows right away in an amusing but exciting bronco-busting sequence. Both of the hires vie for Creighton's sister Sue (Virginia Gilmore) who - again not typically - seems quite as able to take care of herself as any man. The camaraderie between the three men, the comedic elements involving an unwilling cook and various rough and tumble types, and the wonderfully played light romantic elements dominate the first third of the film and reminded me more of Howard Hawks' "Red River" or "Only Angels Have Wings" than most Lang - but they are so well played and the action progresses so naturally that it doesn't matter, and doesn't alter our pleasure - if it does perhaps change our expectations - as the more usual Langian themes of the haunted past, dark secrets and the immense pull of the easier, destructive and evil ways come to dominate the later part of the film. Shaw's old pals come back to haunt him as the the wagon train and its wires move westward; attacks mount on the crew, and Shaw has to wrestle with what, if anything, he is to tell Creighton about his tortured relationship with Jack Slade (Barton MacLane), leader of the outlaws.Beautifully shot in early Technicolor and moving fairly seamlessly from sound stages to western locations, this is for my money easily Lang's best western and one of his very best films, conveying as potently as any of his films the tragic inability of men to escape their pasts and build a new future. Scott is as good as I've seen him, showing more with a flick of an eye than a lot of actors can do in a paragraph of dialog, and the rest of the cast is uniformly fine. The inevitable showdown between Shaw's past criminal life and his potential future is extraordinary, and a surprise even for a longtime Lang devotee such as myself; and even in 1941 it seems there was no place more fraught with meaning on the margins of civilization than the barbershop and the dusty street outside. You can get a shave, you can feel like a new man, but you can't really ever be one as long as the old ties are still holding you back.Genius.