Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Captivating movie !

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

When this movie starts out, you're apt to think, "Hey this is going to be a good one!" It's a handsome production, great scenery, and it has a great cast -- Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark.But the longer if goes on, the more you feel as if you have seen it before...and you have...there are a lot of wagon train clichés here. But let's think about that for a minute. Clichés are often based on truth, and on a wagon train journey of this scope, I rather imagine many of these trials and tribulations -- and many more -- faced the pioneers. Heck, I hate driving through some of these states on an Interstate due to the risks of breaking down and being stranded. Taken one by one, there isn't an incident here that I could discount. Again, it's just that we've pretty much seen them all before.The problem I see here is that we never learn very much about the main characters. Who is Senator William Tadlock (Kirk Douglas). What makes him like he is? Is he just the type that likes to be boss? I think that's way too simplistic. Who is Dick Summers (Robert Mitchum). He seems rather passive here; we do finally learn that he is going blind...maybe that's why. No character development at all. We know the most about Lije Evans (Richard Widmark)...although that's darned little. All the characters are far too simplistic. And for that, I blame the writers, producer, and director.Kirk Douglas is VERY restrained here...and I'm not sure that's why most of us went to the theater to see a restrained Kirk Douglas. Robert Mitchum is very passive as the guide, but as I mentioned earlier, perhaps that was because of his approaching blindness. Or,maybe he was just walking through this role. Richard Widmark, often an underestimated actor, probably comes off the best here.The supporting cast includes Lola Albright (as Widmarks's wife; and she does well here); Jack Elam as a preacher of sorts (he does well); Sally Field in her film debut, here as a somewhat slutty young woman (perhaps her worst screen portrayal); and oddly enough, Stubby Kaye as one of the pioneers.I have a hard time recommending this film UNLESS you are really into Westerns, or like gorgeous scenery, or want to contemplate how the early pioneers must have suffered on the way west. It's not that it's a bad film...it's just not that good, either.

This western is very unusual in that it features three top leading men--Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum and Richard Widmark. Now you'd think with all this high-octane masculinity and acting that this would be a terrific film, well, you'd be wrong. While it isn't a bad film, it does suffer from a thoroughly adequate script--one that never seems to deliver the goods.Douglas plays an ex-senator bent on starting the first white colony in Oregon in 1848. The problem is that he's not exactly 'Mr. Personality'--and his abrasive and autocratic ways rub everyone in the wagon train wrong. Can he get them all to his promised land or will the folks ditch him and make for California? Tune in and see.For the most part, this is a pretty ordinary drama about settling the West. As for Douglas, he overacts more than usual (and what's with that whipping scene?!?!). Widmark's character is inconsistent and underwritten. The only lead who comes off well is Mitchum--as a weary Kit Carson-type. Aside from being pretty ordinary and predictable, the film did have a few pluses. There was nice cinematography and as a history teacher, I appreciated how they showed lots of mules, oxen and cows pulling the wagons--whereas most films only show horses (a mistake). But this isn't enough to raise it above mediocrity.

In 1843 Missouri, hot-headed senator Kirk Douglas leads a large group of chosen people across rugged terrain to start "a new Jerusalem" in Oregon; he picks a half-blind pioneer scout (mourning the death of his Indian wife!) to help lead them, but immediately clashes with a family man over incidental matters; meanwhile, a sex-starved teenage girl has a fling with a married man, resulting in personal tragedy and an Indian attack (don't ask). A small pox outbreak is falsely reported, there's a wedding, a frigid woman goes insane, and the trail comes to an end at the Grand Canyon. A.B. Guthrie, Jr.'s book becomes somewhat besotted western epic with star-names, mixing vulgar jokes and inanities with ripe old clichés. A voice-over narration and a patriotic song come clean out of nowhere, while snarling Douglas blames himself for a death and asks a servant to whip him. It's cheap and low-brow all the way, but most viewers in the mood for a picture such as this probably won't be disappointed. There are some solid elements worth mentioning: William H. Clothier's outdoor cinematography is fine in the old-fashioned sense; and, although Bronislau Kaper whips up a dusty frenzy with his ridiculous score, the pacing is jaunty throughout and the wagons roll along at a fast clip. Douglas and Richard Widmark manage to retain their movie star allure, though Robert Mitchum was looking haggard by this time (and his performance is intentionally forgettable--he cancels out all his interest in the proceedings with one heavy sigh). Sally Field makes an inauspicious movie debut which I'm fairly certain she'd rather forget, but Lola Albright has a pleasing smile and Michael Witney does well as the handsome married man who can't get his wife to submit...but why does he shoot blindly into a rustling bush at night when it could have been his wife spying on him? Perhaps he was hoping it was! **1/2 from ****

The Way West is an epic western, but unlike another epic western How the West Was Won, it isn't a very good film. The main problem here is that the script writers and the director have got carried away, and have tried to cram far too many events and subplots into the two hour running time.The main plot thread follows an ambitious and cruel visionary named William Tadlock (Kirk Douglas), who dreams of taking hundreds of people into the vast, unexplored wilderness of the Wild West and starting up a new town. His ambition is an obsession. It drives him and dictates his every move. Even his own family come second in his list of priorities. During the journey, his behaviour towards the other pioneers becomes increasingly irrational and unsympathetic, and in the end he loses the respect of his fellow travellers.There are some good moments in the film. The climax is really surprising, with a twist that few viewers will predict. Sally Field has some interesting scenes as a young girl who undergoes a sexual awakening during the trip. There's also a well done scene in which a man who has killed an Indian child by accident is hanged. However, the abundance of plot threads, characters and subplots is a big drawback. The makers should have concentrated on a few elements and done them really thoroughly, instead of cramming in so much and only dealing with the themes in a shallow and all-too-brief fashion. This is not bad, I suppose, but it could have been oh so much better.