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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.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Copyright 1958 by Batjac-Romina. No New York opening. U.S. release: January 1959. U.K. release: 2 November 1958 (sic). Australian release: 23 April 1959. 6,856 feet. 76 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Soon after the end of the Civil War, an ex-Confederate captain and his young daughter make a perilous journey through Indian country as they seek a new future in the north-west. VIEWERS' GUIDE: Lots of action, but the British Board of Film Censors didn't cut so much as a foot and they awarded the film a Universal Exhibition certificate way back in 1958. So who are we to argue?COMMENT: A taut and exciting little western, with more than enough action to satisfy the most demanding fans. In fact there's enough plot twists to keep any audience involved. True, the characters are much the usual stereotypes, but the players put them all across with commendable force and vitality. Even Victor Mature paints a likable portrait. It must be admitted that neither Elaine Stewart nor Faith Domergue are overly well-groomed or super attractively made up. This lack of superficial beauty may disappoint some of their followers, though I thought it made their presence in the picture more realistic. CinemaScope is engagingly utilized in the capable hands of director Francis D. Lyon. Not only is the action presented with maximum impact, but the frame arrangements — especially during early dialogue scenes — often make strikingly effective use of the full width of the anamorphic screen. Speaking of dialogue, it's indisputable that many "B" westerns fall down badly in this respect. But not "Escort West". No doubt actor Leo Gordon who co-wrote the screenplay, saw to it that the talk was much more natural and far less clichéd than the norm. Production values are well above average. Executive producer John Wayne has not stinted on funds for location filming and has engaged a most competent team of technicians to support the first-rate cast. If you don't like "Escort West", better give all "B" westerns a miss. This is as good as they get.

"Escort West" is interesting little low budget Black and White western about the efforts of an ex-confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) and his daughter Abbey (Reba Waters) to reach Oregon and a new life.Set in 1865 just after the Civil War, Lassiter finds that not all of the old wounds have healed. At a way station he meets two sisters Beth Drury (Elaine Stewart) and her sister Martha (Faith Domergue) who are in the company of a cavalry detachment. Martha bears a resentment of Lassiter because of the war.Later on the trail Lassiter finds the cavalry detachment massacred except for quartermaster Nelson Walker (Rex Ingram) and the two ladies whom he had hidden away. The unlikely party then proceeds toward another army group who unbeknownst to them is pinned down under fire from the Indian renegade Tago (X. Brands) who is also in pursuit of the Lassiter group.Director Francis D. Lyon had the luxury of a seasoned cast of veterans although in some cases he doesn't take advantage of them often under utilizing their talents. Also in the cast are Noah Beery Jr., Leo Gordon (who co-wrote the story), Ken Curtis, William Ching, John Hubbard, Harry Carey Jr., Slim Pickens and Roy Barcroft as various soldiers.Victor Mature was always an under rated actor. He was usually better than his material as is the case here. Acting kudos in this film go to the veteran actor Rex Ingram who gives a sympathetic performance as the doomed Walker. Faith Domergue is one who never quite made it but is probably best remembered for her dalliance with Howard Hughes. Ken Curtis went on to portray "Festus Hagen" in the long running TV series "Gunsmoke".

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.

Escort West finds Victor Mature as a former Confederate escorting his young daughter out to Oregon territory. They meet up with a troop of cavalry at a stagecoach station, some of whom are hostile. Not nearly as hostile as Faith Domergue who lost a fiancé during the Civil War who is accompanying her sister Elaine Stewart out west to marry cavalry captain William Ching. After Mature and daughter Reba Waters meet some hostile Modocs and find what they did to part of the cavalry troop they go back to the station where all they find alive are the two women and the sutler, Rex Ingram. Ingram's been wounded and left for dead with a broken leg.At this point the group sets out to find help and safety, whichever comes first. Escort West bares a similarity to the Richard Widmark western of the previous year, The Last Wagon. If you've seen that you might figure out how it all turns out. Or just if you've watched a whole lot of westerns.Escort West barely runs 75 minutes, it played at the bottom of double features in the Fifties. It was produced by John Wayne and folks like Ken Curtis, Leo Gordon, and Noah Beery, Jr., all of whom worked with the Duke before are in the cast. Best in the cast is Leo Gordon who also wrote the script and is one nasty deserting cavalry trooper.It's a nice action western with some adult themes mixed in with enough action for the kids.