Watch Western Union For Free

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Truly Dreadful Film

Admirable film.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A spectacular and mighty adventure during the Civil War when America's destiny rode in the saddle bags of adventurers and hard-working laborers installing the poles and cable . The ¨Western Union¨ feats were similarly developed to ¨Pony Express¨ that was a mail service delivering messages , newspapers , mail , and small packages from St. Joseph , Missouri , across the Great Plains , over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento , California , by horseback , and hardy riders , using a series of relay stations and it reduced the time for messages . It became from April 3 , 1860, to October 1861 , the West's most direct means of east–west communication before the telegraph was established and being vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the United States . Later on , ¨Pony Express¨ was replaced by the telegraph , and ¨Western Union¨ quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the American West . ¨Pony Express¨ , stagecoach and freight company ¨Wells Fargo¨ provided secure US mail service until the construction of telegraph lines proceeded by ¨Western Union¨. It was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the Frontier times . This movie concerns Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) gives up outlawing , he meets Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) who leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West ; the latter hires Vance and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor as well as engineer from Harvard , Richard Blake (Robert Young) . Both of whom become romantically involved with the Edward's sister (Viginia Gilmore) . Meanwhile , some outlaws (Barton MacLane) attempting to prevent the company connecting the line and robbing the Western Union cattle masked of Indians Ogalaya .This traditional Western of the founding of telegraph routes westward contains thrills , rousing action , frontier adventure , shootouts , Indian attacks and exuberant outdoors . This vintage epic Western turns out to be a throughly entertaining picture that will appeal to Western fans . Big budget Western by Darryl F Zanuck's 20th Century Fox , and even studio publicity noted that Fox contract star Henry Fonda -though uncredited- had served as technical adviser on the film, due to his experience as a young man working as a lineman . Dealing with the political machinations and fights that accompanied the construction of the glamorous ¨Western Union¨ route from Omaha , Nebraska , to Salt Lake City , Utah , in which brave riders battling hostile Indians , cutthroats attempting on robbing , firing , astute bandits and many other things . Screenwriter Robert Carson utilized the title , but not the screenplay , of a Zane Grey novel . The main protagonists result to known players , such as Randolph Scott as a Western reformed outlaw , Robert Young as an obstinate surveyor and Dean Jagger as manager . Support cast is frankly magnificent , such as : John Carradine , Chill Wills , Barton MacLane , Slim Summerville , Charles Middleton and the ordinary Indians : Chief John Big Tree , Chief Thundercloud , Iron Eyes Cody , Jay Silverheels . The film displays a brilliant cinematography by expert cameraman Edward Cronjager in rich Technicolor . In addition , thrilling and evocative musical score by David Buttolph . The motion picture produced by Harry Joe Brown and Darryl F Zanuck was compellingly directed by Fritz Lang and with great enthusiasm . This was Lang's second Western , following his favorite ¨The return of Frank James¨ . The German Fritz showed himself a master of the most American of genres , yet made only one more Western : ¨Rancho Notorious¨. As Lang directed masterfully all kind of genres as Noir cinema as ¨Big heat¨ , ¨Scarlet Street¨ and ¨Beyond a reasonable doubt¨ , Epic as ¨Nibelungs¨, suspense as ¨Secret beyond the door¨ , ¨Clash by night¨ and Lang's trilogy about Nazi time as ¨Cloak and dagger¨, ¨Man hunt¨ and ¨Hangmen also die¨, and of course , Sci-Fi with the classic ¨Metropolis¨. Rating Western Union : Better than average . Well worth watching .

Fritz Lang is better known and regarded for his work in German Expressionism and Thrillers. Films such as Metropolis, M and The Big Heat are some of the impressive works that asserted Lang as a major presence within cinema history. Yet I feel more of his lesser – acclaimed work should be discussed. One such film being Western Union, a western full of character and dynamic situations.The main plot line focuses on the beginnings of the Western Union, a company setting up telegraph poles across the west in order for faster communication to the east. This shows the building of modernisation in an area which was still untamed. It is spearheaded by Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) who's happy at the fact that his dream is materialising. But Western Union is not solely about one man and his dream of modernisation. In fact the main plot line sets itself as a juxtaposition of change which the main characters want to happen within themselves. This desire for change fuels the drama in the film's narrative. This is first shown with Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott) who works as the deuteragonist throughout the narrative. He goes from being moraless to a man of kindness after finding Creighton injured. At first Shaw questions his sudden change in character, muttering to himself he's like Santa Claus. But Shaw soon amerces himself into the role of the good guy by working alongside Creighton for Western Union. Shaw's desire for change creates personal conflict within himself and his old accomplice Jack (Barton MacLane), who along with his gang attempt to use Shaw in their intention to destroy the telegraph poles for the confederacy. Although this is not historically accurate, it enforces the juxtaposition of change. Shaw wants to change for the better whilst his old gang want to aid the confederacy in their own quest for change in America. We also see a desire of change in Richard Blake (Robert Young), a young eastern man from an established family trying to prove himself as the opposite of a tenderfoot as he is referred too.A significant scene of Blake transforming his image is when he is challenged to ride the most stubborn horse from the stables. Dressed in western style attire he brought from the east it creates the notion that Blake is acting pretentious for the real citizens of the frontier. Yet after huge resistance from the horse Blake manages to assert the horse to his control. This scene shows the enhancement of change not only in Blake's personality but also in the opinion of others, most importantly Creighton's sister Sue (Virginia Gilmore). Impressed by his skills this creates a love triangle between herself, Blake and Shaw which is not only works as a comical aspect in the narrative but also a way of Blake and Shaw trying to prove themselves to Sue which relates to their own personal changes. However in attempting to change it results in Blake and Shaw being marred into tragedy. When up against a group of drunk Indians Shaw does his best to diffuse any tension without resorting to violence. However Blake, still inexperienced and wanting to prove himself to others goes for his gun and shots an Indian dead. Blake's actions against the Indian show his eagerness to change into a more masculine figure but at the cost of an unjustified death. However when Blake next resorts to his weapon, it is not only justified but concludes his transition from inexperienced easterner to a masculine westerner.After destroying the majority of Western Union's goods Shaw seeks revenge by having a shoot out with his old gang. This results in tragic consequences for Shaw who redeems himself at the cost of his life. This is when Blake arrives to seek justice by gunning down Shaw's killer Jack in a one on one shootout. On the surface it comes off as a typical western finale, the heroic figure triumphing over evil. But deep within it concludes Blake's transition, no longer the tenderfoot everyone thought he was.Western Union sums up the transitions of change as a fruition of a better future. Creighton's plan of modernisation is complete along with Blake's new experience benefiting his life from there on in. Even if Shaw's transition ended in his death it certainly was not in vain, "It's a long way from Salt Lake City to Boot Hill in Elkville, but I think he can hear it".

This is a sort of hidden gem. It has little to no promotion, no fanfare, no classic status, and it deserves all of the above! One of the great directors of cinema, Fritz Lang, has created a real gem in this excellent western. A fine cast led by Randolph Scott (in probably one of his greatest performances), the always sturdy Dean Jagger, Robert Young as a surprisingly accomplished dude plus many veteran character actors: Chill Wills, Slim Summerville, John Carradine, Barton MacLane and others in an exciting Zane Grey story of the laying of the Western Union cable across country. It has tense drama, sprinklings of humor and great effects. It's reminiscent of DeMille in ways and yet Fritz Lang leaves his own stamp on it. At very least this is a damned good western!

Here's another of the 1940's westerns that I watch whenever it comes on TCM or FMC, because although it may be flawed historically, it is extremely entertaining and well acted, plus it's got Randolph Scott, my favorite actor second only to Gary Cooper-Well, OK, fourth behind COOP, Charlton Heston, and Gregory Peck. But the film itself, to me anyway, is reasonably historically accurate and as I said before, well acted and "flows" very well-I bet I've seen it 50 or 60 times, and enjoy each viewing more than the one before. I have it on tape from TCM but would buy it in a minute if it ever came out on DVD. See it if you haven't- I guarantee you'll like it!