Escort West (1958)

Director:

Francis D. Lyon

Writers:

Leo Gordon (writer)
Fred Hartsook (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

23 January 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Rebel on a Rampage!

Plot:

An ex-Confederate officer and his young daughter, traveling West, rescue two women survivors of an Indian attack. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman

Cast

Victor Mature	...	Ben Lassiter
Elaine Stewart	...	Beth Drury
Faith Domergue	...	Martha Drury
Reba Waters	...	Abbey Lassiter
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Lt. Jamison
Leo Gordon	...	Trooper Vogel
Rex Ingram	...	Nelson Walker
John Hubbard	...	Lt. Weeks
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Trooper Travis
Slim Pickens	...	Corporal Wheeler
Roy Barcroft	...	Sgt. Doyle
William Ching	...	Capt. Howard Poole
Ken Curtis	...	Trooper Burch
Claire Du Brey	...	Mrs. Kate Fenniman
Syd Saylor	...	Elwood Fenniman
X Brands	...	Tago
Chuck Hayward	...	Indian
Charles Soldani	...	Indian

Directed by
Francis D. Lyon

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Leo Gordon		writer
Fred Hartsook		writer
Steve Hayes		story

Produced by
Nate H. Edwards	....	producer
Robert E. Morrison	....	producer
John Wayne	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Henry Vars

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier

Film Editing by
Otto Ludwig

Art Direction by
Alfred Ybarra

Set Decoration by
Mowbray Berkeley

Costume Design by
Elmer Ellsworth
Neva Rames

Makeup Department
Layne Britton	....	makeup artist
Lillian Ugrin	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Gordon B. Forbes	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Beaudine Jr.	....	assistant director

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property master

Sound Department
Earl Crain Sr.	....	sound

Special Effects by
Dave Koehler	....	special effects

Stunts
Fred Carson	....	stunt coordinator
Fred Carson	....	stunt double: Victor Mature

Other crew
Catalina Lawrence	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Batjac Productions
• Romina Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Darker Images Video (2005) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Batjac Productions

Unpretentious Western Offers Authenticity, Solid Family Entertainment

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. I have seldom seen 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. As a history buff, I was particularly impressed 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.