Westward the Women (1951)

A trail guide escorts a group of women from Chicago to California to marry men that have recently began settling there.

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Charles Schnee (screenplay), Frank Capra (story)

Stars:

Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Taylor	...	Buck Wyatt
Denise Darcel	...	Fifi Danon
Hope Emerson	...	Patience Hawley
John McIntire	...	Roy Whitman
Julie Bishop	...	Laurie Smith
Lenore Lonergan	...	Maggie O'Malley
Henry Nakamura	...	Ito Kentaro
Marilyn Erskine	...	Jean Johnson
Beverly Dennis	...	Rose Meyers
Renata Vanni	...	Mrs. Moroni

Storyline

In a time when "The West" pretty much ends in Texas and only California is slowly being populated by the white men, there's a severe lack of women among the workers on Roy Whitman's farm in the California Valley. So he goes back east to Chicago to recruit 150 women willing to become wives for his employees. From the candidates he selects 138 who seem able to survive a months long journey across "The Great American Desert" and the Rocky Mountains.

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Plot Keywords:

1850s | settlement of the west | wild west | year 1851 | native american attack | 

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Taglines:

The BIG M-G-M Spectacle!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Denise Darcel's French-language dialog includes a few words which prove that no one in the 1950s version of the Hays Office understood French. Some of the terms she used while angry at "Buck Wyatt" would never have gotten past the censors in English.

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Goofs

During a shooting lesson one of the men tells one of the women to "aim low that will make up for the recoil". When shooting a gun the bullet has long left the barrel, before the barrel begins to move in recoil. Aim low and you'll miss low.

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Quotes

Buck Wyatt: [to Patience, as she sits with the unconscious Mrs. Maroni] Talk to her, Patience.
Patience Hawley: Thanks... what'll I use for language?

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Crazy Credits

The MGM lion, instead of roaring, is frozen in place.

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Alternate Versions

Avalable in a colorized version on home video from Turner/MGM Home Video. Like many colorized versions of films, it was not authorized nor approved by anyone who worked on the film.

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Connections

Featured in TCM Guest Programmer: Paul Aguirre (2007)

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Soundtracks

To The West! To The West!
By Henry Russell

User Reviews

My only problem with this movie is ...

that it isn't out on DVD yet! I'd buy this movie in an instant, but knowing that I would watch it over and over again, the tape would soon wear out. So I am hopefully waiting for it to come out on DVD.

This movie is great! It's funny. It's touching. It's warm. It's violent. It's campy. It's everything you'd expect from the time period it was made in except for its portrayal of so many strong women. But my guess is that the women who made those journeys were in fact very strong in character.

In any case, I highly recommend it. It's a genuine "feel good" movie, even though it is riddled with many sad and turbulent scenes.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Japanese Italian North American Indian

Release Date:

31 December 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pioneer Women

Filming Locations:

Death Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,203,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1