Westward the Women

"The BIG MGM Spectacle ! HE LED 200 WOMEN ON AN ADVENTURE THAT MOST MEN FEARED TO FACE!"

1951 1h 58m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 87

WesternDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.

“The BIG MGM Spectacle ! HE LED 200 WOMEN ON AN ADVENTURE THAT MOST MEN FEARED TO FACE!”

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Where to watch · US

Cast

Robert Taylor
Buck Wyatt
Denise Darcel
Fifi Danon
Hope Emerson
Patience Hawley
John McIntire
Roy E. Whitman
Julie Bishop
Laurie Smith
Lenore Lonergan
Maggie O'Malley
Henry Nakamura
Ito
Marilyn Erskine
Jean Jackson

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: William A. Wellman
Writers: Frank Capra, Charles Schnee
Languages: English, French, Japanese, Italian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

75 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, Japanese, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by William A. Wellman, shot by William C. Mellor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jeff Alexander. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor James E. Newcom shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robert Taylor and Denise Darcel and Hope Emerson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The BIG MGM Spectacle ! HE LED 200 WOMEN ON AN ADVENTURE THAT MOST MEN FEARED TO FACE!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0044205 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

William A. Wellman directs. William C. Mellor behind the camera. Jeff Alexander scores. James E. Newcom cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Japanese, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

175 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, Japanese, Italian.
3Directed by William A. Wellman, shot by William C. Mellor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Jeff Alexander. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor James E. Newcom shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Robert Taylor and Denise Darcel and Hope Emerson carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The BIG MGM Spectacle ! HE LED 200 WOMEN ON AN ADVENTURE THAT MOST MEN FEARED TO FACE!".
8IMDB entry: tt0044205 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 87 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "california", "ranch", "rocky mountains", "survival".

The technical file

Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Original score: Jeff Alexander
Editing: James E. Newcom
Costume design: Walter Plunkett
Makeup / hair: John Truwe
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Westward the Women (1951)

Also by

William A. Wellman

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2018-08-02
★ 7/10
Caravan of graft, guile and stoicism. Westward the Women is directed by William Wellman and adapted to screen by Charles Schnee from a story written by Frank Capra. It stars Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, John McIntire, Hope Emerson, Julie Bishop and Henry Nakamura. Music is by Jeff Alexander and cinematography by William Mellor. A most important Western, one that demands to be seen by lovers of the genre. Plot finds Taylor tasked with escorting over 100 women from Chicago to California, their goal is to find marital harmony at Whitman Valley. They must overcome extreme conditions, from that of the natural terrain, hostile invasions, and inner fightings via passions and suspicions. This is a wagon train of some difference. The key issue here is that this MGM production puts up front and centre the fact that women played a key part in the shaping of the frontiers. It manages to have the expected cute and funny scenarios, but not at the expense of viable assertive drama, nothing denigrates how strong, brave and driven these women were. Some of the gender politics look a touch suspect today, and occasionally some of the framing devices for the women are over staged. There's also the irritant of stereotyping Nakamura's Asian character, but these are small quibbles all told. For this is a unique and fascinating Western, something of a banner movie for telling a side of the "West" we hardly have ever see on film. 7/10

Production companies