Westbound (1959)

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
In 1864 Cavalry Captain John Hayes reluctantly follows orders
to become the civilian boss of the Overland Stage Line,
which keeps the flow of Western gold to the Union and will help it win the Civil War.
Headquarters for the stage line is a small Colorado town
with Southern sympathizers who will do anything they can to sabotage his mission.
Resistance to his efforts is led by former friend ad colleague Clay Putnam,
who has taken advantage of Hayes' absence and married his former sweetheart.
Written by duke1029

Cast
Randolph Scott ... Capt. John Hayes
Virginia Mayo ... Norma Putnam
Karen Steele ... Jeanie Miller
Michael Dante ... Rod Miller
Andrew Duggan ... Clay Putnam
Michael Pate ... Mace
Wally Brown ... Stubby
John Daheim ... Russ (as John Day)
Walter Barnes ... Willis - Stage Depot Cook
and more...

Directed
Budd Boetticher

Writing Credits
Berne Giler ... (screenplay)
Berne Giler ... (story) and
Albert S. Le Vino ... (story) (as Albert Shelby LeVino)
Produced
Henry Blanke ... producer

Music
David Buttolph

Cinematography
J. Peverell Marley ... director of photography

Trivia
Karen Steele was romantically involved with director Budd Boetticher over a long period of time.
Besides 'Westbound', she made several other films with the cult director.

Shot in only 20 days for $565,000.

The sixth of seven Westerns directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott.

For being second billed, Virginia Mayo has surprisingly little screen time,
four or five scenes.

Virginia Mayo' s hair is decidedly blonde, although the movie's tag line refers to her as a redhead.

Goofs
Anachronisms
This takes place during the Civil War. And typical of movies about the period,
everyone has a cartridge belt and pistol instead of the 'cap and ball' available at the time.

Characters use the word 'gunslinger' in conversation.
Though it has been retroactively applied to the Old West,
the word was actually only coined well into the 20th century.

As with the pistol anachronism, Miller had a Winchester model 1866 (or later)
lever action rifle, despite the film being set in 1864.

Factual errors
While Christy is reminiscing about the Overland Stage with Hayes,
he reminds him that they worked together on the line for twenty years
. Before that, he says, he worked for the Pony Express.
As the year is 1864, that would push his Pony Express experience to 1844
or earlier if you subtract Hayes' Civil War service.
The actual Pony Express only was in operation for one year, from 1860 to 1861

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Laramie Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California, USA

Watch the Movie

Westbound

Westbound is a 1959 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher
and starring Randolph Scott, Virginia Mayo, and Karen Steele.
This is the sixth of seven films directed by Boetticher and starring Scott.

The movie was shot in September 1957 in Warnercolor. at cost of more than a half-million dollars.
The Laramie Street set at Warner’s Burbank was used for the setting of Julesburg, Colorado.
The Warner Ranch was used for other settings.

David Buttolph composed the score.

Westbound was released on April 25, 1959.

The movie was not a part of the Ranown cycle of Westerns for which Boetticher,
Scott and Harry Joe Brown partnered; Scott owed Warners one picture from an old contract,
so Boetticher volunteered to direct it himself so as to protect their brand.
Although Boetticher never went so far as to disown the film,
he felt it was not part of the series and would only discuss it outside of that

User Review

Better than average minor Western
18 October 2007 | by lorenellroy (United Kingdom)

Quote from loren

Westbound does not form part of the "Ranown "cycle of Westerns

on which star Scott and director Boetticher collaborated in the 1950's
and which included such stone classics as Comanche Station,The Tall T and Ride Lonesome .
These were the work of the excellent screenwriter ,later director, Budd Kennedy
while this has a workmanlike script from a pair of studio hacks
The storyline is a little thin and this is the only major weak spot
in a tense and crisp Western which takes the Civil War as its backdrop .
Scott plays a Union cavalry officer assigned to re-establish a stage line
that he once managed before the war ,the purpose being to ship gold
from California to the Federal banks .
He must overcome a Confederate agent ,in the form of Andrew Duggan
and still he finds time to romance the feisty and gallant heroine played by Karen Steele.
Boetticher directs with style and aplomb ;there is a lively musical score
and some limpid colour cinematography by J Peverell Mackay that adds real lustre
to the look of the picture .
Add some strong performances and you get an above average minor Western
with a crisp running time and lots of lively action by way of diversion .
It is a very neat little movie indeed and recommended to Western fans in particular

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