Western Union (1941)

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  • WESTERN UNION


    DIRECTED BY FRITZ LANG
    PRODUCED BY HARRY JOE BROWN/DARRYL F. ZANUCK
    TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION


    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Vance Shaw gives up outlawing and goes to work for the telegraph company;
    his brother Jack Slade leads outlaws trying to prevent the company connecting the line
    between Omaha and Salt Lake City. Lots of Indian fighting and gunplay.
    Written by Ed Stephan


    Cast
    Robert Young ... Richard Blake
    Randolph Scott ... Vance Shaw
    Dean Jagger ... Edward Creighton
    Virginia Gilmore ... Sue Creighton
    John Carradine ... Doc Murdoch
    Slim Summerville ... Herman
    Chill Wills ... Homer
    Barton MacLane ... Jack Slade
    Russell Hicks ... Governor
    Victor Kilian ... Charlie
    Minor Watson ... Pat Grogan
    George Chandler ... Herb
    Chief John Big Tree ... Chief Spotted Horse (as Chief Big Tree)
    Chief Thundercloud ... Indian Leader
    Iron Eyes Cody ... Indian Who Drinks Chemical Solution (uncredited)
    J.W. Cody ... Indian (uncredited)
    Frank McGrath ... Posse Rider (uncredited)
    and many more...


    Directed by
    Fritz Lang


    Writing Credits
    Zane Grey ... (novel)
    Robert Carson ... (screen play)
    Jack Andrews ... (contributor to dialogue) (uncredited)
    George Bruce ... (contributing writer) (uncredited)
    Horace McCoy ... (contributor to dialogue) (uncredited)

    Produced
    Harry Joe Brown ... associate producer
    Darryl F. Zanuck ... executive producer (uncredited)


    Music
    David Buttolph ... (uncredited)


    Cinematography
    Edward Cronjager ... director of photography
    Allen M. Davey ... director of photography


    Trivia
    Studio publicity noted that Fox contract star Henry Fonda had served as technical adviser on the film,
    due to his experience as a young man working as a lineman.
    Fonda's "technical advisory" capacity was most certainly a publicity fiction,
    and in any event Fonda was not credited on the film itself.


    Originally, Laird Cregar was cast in this film in an undetermined role
    (possibly that of Doc Murdoch), but was unable to do the film
    due to an unfinished other project.
    He was replaced by George 'Gabby' Hayes, but Hayes then became ill and was himself replaced.


    Goofs
    Anachronisms
    During the speeches before they start stringing the telegraph wires,
    all the flags are 48-star flags. There were only 35 states in the Union in 1861.


    In the opening sequence showing the buffalo herd there is a shot that appears
    to show a car driving along a road in the far background.


    North Platte is a prominent location in this movie.
    The story takes place in 1861-1862. North Platte was established in 1868.


    One of the characters sings the song "Good Bye, Old Paint (I'm-a Leavin' Cheyenne)".
    The song didn't exist in the 1860's.


    The characters use Model 1873 Colt Single Action Army pistols modified
    to resemble Remington 1875 Army revolvers. Obviously, neither weapon existed in 1861-62.


    Continuity
    When Creighton leaves on the stage after his accident,
    his left ankle is bandaged and he is favoring his left foot.
    When we later see him walk with a cane, he is favoring his right foot.


    Errors in geography
    Most of this movie takes place in Nebraska.
    Nebraska is not sagebrush country, except for a VERY small piece of
    Deuel County, near the Colorado border.


    At one point, Creighton says "...we'll be hitting the hills"
    as the telegraph crew heads west from what was then called Omaha City.
    This is incorrect. Omaha was notorious for being hilly
    (in the late 19th Century and early 20th, the city went to great efforts
    to level many of the hills), but as you move west, away from the Missouri River,
    near what is now about 84th Street in Omaha, the land begins to flatten out dramatically.


    Factual errors
    During one of the scenes in the then (referring to the time period of the story)
    non-existent town of North Platte, an Army officer refers to a Fort "Kerny."
    The fort, and the subsequent town, are pronounced "Karney."


    The Jack Slade character refers to "General Mosby.
    " Mosby reached the rank of colonel, and fought in Virginia, not Missouri or the Nebraska Territory.


    Revealing mistakes
    In the opening sequence, Vance Shaw escapes a posse by riding through a herd of grazing wild buffalo.
    But in close-ups of the beasts, cowboys herding them can be seen in the background,
    despite no such cowhands in the establishing long shots of the herd.


    Spoilers
    Revealing mistakes
    In the gunfight at the barbershop, Shaw first fires shots with his right gun,
    throws it away and then uses his left gun.
    He then fires at least nine shots with this gun
    without reloading it before the end of the gunfight.


    Memorable Quotes

    Filming Locations
    Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA
    House Rock Canyon, Arizona, USA
    Kanab, Utah, USA
    20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA (studio)


    Watch the Movie


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    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited once, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Western Union is a 1941 American Western film directed by
    Fritz Lang and starring Robert Young, Randolph Scott, and Dean Jagger.


    Filmed in Technicolor on location in Arizona and Utah,
    Western Union is about a reformed outlaw who tries to make good
    by joining the team wiring the Great Plains for telegraph service in 1861.
    Conflicts arise between the man and his former gang,
    as well as between the team stringing the wires and the Native Americans
    through whose land the new lines must run.
    In this regard, the film is not historically accurate;
    the installation of telegraph wires was met with protest from no one.


    The film is based on the novel Western Union by Zane Grey,
    although there are significant differences between the two plots.


    Western Union was only the second western made by Lang,
    The Return of Frank James being the first in 1940.
    Both movies explore the conflicts and obstacles of former criminals
    trying to return to law-abiding society.
    And both films were complicated by the Hays Code,
    which stipulated strict moral conduct in films at the time.


    Apart from Randolph Scott, look out for other Duke 'Pals'
    John Carradine, Chill Wills, Frank McGrath



    User Review


    Entertaining western
    13 July 2006 | by nnnn45089191 (Norway)

    Fritz Lang's "Western Union" is a entertaining movie with good heroes in Randolph Scott,the strong and silent man trying to escape his outlaw past,Robert Young as the easterner trying to conform to the code of the wild west,and Dean Jagger as the determined boss of the Western Union gang.I think the acting honors go to Dean Jagger who is very good in his part. Randolph Scott found his prototype of western hero in this movie and would play variations of that type in westerns to come for the next two decades.The movie looks very good in early Technicolor. Barton MacLane makes a good villain.I enjoyed this western much,although I consider it pretty standard stuff.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited once, last by ethanedwards ().