''The Way West'' is a 1967 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Andrew V. McLaglen Andrew Victor McLaglen (July 28, 1920 – August 30, 2014) was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart. According to one obituary "His career ...

and starring

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

, and

Richard Widmark Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, ''Kiss of Death'' (1947) ...

. The supporting cast features

Lola Albright Lola Jean Albright (July 20, 1924 – March 23, 2017) was an American singer and actress, best known for playing the sultry singer Edie Hart, the girlfriend of private eye Peter Gunn, on all three seasons of the TV series ''Peter Gunn''. Early ...

Jack Elam William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villaino ...

Sally Field Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has received many awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Fe ...

and

Stubby Kaye Bernard Solomon Kotzin (November 11, 1918 – December 14, 1997), known as Stubby Kaye, was an American actor, comedian, vaudevillian, and singer, known for his appearances on Broadway and in film musicals. Kaye originated the roles of Nicely-Ni ...

. Ostensibly based on the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

winning novel of the same name by

A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Alfred Bertram Guthrie Jr. (January 13, 1901 – April 26, 1991) was an American novelist, screenwriter, historian, and literary historian known for writing western stories. His novel ''The Way West'' won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and h ...

, the film is a drama about a band of settlers traveling by covered wagon train to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in 1843. It includes on-location cinematography by

William H. Clothier William H. Clothier, A.S.C. (February 21, 1903 – January 7, 1996) was an American cinematographer. Biography Born in Decatur, Illinois, Clothier entered the film industry painting sets at Warner Bros., and at the end of the silent era beg ...

Sam Elliott Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Board of Review Award, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Aw ...

made his feature film debut as an uncredited Missouri townsman.

Plot

U.S. Senator William Tadlock (Kirk Douglas) is leaving his home in

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

in 1843, heading west on the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

by wagon train. His son and slave come along, with Dick Summers (Robert Mitchum) as a hired guide. Joining them on the expedition are farmer Lije Evans (Richard Widmark), his wife Rebecca (Lola Albright), and 16-year-old son Brownie (Michael McGreevey). Among others there are also the newlyweds Johnnie (Michael Witney) and Amanda Mack (Katherine Justice), plus the Fairman and McBee families. Shy young wife Amanda isn't satisfying his needs, so Johnnie gets drunk and strays with young Mercy McBee (Sally Field). He also shoots at what he drunkenly thinks is a wolf, and ends up killing a

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and ...

chief's son. Tadlock knows that no other form of justice will do for the Indians if the wagon train is being pursued by them out of vengeance, so he hangs Johnnie, for the safety of the traveling party, but to their outrage. On the trail, it turns out Mercy is now pregnant as well, and Brownie proposes marriage to her. Tadlock's son is killed in a stampede, causing the senator to be so distraught that he becomes harsh and despotic towards his charges. The last straw comes when Tadlock destroys Rebecca Evans' antique clock after Lije Evans refuses to abandon it. A fight ensues when Tadlock is attacked by Evans, for which Tadlock retaliates by trying to shoot Evans, only for Summers to stop him. The others form a lynch mob and attempt to hang Tadlock, but Evans talks them out of it and now takes charge of the trek. Nearly to the end, the trek reaches a steep ravine, which offers the only shortcut to their destination. Rebecca Evans shows the others Tadlock's grand plan, and Evans relinquishes command back to Tadlock. The settlers lower their possessions, livestock, and each other down the steep escarpment to reach the wagon road to the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

. Emotionally destroyed by the loss of Johnnie, Amanda Mack cuts the rope Tadlock is descending on, causing the senator to plunge to his death. Amanda runs off into the desert, but the others, after commemorating Tadlock's efforts, press on to Oregon. Summers stays behind, departing to parts unknown.

Production

Andrew McLaglen recalled that though United Artists was pleased with the film, they wanted 22 minutes at the beginning of the film cut out to reduce the running time. The film is notable for being the first big-budget western since 1930's

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...

spectacle ''

The Big Trail ''The Big Trail'' is a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. In 2006, the United States Libra ...

'' to show pioneers lowering a wagon train over a cliff with ropes. This was the third time that Mitchum and Douglas appeared in a film together, following ''

Out of the Past ''Out of the Past'' (billed in the United Kingdom as ''Build My Gallows High'') is a 1947 film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring (using the pse ...

'' (1947) and '' The List of Adrian Messenger'' (1963). Douglas had previously filmed another A.B. Guthrie novel, '' The Big Sky''. Filming took place in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, and various places in

, including Bend, Christmas Valley, and the sand dunes and lost forest in

Crooked River Gorge Crooked River Gorge is a gorge located around Warm Springs and Smith Rock State Park, Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, ...

Reception

Though noted for its exceptional cast and professional cinematography, the film had mixed reviews—often cool to the work of the director and scriptwriter—and was commonly described as something less than the classic work of contemporary Western-movie director

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

. It was described as lacking consistent story lines, being a collection of disjointed, rushed incidents, connected by long pauses and grand scenery. It gained some notoriety for its sexual themes and innuendoes, beyond the movie norms of the year when it debuted (1967).Agnew, Jeremy:
The Creation of the Cowboy Hero: Fiction, Film and Fact
''

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

, retrieved October 2, 2021 While critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave it mild praise, other modern reviewers in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

,'' ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' and others gave it middle-to-low marks. Metacritic averaged the modern reviews as a 42% rating.''The Way West,'' 1967
''

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

,'' retrieved October 2, 2012"Screen: 'The Way West' Begins Run: Guthrie Story Arrives With Kirk Douglas,"
May 25, 1967, ''

,'' retrieved October 2, 2012Carr, Jeremy
"Ambitiously Uneven: ''The Way West,''"
June 8, 2018, ''The Retro Set,'' retrieved October 2, 2012

Cast

as Sen. William J. Tadlock *

as Dick Summers *

as Captain Lije Evans *

as Rebecca Evans *

as Preacher Weatherby *

Michael Witney Michael Witney (born Whitney Michael Armstrong; November 21, 1931 – November 30, 1983) was an American film and television actor. Career In 1963–64, Witney's first screen-acting role was a recurring part as the first wagon master, Buck Cou ...

as Johnnie Mack *

as Mercy McBee *

as Sam Fairman * Katherine Justice as Amanda Mack * Michael McGreevey as Brownie Evans * Connie Sawyer as Mrs. McBee * Harry Carey, Jr. as Mr. McBee *

Paul Lukather Paul Lukather (August 24, 1926 – October 9, 2014) was a veteran actor known for his vast array of work across stage, television and voice-over work. Lukather graduated from Drake University and Yale University. He won the Barter Award, which wa ...

as Mr. Turley *

Eve McVeagh Eva Elizabeth "Eve" McVeagh (July 15, 1919 – December 10, 1997) was an American actress of film, television, stage, and radio. Her career spanned 52 years from her first stage role through her last stage appearance. Her roles included leading ...

as Mrs. Masters *

Roy Glenn Roy Edwin Glenn, Sr. (June 3, 1914 – March 12, 1971) was an American character actor. Early life Glenn was born in Pittsburg, Kansas on June 3, 1914. Career In 1949, Glenn's radio career started in Rocky Jordan – The Adventures of Rock ...

as Saunders * Patric Knowles as Colonel Grant (based on Captain

Walter Colquhoun Grant Walter Colquhoun Grant (27 May 1822 – 27 August 1861) was British Army officer and a pioneer settler in what is today British Columbia. He served briefly as a colonial surveyor but left after a few years to rejoin the army. He died whil ...

) * Paul Wexler as Barber (uncredited) *

as Missouri townsman (uncredited)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Way West, The 1967 films 1967 Western (genre) films 1960s English-language films American Western (genre) films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by Andrew McLaglen Films produced by Harold Hecht Films scored by Bronisław Kaper Films set in 1847 Films set in Oregon Films shot in Bend, Oregon Films shot in Tucson, Arizona Films shot in Oregon United Artists films 1960s historical drama films American historical drama films 1967 drama films Revisionist Western (genre) films 1960s American films