Synopsis
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.
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Cast
- Kirk DouglasSen. William J. Tadlock
- Robert MitchumDick Summers
- Richard WidmarkLije Evans
- Lola AlbrightRebecca 'Becky' Evans
- Jack ElamPreacher Weatherby
- Stubby KayeSam Fairman
- Michael McGreeveyBrownie Evans
- Harry Carey, Jr.Mr. McBee
- Connie SawyerMrs. McBee
- Michael WitneyJohnnie Mack
Recommendations
- 63
Chicago Sun-Times
If The Way West does not wholly succeed as drama, it is at least a well-made and wholly professional Hollywood Western. Western fans, myself included, might enjoy it for that alone. Widmark and Mitchum are excellent in roles unusual for them and Douglas, as always, is a seasoned old hand. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
An extraordinarily predictable and uninviting western directed by McLaglen in the John Ford vein but with none of the Ford atmosphere, complexity, characterization, or inventiveness. - 40
Time Out
The cast - Douglas as a frantically visionary senator, Mitchum as the veteran trail scout, Widmark as the leader of the settlers - is fine, and William Clothier's location photography impressive. But the script meanders badly, even taking time off for a bit of teenage romance involving nymphet Sally Field in her film debut, while McLaglen's direction is simply lacklustre. - 30
The New York Times
What they have to go through to reach Oregon is nothing to compare to what an old Western fan has to go through to keep from getting up in the middle and walking out. - 30
Variety
Project probably looked good on paper, but washed out in scripting, direction and pacing. Incidents do not build to any climax; excepting the first and last reels, any others could be shown out of order with no apparent discontinuity.
