Escort West Backdrop Blur
Escort West Poster

Escort West

"Rebel on a Rampage!"

Seeking a new place to call home, former Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) and his daughter meet Beth (Elaine Stewart), whose fiancé is a Union soldier. Lassiter falls for Beth, and when Indians attack, they head to a cavalry camp where Lassiter must battle the Indians as well as Beth's fiancé.

Top Cast

  • Victor Mature

    Victor Mature

    Ben Lassiter

  • Elaine Stewart

    Elaine Stewart

    Beth Drury

  • Faith Domergue

    Faith Domergue

    Martha Drury

  • Reba Waters

    Reba Waters

    Abbey Lassiter

  • Noah Beery Jr.

    Noah Beery Jr.

    Lt. Jamison

  • Leo Gordon

    Leo Gordon

    Trooper Vogel

  • Harry Carey, Jr.

    Harry Carey, Jr.

    Trooper Travis

  • Slim Pickens

    Slim Pickens

    Corporal Wheeler

  • Rex Ingram

    Rex Ingram

    Nelson Walker

Overview

Seeking a new place to call home, former Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) and his daughter meet Beth (Elaine Stewart), whose fiancé is a Union soldier. Lassiter falls for Beth, and when Indians attack, they head to a cavalry camp where Lassiter must battle the Indians as well as Beth's fiancé.

Rating

6.2 / 10
12 Reviews
1 Popular

2 Reviews

  • John Chard
    John Chard
    7 Mar 7, 2017

    They thought the war was over... Escort West is directed by Francis D. Lyon and adapted to screenplay by Leo Gordon and Fred Hartsook from a story by Steven Hayes. It stars Victor Mature, Elaine Stewart, Faith Domergue, Reba Waters, Noah Beery Jr., Leo Gordon, Rex Ingram, John Hubbard, Harry Carey Jr. and Slim Pickens. Music is by Henry Vars and CinemaScope cinematography by William H. Clothier. Set in Nevada 1865 at the end of The Civil War, Escort West follows ex- Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Mature) as he travels West with his young daughter Abbey (Waters). Still meeting hostile reactions from Union cavalry officers and supporters in the area, things take a dramatic turn when Ben and Abbey happen upon the aftermath of a Modoc Indian attack that has left a troop of Union cavalrymen dead. However, there are three survivors, sisters Beth (Stewart) and Martha (Domergue), and injured Nelson Walker (Ingram). The Lassiter's try to escort the survivors to safety, but with the Modocs and rouge Union cavalrymen interested in a payroll in Ben's possession a constant threat out in the terrain, it's going to be tough. It's pretty predictable in formula, complete with an uninteresting burgeoning romance, but it's a film that's never dull and it's always compelling as a character driven travelogue. The left over attitudes born out by the war add some spice into the narrative, with Domergue portraying a bile strewn bitch from hell and Mature a contemplative father of substance, and there are a good number of action sequences that are thrillingly executed. Cast performances are strong enough for the material, where it's nice to see Mature and Waters' father and daughter relationship play out as tender and believable, and ace cinematographer Clothier's Scope photography is beautiful and keeps the picture consistently airy. 6.5/10

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Jun 15, 2022

    Former Confederate officer "Lassiter" (Victor Mature) and his young daughter "Abbey" (Reba Walters) are travelling thorough the treacherous territory of the Modoc people. After stopping for food at a relay station, where they encounter some union soldiers escorting their wages to a nearby fort, they make camp. During the night, he spots some drunken Modoc and concludes that they must have got the booze from the relay station. Has it been attacked? "Lassiter" decides that they must try to warn the troop of "Lt. Weeks" (John Hubbard) before they, too are massacred. The underlying story is quite good, but it is cluttered up by too many characters. Elaine Stewart ("Beth") and Faith Domergue ("Martha") play the travelling sisters well enough - they offer more than the usual hysterics as the enemy bears down on them, but Waters is frankly poor as is the pace of this rather over-stretched narrative. Mature never made a good cowboy for me, there was always something just a bit too pristine (and wooden) about him, but more charismatic efforts from Noah Beery Jr ("Jamison") and the usually reliable Slim Pickens just about keep this on the level.

Recommendations

Barbarosa

Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.

Barbarosa

5.9 1982
The Way West

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.

The Way West

6.1 1967
Wild Rovers

Ross Bodine and Frank Post are cowhands on Walt Buckman's R-Bar-R ranch. Bodine is older and broods a bit about how he will get along when he's too old to cowboy. Post is young and rambunctious and ambitious for a better life than wrangling cows. When one of their fellow cowboys is killed in a corral accident, Post suggests a way into a better life for himself and his friend: robbing a bank. Bodine reluctantly joins in the plan and the two contrive to rob the local bank. They make good their escape initially, but Walt Buckman and his two sons, John and Paul, are incensed at this betrayal by their own trusted employees. John and Paul set out to bring Bodine and Post to justice.

Wild Rovers

6.1 1971
The Proud Rebel

Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.

The Proud Rebel

6.1 1958