A good cast is wasted in a film effort out of place with a changing industry. Beautiful photography cannot save this vehicular drama of the Old West, as the first settlers to Oregon struggle their way west. Stuffed full of choreographed highlights and stereotyped characters, this tale simply fails. Douglas, Widmark and Mitchum look as though they're bored, and there's nary an inspired scene amongst them.
Andrew McLaglen's direction plays out like an episodic television play, which makes sense in light of the fact that he cut his teeth on television. The musical score, especially the accompanying singing, is an embarrassment, and difficult to listen to without cringing. And with their perfectly coiffed hair, impeccably clean outfits and carefully applied makeup, the entire cast looks as though they're headed, not to Oregon along a dusty trail, but to a Halloween party.
Filmed in the mid sixties, it has the misfortune of not fitting in with the cinematic times. Released near the presentation of such films as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and In the Heat of the Night, it's a tale told too late.
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