My review title is a quote from star Randolph Scott, as Union Captain John Hayes, addressing a Confederate-sympathizing cook who poured much salt into the pie slice of the lone blue coat among a group seated at the table in his restaurant. The cook claims this pie slice is no different from the others, but it's obvious this is a lie, raising Hayes' ire. This immediately reminded me of a similar episode with the same quote said by Richard Cramer: the menacing skipper of a small boat that Laurel and Hardy are trapped on, in "Saps at Sea". He's ordered them to make him a dinner, knowing that there is no food on board.
Despite director Budd Beotticher's prejudice of wanting to be minimally associated with this low budget quickie Warnercolor Civil War western, it's quite an entertaining yarn, with a plot along the lines of the Missouri-Kansas border wars, only this is sited in the little frontier town of Julesburg, in the NE corner of then Colorado Territory. Located not far off the Oregon-California trail, historically, Julesburg was a major center for the Overland stage company, as portrayed in the film. However, the major plot features of Julesburg being a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers and the Overland stage transporting the bulk of California gold eastward are fictional. The great bulk of CA and NV gold and silver was transported by ships, not stages, to the East. Perhaps the screenwriters were unaware that the Colorado Rockies and SW Montana were also major gold producers during much of the Civil War. These would have been much more likely sources of gold shipments east by stage than CA gold!
Not only do we get lead Randy Scott, still looking and acting virile at age 60, but two gorgeous classy blonds in Virginia Mayo and Karen Steele. Name another western that can equal that! Initially, both are married, but both husbands die as a result of gunslinger Mace's ambition to shoot Hayes. They then become potential rivals for the attention of the unmarried Hayes. Virginia was a decade older, nearing 40, and had been the female star in a number of westerns over the years, most recently "Ft. Dobbs". Although she is billed over Karen, Karen is given more screen time and is characterized as the 'good' girl, with a suggestion of at least an intermittent relationship with Hayes, in the end. Off camera, it was married Beotticher who was romancing Karen, which no doubt explains her greater presence in the film than Virginia and her starring role in several other Beotticher-Scott films. Quite the independent woman she sometimes portrayed in her films, she didn't marry until her 40s. In contrast to Karen's tomboy rancher character, Virginia plays the gold-digging kept trophy wife of wealthy Confederate sympathizer Clay Putnum. Complicating things, before the war, she was romantically involved with Hayes. It's soon clear that her marriage to Putnum is largely loveless and that she still loves Hayes. Although Virginia was mostly cast in minimally demanding roles as a classy pretty face, as in this film, she could convincingly play a rustic tomboy wildcat, as in "Along the Great Divide": my favorite of her film characters.
You may wonder why the film is titled "Westbound", when the main point of the story is the shipment of California gold eastward? It refers to Hayes' initial journey westward to Julesburg from a military unit in the East. Not coincidentally, Julesburg was Hayes' hometown, he previously being the manager of the Overland stage there. The army is sending him back, as the present manager(Putnum) seems unable to stop depredations by Confederate sympathizers on the gold-laden stages in this region. The reason turns out to be that he, like most people in and around this town, is a southern sympathizer. Putnum is actually the most interesting character in this film, although Duggan lacks charisma. He wants to stop the gold shipments by sabotage: mostly stealing horses and burning down way stations, but wants to avoid any killings. In this latter respect , he is in deep conflict with his loose canon hired gun, Mace, who seems to also be the leader of Putnum's gang of thugs. Mace is more interested in stealing gold than in preventing its travel through this region. He takes an immediate dislike to Hayes upon the latter's arrival, and provides a dramatic demonstration of his marksmanship in shooting off Hayes' holster with gun after Hayes refuses to respond to his implied gun duel challenge. Mace later accidentally kills Karen's husband: one-armed union soldier Rod Miller, mistaking him for Hayes. He is also responsible for the deaths of a whole stage full of passengers, when the stage careens down a steep slope after the driver is shot dead. This is the final straw in the relationship between Putnum and Mace, as well as Putnum's marriage to Virginia. Putnum is shot dead by Mace as he races to try to save Hayes from being ambushed by Mace. Hayes then shoots Mace as he tries to escape from a surprise counter-ambush by a committee of citizens angered by the recent killings. Virginia decides to flee this region rather than try to patch things up with Hayes, leaving the field open for widowed Karen.
Yes, this film is at least as good as most of the other Beottricher-Scott films I have seen, regardless of Boettricher's prejudice. Wally Brown and Fred Sherman , as the colorful stage drivers, provide a bit of diversion from the serious drama. The photography is beautiful and traveling music pleasant. Presently available on DVD.
