Escort West
Release date: 1959-01-23
Votes: 11
Genres: Action, Western
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.
Reviews
John Chard
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
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.
Movie Recommendation
Fury at Furnace Creek1948-04-30The Arizona wilderness, 1880. Gen. Fletcher Blackwell sends a message telling Capt. Walsh, who is escorting a wagon-train through Apache territory, heading for the fort at Furnace Creek, that he should cancel the escort and rush to another town. Apache leader "Little Dog" is leading the attack on the wagon-train and massacring everyone at the poorly manned fort. As a result the treaty is broken with the Indians and the white settlers take over the territory with the help of the cavalry, as the Apaches are wiped out and only "Little Dog" remains at large. Gen. Fletcher Blackwell is court-martial-led for treason.More...
Stranger at My Door1956-04-06Notorious outlaw Clay Anderson and gang rob the town bank and flee in separate directions. Riding hard, Clay's horse goes lame and he is forced to pull-up at a nearby farm. He soon discovers that the place belongs to local preacher Hollis Jarret, his new wife, and a son from a previous marriage. Clay, posing as a weary traveler, tries to insinuate himself into a secure hideout, but the reverend isn't fooled. He agrees to allow Clay to remain at the farm for a few days, but his motive isn't the preservation of his family's safety. Hollis reasons that, with time, patience and a lot of faith, he can convince the outlaw to turn over a new leaf. But Clay's criminal tendencies may run deeper than the preacher had imaginedMore...
Love and Death1975-06-10In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.More...
The Living Daylights1987-06-29After a defecting Russian general reveals a plot to assassinate foreign spies, James Bond is assigned a secret mission to dispatch the new head of the KGB to prevent an escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.More...
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning1985-03-22Homicidal maniac Jason returns from the grave to cause more bloody mayhem. Young Tommy may have escaped from Crystal Lake, but he’s still haunted by the gruesome events that happened there. When gory murders start happening at the secluded halfway house for troubled teens where he now lives, it seems like his nightmarish nemesis, Jason, is back for more sadistic slaughters.More...
Wild Strawberries1957-08-28Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.More...
My Friends Act II1982-12-22The four old friends meet on the grave of the fifth of them, Perozzi, who died at the end of the first episode. Time has passed but they are still up for adventures and cruel jokes, and while they recall the one they created together with the late friend, new ones are on their way, starting right there at the cemetery.More...
Universal Soldier: The Return1999-08-05Luc Deveraux, the heroic former Universal Soldier, is about to be thrown into action once again. When SETH, the supercomputer-controlled ultra-warrior, decides to take revenge and destroy its creators, only Luc can stop it. All hell breaks loose as Luc battles SETH and a deadly team of perfect soldiers in a struggle that pits man against machine and good against evil.More...
The Hustler1961-09-25Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.More...
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection2001-10-02Survivalist Burt Gummer returns home to Perfection, to find that the little town has been shaken up again by morphing, man-eating Graboids.More...
Moonraker1979-06-26After Drax Industries' Moonraker space shuttle is hijacked, secret agent James Bond is assigned to investigate, traveling to California to meet the company's owner, the mysterious Hugo Drax. With the help of scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond soon uncovers Drax's nefarious plans for humanity, all the while fending off an old nemesis, Jaws, and venturing to Venice, Rio, the Amazon...and even outer space.More...
New York Stories1989-03-10Get ready for a wildly diverse, star-studded trilogy about life in the big city. One of the most-talked about films in years, New York Stories features the creative collaboration of three of America's most popular directors, Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, and Woody Allen.More...
Another Woman1988-10-13Marion is a woman who has learned to shield herself from her emotions. She rents an apartment to work undisturbed on her new book, but by some acoustic anomaly she can hear all that is said in the next apartment in which a psychiatrist holds his office. When she hears a young woman tell that she finds it harder and harder to bear her life, Marion starts to reflect on her own life. After a series of events she comes to understand how her unemotional attitude towards the people around her affected them and herself.More...
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly1966-12-22While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.More...
Waltz with Bashir2008-06-12An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.More...
Eraserhead1977-09-28First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.More...
Laura1944-10-11A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.More...
Eyes Wide Shut1999-07-16After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.More...
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!2015-07-22The sharks take bite out of the East Coast when the sharknado hits Washington, D.C. and Orlando, Florida.More...
Anaconda 3: Offspring2008-10-23A mercenary-for-hire accepts a mission from a billionaire to capture a dangerous snake that could possibly help cure a terminal illness.More...
Similar Movies
Banda de Rebeldes
2022-02-20A group of confederate soldiers uses their unique set of skills to travel behind enemy lines to take on deadly missions which reign havoc on the Union army.Invitation to a Gunfi...
1964-10-14In New Mexico, a Confederate veteran returns home to find his fiancée married to a Union soldier, his Yankee neighbors rallied against him and his property sold by the local banker who then hires a gunman to kill him.The Shadow of Chikara...
1977-07-15Two former Confederate captains try to remove diamonds hidden in the Arkansas mountains, but a native spirit guards the sacred site against intruders.Five Guns West
1955-04-15During the Civil War, five condemned Southern prisoners are plucked off Death Row and promised pardons on the condition that they undertake a mission to head west and bring back a double-crossing Confederate spy who has a stagecoach full of Confederate gold.Last Stand at Saber R...
1997-01-19As America recovers from the Civil War, one man tries to put the pieces of his life back together but finds himself fighting a new battle on the frontier. Cable is an embittered Confederate soldier who returns from the war to reclaim his Arizona homestead from rebel pioneers who sympathize with the Union war effort.Jesse James Unchained...
2022-11-01The story of one of the greatest outlaw legends of the old west, Jesse James. After escaping captivity, Jesse finds himself on the run with one more score on his mind before disappearing for good.Border River
1954-01-06A Confederate officer travels to a wild Mexican border town to buy guns, aiming to keep up the fight against the Yankees - but who can he trust in this lawless place?The Proud and Damned
1972-07-01A group of five Confederate mercenaries led by Sergeant Will Hansen must choose sides carefully in a small village where they find themselves trapped in the middle of a rebellion. The group is torn as to whether they should honor the powerful military dictator who forces them to spy for him or help the local village fight for its independence. Follow Sergeant Hansen and his men as they make a decision that could cost them their lives.Yellowneck
1955-05-22A disgraced Confederate Colonel who has deserted his command flees to the Everglades where he encounters a disparate group of four other Southern deserters. Together they struggle to find their way out of the swamp and resolve their own personal demons under the eyes of hostile Seminoles as they battle to survive the elements and each other.Glory
1989-12-15Robert Gould Shaw leads the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates.Andersonville
1996-03-03This lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes of a company of Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA, in June 1864, and shipped to the camp in southern Georgia. A private, Josiah Day, and his sergeant try to hold their company together in the face of squalid living conditions, inhumane punishments, and a gang of predatory fellow prisoners called the Raiders.Scooby-Doo! Meets the...
1987-10-18After the death of Shaggy's Uncle Beaureguard, he, Scooby and Scrappy arrive at the late uncle's Southern plantation to collect the inheritance. But as soon as they arrive, they find it is haunted by the ghost of a Confederate soldier. With this spook on their tails while they solve riddles in search of the inheritance, they seek help from the Boo Brothers, a trio of ghost-exterminators to help catch this nasty ghoul.Gettysburg
1993-10-08In the summer of 1863, General Robert E. Lee leads the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with the goal of marching through to Washington, D.C. The Union Army of the Potomac, under the command of General George G. Meade, forms a defensive position to confront the rebel forces in what will prove to be the decisive battle of the American Civil War.In the Electric Mist
2009-04-15Lt. Dave Robicheaux, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie (Baby Feet) Balboni, who is co-producer of a Civil War film. At the same time, after Elrod Sykes, the star of the film, reports finding another corpse in the Atchafalaya Swamp near the movie set, Robicheaux starts another investigation, believing the corpse to be the remains of a black man who he saw being murdered 35 years before.Gods and Generals
2003-02-21The film centers mostly around the personal and professional life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a brilliant if eccentric Confederate general, from the outbreak of the American Civil War until its halfway point.Mysterious Island
1961-12-19During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island, inhabited by giant plants and animals. They must use their ingenuity to survive the dangers, and to devise a way to return home. Sequel to '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' .The Supernaturals
1986-05-09Nichelle Nichols is an army sergeant who leads her platoon into the woods of the deep south on a training exercise. Unfortunately, it is the site where a bunch of yankee soldiers murdered a town of confederates. The corpses of the dead soldiers rise up to wreak revenge.Somebody's Darling
2016-03-05A fraternity president becomes obsessed with a young coed but his hopeful courtship decays into sinister pursuit as unnatural secrets surface about his brotherhood.The Rebel Without Cla...
1961-07-15The Confederate Army wants to get an important message through to General Lee, but all the carrier pigeons have been shot down. Tweety steps in.