Spikeopath
Western Union is directed by Fritz Lang and written by Robert Carson who adapts from the Zane Grey novel of the same name. It stars Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Barton MacLane and Virginia Gilmore. Music is by David Buttolph and R.H. Bassett, and cinematography by Edward Cronjager and Allen M. Davey. It's a Technicolor production out of 20th Century Fox and locations used for the shoot were House Rock Canyon, Arizona, and Kanab and Zion National Park in Utah. Plot finds Scott as outlaw Vance Shaw, who in an attempt to reform himself joins the company wiring the Great Plains for telegraph service in 1861. However, the Western Union is meeting resistance, from both the Native Americans and Vance's old gang, while there's also a love triangle forming between Vance, Sue Creighton (Gilmore) and tenderfoot Richard Blake (Young). It's all going to come to a head...Fritz Lang's second Western after The Return of Frank James (1940), Western Union is at times exciting, always brisk, but lacking a claustrophobic edge so befitting the director's trade marks. Which is surprising considering this was the one Western he had the most control over. But with an almost patriotic fervour pulsing throughout and the outdoor locations wonderfully utilised, it's a Western movie that's easy to revisit for further inspection. The final third takes the film down a darker road, where it lifts the film out of the conventional story rut, and Lang and Cronjager produce memorable scenes and camera work to seal the deal. Cast wise it's Scott who is the stand out, as the man trying to do good as his past closes in, and Jagger provides earthy appeal as Western Union boss man Edward Creighton. Gilmore is weak and Young, while adequate playing a tenderfoot, just never convinces as things get serious. Best to look at the minor support slots for acting value, where the likes of John Carradine, Slim Summerville and Chill Wills provide some quality. 7/10
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
I first saw this film in the theater way back in the 40s when I was a kid and always remembered the ending. There is nothing like the first impression but some movies are always a treat each time they are viewed. Something just resonates with them. This is one of those films and I agree with another reviewer who said Fritz Lang should have directed more westerns. To add to it I have always liked Randolph Scott and Robert Young. In fact, Robert Young stars in what I consider my favorite movie if I have to name just one, not an easy thing to do. That film is Northwest Passage. It led me to the superb historical novels of Kenneth Roberts. Western Union likewise led me to reading Zane Grey's novel which, in this case turned out to be one of those rare cases where I like the movie better than the novel. Not that Grey's novel is a bad one; I just like the movie story better. The movie in no way resembles the novel. It is a completely different tale, one of the biggest departures from a book I have seen.I can't add much to the other reviews except to say I agree with many of them. I, too, wish it would be released on DVD. "Whatever happened to Randolph Scott happened to the best of me."
nnnn45089191
Fritz Lang's "Western Union" is a entertaining movie with good heroes in Randolph Scott,the strong and silent man trying to escape his outlaw past,Robert Young as the easterner trying to conform to the code of the wild west,and Dean Jagger as the determined boss of the Western Union gang.I think the acting honors go to Dean Jagger who is very good in his part. Randolph Scott found his prototype of western hero in this movie and would play variations of that type in westerns to come for the next two decades.The movie looks very good in early Technicolor. Barton MacLane makes a good villain.I enjoyed this western much,although I consider it pretty standard stuff.
hugedeal
A good part of this movie was shot on location in southern Utah. When Fritz Lang arrived and saw the local Indians who were hired for the movie they were short stocky built people like many of the tribes in the southwestern area of the United States. This did not meet Langs idyllic picture of the tall thin and muscular Indian he had cultivated while he was still in Europe where he was already fascinated with the American west and its's western films. He promptly fired all of the local tribes people and had extras sent from central casting in Hollywood, most of whom were Anglo, to meet his view of Native Americans.
AD
