What could possibly go wrong with a movie starring Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark that is also based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel? Quite a bit. For instance, there's routine direction by Andrew V. McGlaglen, who also directed some of John Wayne's most routine westerns in the 60s. Then there's a cliche-ridden script filled with plots and subplots leftover from a dozen daytime soaps. Still, I rather liked it when it was first released, and still find it entertaining because of its three stars. And, back in 1967, who would have ever believed that Sally Field, who was still best known as TV's "Gidget" when this film was released, had two Oscars in her future while the three legends heading the cast wouldn't even win one?
Review of The Way West
The Way West
(1967)
The trio of stars compensate for an otherwise cliche-ridden journey
30 March 1999