Escort West (1959) stars an understated Victor Mature as Ben Lassiter, a former Confederate army captain and widower who is heading west with his young daughter, Abbey (Reba Waters), to build a new life in Oregon. Along the way, he encounters a Union cavalry troupe escorting a payroll wagon -- and two sisters from Boston -- to an Army fort. Civil War tensions still simmer among these characters, and eventually, following a deadly skirmish between the cavalry and local Modoc Indians, Ben finds himself leading the payroll and the women the rest of the way himself. (A similar plot device had been used in The Last Wagon [1956]).

This was the second of two films, after China Doll (1958), to be produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions in conjunction with Victor Mature's Romina Productions. It was released through United Artists. Mature delivers a rugged performance four years after his previous western, The Last Frontier (1955), and in one novel sequence even brandishes a rattlesnake as a weapon.

The two sisters in the story are played by Elaine Stewart and Faith Domergue, each of whom had once been built up as potential stars. MGM had hoped the gorgeous Stewart (birth name: Elsy Steinberg) could develop into a brunette answer to Marilyn Monroe, but she never took hold of moviegoers' imaginations and her career petered out after a decade. Howard Hughes had famously tried to turn Domergue into a star, spending untold millions in the process, but that didn't work either. However, her career did last quite a bit longer than Stewart's -- over twenty years -- and she developed something of a cult following.

Among the supporting cast are Noah Beery, Jr., Harry Carey, Jr., Slim Pickens, and Rex Ingram, the latter of whom plays a Union soldier who survives the cavalry attack. His brief but powerful performance was noted by The Hollywood Reporter as an accurate and "fresh touch, since from the days of the early Spanish explorers, a number of Negro slaves sought freedom in the Indian country." The reviewer also expressed satisfaction that "the Modocs are costumed like Modocs."

Escort West was shot in black-and-white CinemaScope at Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., and produced by Robert E. Morrison (John Wayne's brother) and Nate H. Edwards. Director Francis D. Lyon was a former film editor who had transitioned to directing in 1952. But perhaps the most interesting crew (and cast) member was Leo Gordon. Gordon specialized in playing extra-tough heavies because he had genuine experience as such, having served five years in a California prison in the 1940s. While there, he devoured the books in the prison library; upon release, he embarked on a Hollywood career as actor and screenwriter, and he is credited as co-screenwriter of Escort West.

By Jeremy Arnold