|
Actors: Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Robert Young, Virginia Gilmore
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Western Union |
|---|
Western Union
Directed by Fritz Lang, 1941
Staring Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Robert Young, Virginia Gilmore
Vance Shaw (Scott) is a young man on the wrong side of the law and is headed for a career as a criminal in the old west. Fleeing a posse following a bank robbery, his horse becomes lame and he is forced to flee on foot. In due course he comes upon a Western Union surveyor, Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) who has been injured. Intending to steal Creighton's horse, Shaw, instead takes pity on the injured man and takes him to a wayside stage depot where he can receive care. Shaw then continues his flight with Creighton's horse.
The two accidentally meet in Omaha some months later when Shaw joins others in signing up to extend Western Union's telegraph line from Omaha to Salt Lake City. Creighton, who is the project manager for the venture, and Shaw recognize each other but Creighton, seeing Shaw's potential and overlooking Shaw's questionable past, hires Shaw as scout for the project. Shaw meets and is quickly smitten by Creighton's younger sister, Sue (Virginia Gilmore) who works is assisting her brother in Omaha. But the arrival of Richard Blake (Robert Young), an engineering graduate of Harvard and cocky son of a wealthy eastern investor in the project, gives Shaw competition for Sue's affections.
Racing against the coming winter, the crew works long hours each day erecting poles and stringing wire. Adding to their problems are attacks by Shaw's former outlaw buddies who are disguised as Indians. As the project progresses, Shaw is increasingly torn between this loyalty to Creighton who has given him a chance at an honest life and his desire to protect his former friends. In the end Shaw is forced to make a stand and choose one side over the other in a bloody show down.
The movie is available on VHS.
--Chuck Nugent, Resident Scholar
|
17 FREE Sci-Fi Ebooks!
FREE "How to be happy" Ebook!
| Analysis of Western Union |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 19th century
Crime & Scandal
Yes
Story of
- criminal becomes sensitive
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- cowboy
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Events of movie makes character more...
- caring
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
How much in movie?
- 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- gang
Profession/status:
- thief/con artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- thoughtful
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| Angel and the Badman
starring John Wayne, Gail Russell
|
| Siberian Lady Macbeth
starring Olivera Markovic, Ljuba Tadic
|
| The Count of Monte Cristo
starring James Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, Dagmara Dominczyk
|
| A Scandal in Paris
starring George Sanders, Signe Hasso, Carole Landis, Akim Tamiroff, Gene Lockhart, Alan Napier
|
| The Oblong Box
starring Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Peter Ame, Hilary Heath,
|
|
Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Chuck Nugent
SCHOLARS:
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
