Customer Reviews

Westward Ho

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The older surviving brother of a wagon train ambush, seeks revenge on the leader of the gang responsible for the murder of his parents and the kidnapping of his younger brother. Years later, he is the leader of a group of 'vigilantes' who oppose lawlessness and unknowingly confronts his 'long-loss-brother' who has since learned the tricks-of-the-trade from the outlaws.

Newborn Republic Pictures utilizes the solid directoral ability of Robert Bradbury, and the presence of John Wayne along with Yakima Canutt and his troupe of stuntriders to produce this strongly scripted film of 1860s vigilante efforts to rid the Far West of outlaw bands that were involved in widespread robbery and cattle rustling. Bradbury, whose skill with Westerns dates back to the early silent period, directs and edits with a solid awareness of suspense, building his typically short scenes with sparse and, at times, stilted dialogue and an eye for proper cast placement which makes excellent use of defined personalities such as Wayne, Frank McGlynn Jr., and Glenn Strange, and gives particular value to the hard-riding stunt performers, who are splendid throughout this well-made (and musical) adventure filmed in California's Owens Valley, at the base of the Sierra Nevada.

I am a John Wayne fan & have over 70 of his movies in my collection. I agree with Mr. Wu's description of the plot. It is one of the better of John Wayne's grade B Republic movies. It is the only movie in which John Wayne "sang" & the dubbed in voice is definitely not John Wayne's voice. John Wayne did not want to be a singing cowboy & it allowed others like Gene Autry & Roy Rogers to fill that role. I was pleased that the film was reworked & the DVD had good audio & picture.