Westward the Women Reviews

The novel idea of having a wagon train full of women trek across the rugged West from Chicago to sunny California makes for a very entertaining vehicle. With an old pro like Wellman at the helm, an evenly paced plot develops into a hard-hitting climax, with eccentricities unusual for a western spliced in along the way. Taylor plays a scout escorting 150 women from Chicago to California to help populate a verdant valley owned by McIntire. Hazards along the way include the men hired to accompany the group, who are unable to control their passions and attack the women at every opportunity. These helpers dwindle as Taylor ruthlessly punishes them, leaving only the women and him to fight off Indian attacks, rough weather, and the harshness of the terrain. One woman even has a baby on the trip. By the end of the journey the women prove every bit as rugged as men, a slick reversal of the image that has been a part of western fare since the beginning of the genre.