Westward the Women

Westward the Women
Theatrical Film Poster
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Produced by	Dore Schary
Screenplay by	Charles Schnee
Story by	Frank Capra
Starring	Robert Taylor Denise Darcel John McIntire
Music by	Jeff Alexander
Cinematography	William C. Mellor
Edited by	James E. Newcom
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	December 31, 1951
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,203,000
Box office	$3,996,000

Westward the Women is a 1951 western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel and John McIntire.

In 1851, Roy Whitman (John McIntire) decides to bring marriageable women west to California to join the lonely men of Whitman's Valley, hoping the couples will put down roots and settle there. Roy hires a skeptical, experienced wagon master, Buck Wyatt (Robert Taylor), to lead the wagon train along the California Trail. In Chicago, Roy recruits 138 "good women", after they have been warned of the journey's hardships and dangers by Buck, who flatly states up to a third of them might not survive the journey. The women range from Patience (Hope Emerson), an older widow from New Bedford seeking a new start after losing her sea captain husband and sons when their clipper went down while attempting to round Cape Horn, to Rose Meyers (Beverly Dennis), a pregnant, unmarried woman running from her shame. Telling the women about his valley, Roy encourages them to pick their prospective mates from daguerreotype pictures he has tacked to a display board. Two showgirls, Fifi Danon (Denise Darcel) and Laurie Smith (Julie Bishop), hastily change their flashy clothes when others like them are rejected, and return to try and sign on again. Whitman is not fooled by their disguise, but convinced their wish to reform is sincere he adds them to the group, bringing the number of women on the wagon train up to 140.

Roy and Buck take the women to St. Joseph, Missouri, where Conestoga wagons, horses, and mules are awaiting them, along with the men Buck has hired to protect the wagon train. Their number includes Ito (Henry Nakamura), a wiry Japanese who signs on as Buck's cook and personal assistant. Before setting out, Buck warns the trail hands that, "On most wagon trains, the penalty for bundling is 30 lashes. On my train, it's a bullet." He has seen wagon trains torn apart by unmarried men taking up with unmarried women and won't tolerate it on this crossing.