The movie Alexander Payne calls a “completely neglected masterpiece”
Throughout his wildly impressive career in the film industry, Alexander Payne has proven himself to be a master of storytelling capable of blending witty humour with insightful social commentary. Examining human relationships and identity across his works, Payne has emerged as one of the best directors of his generation.
Pointing the satirical finger at American social conventions but also weaving poignant narratives throughout the likes of Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska, Payne has been well worthy of his two Academy Awards and his widespread acclaim. With such respect to his name, it’s fair to say that Payne is deserving of his position within the film industry, and he’s a figure who certainly understands what makes a great movie. When Payne named his five favourite movies of all time in a feature with A-Frame, he picked out a “masterpiece” that he feels has been “neglected”.
“Westward the Women is a completely neglected masterpiece, I feel,” Payne said. “Directed by William Wellman and scripted by Charles Schnee, who’s most famous for his screenplays of Howard Hawks’ Red River and Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful — which is still one of the best ever movies made about Hollywood.”
From there, Payne explained how Wellman had taken on the project. He noted: “But in 1951, Wellman took on this film that was written by Charles Schnee from a story suggested by Frank Capra. Oddly, Frank Capra had this idea and then decided he wasn’t going to do anything with it and handed it over.”
Westward the Women arrived in 1951 with Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel and John McIntire all starring. Taking place during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, the movie focuses on a group of determined women who set out on a dangerous journey across the American frontier to find their husbands. As far back as 1951, Wellman was defying traditional gender roles and depicted women with resolute adversity confrontation.
“It’s about the transporting of 150 women from Chicago to California to become wives,” Payne elaborated. “Robert Taylor — a fellow Nebraskan — is the star, and he’s hired to arrange this huge wagon train of women to go across the country. These women are warned that about half of them are going to die along the way, and that’s what happens.”
The director signed off his thoughts on the movie with, “It’s a really brutal, you could almost say pitiless film, but it’s deeply moving and deeply emotional. It’s a Western in which I cry about three times, and you just can’t believe how good this movie is. You can’t believe that more people don’t talk about it.”
Check out the trailer for Westward the Women below.
