Westward Ho the Wagons! (1956)

In 19th-century America, a group of settlers crosses Indian territory bound for Oregon. They first meet the fierce Pawnee, who attack them; after fleeing them, they encounter the somewhat friendlier Sioux. The main character is a self-taught physician who saves the day when the Sioux chief's son falls ill.

Western intended for family audiences. A few songs are thrown in, for good measure, or bad, depending on one's taste. It is nothing to write home about, but I found it both credible and exciting, to a moderate degree. Anyway, it is good to still have the opportunity to watch a movie which is not ashamed to depict whites as smart and proficient (though not all of them). It was also amusing to learn that the actor who played the Sioux medicine man was actually of Southern Italian ethnicity. The film was shot in 2.35 CinemaScope, but I watched a 1.33 version. To be frank, the frame did not look crammed or incomplete in the least. Maybe the shots were conceived having the Disneyland version which would air a few years later in mind.

Rating: 51