Western Union

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Western Union

1941,

1h 34m,

Western

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Watchlist

75%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

60%

250+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

60%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Engineer Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) is part of a vast enterprise: stringing a telegraph line across America. When he has an accident in the field, Creighton is saved by bank robber Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott). Creighton later hires Shaw as a scout, despite his criminal past. As Western Union starts construction of the telegraph line through American Indian territory, Shaw's criminal past resurfaces when an old criminal cohort makes an appearance.

Joshua Polanski

Midwest Film Journal

Jul 22, 2024

The film’s big development lacks the character specifics that would have interjected it with a dramatic force, so the “twist” feels more like a pointless contortion that prolongs things for another 10 minutes or so.

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George Orwell

Time and Tide

Oct 2, 2023

None of the acting is definitely bad, but Randolph Scott, as the Bad Man who turns over a new leaf but afterwards rides away to a romantic death and leaves the woman he loves to a man who is worthier of her, gives the outstanding performance of the film.

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Jan 11, 2022

7/10

This is an enjoyable, albeit old-fashioned western, that should please most genre enthusiasts while providing a look at how the story form developed in its earlier years.

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Aug 9, 2007

Things pick up in the dark final third; there's a famous -- very Langian -- scene in which Scott, tied up with rope, escapes by holding his bonds over a real fire.

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Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

Aug 22, 2006

Fascinating if uneven Western

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Jul 2, 2005

3/5

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Harry R

Mar 4, 2017

One of the best westerns ever made, right up there with "Shane" and "The Searchers".

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Fritz Lang

Director

Robert Young

Richard Blake

Randolph Scott

Vance Shaw

Dean Jagger

Edward Creighton

Virginia Gilmore

Sue Creighton

John Carradine

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Synopsis

Engineer Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) is part of a vast enterprise: stringing a telegraph line across America. When he has an accident in the field, Creighton is saved by bank robber Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott). Creighton later hires Shaw as a scout, despite his criminal past. As Western Union starts construction of the telegraph line through American Indian territory, Shaw's criminal past resurfaces when an old criminal cohort makes an appearance.

Director: Fritz Lang
Screenwriter: Robert Carson
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 31, 1941, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 34m

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