They Rode West
They Rode West
NR | 04 December 1954 (USA)
They Rode West Trailers

A young cavalry doctor treats very sick Indians against orders, whom are forced to stay on unhealthy land, which could lead to a war.

Reviews
Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) The beginning of this film makes you feel you are seeing one of the great westerns. What a good story, there is a fort, a butcher of a doctor, who after being responsible for the death of an officer is replaced by a young man (Robert Francis). There are the Kiowas which are dying of malaria in a reservation, a flirting woman (Donna Reed), a beautiful white woman (May Wynn) who lives among the natives. And then it all goes downhill. It is like all of the sudden they had to rush to finish the film and the last scene is very hard to believe. Phil Karlson, who directed was quite efficient in action movies like "Mask of the Avenger"(1951) and "The Texas Rangers" (1951), two films I greatly enjoyed. Donna Reed is not easy at all in her role, playing completely against type. Phil Carey is very good as the captain who hates the doctor (Francis).
tavm When I found this on YouTube, I discovered that it was chopped up into various highlight segments that altogether ran only about maybe 50 min., more or less. Still, I highly enjoyed what I saw with Robert Francis as the new Calvary doctor sticking with his oath of caring for all human beings including the American Indians forced into the reservation near him. That gets him in plenty of hot water with superior Philip Carey who already doesn't trust doctors since the previous ones were drunk or just plain unreliable. May Wynn, Francis' co-star from The Caine Mutiny, is a white woman who was raised on the reservation after her parents were killed. And Donna Reed is the initial flirt who eventually gets on Francis' side when the others call him an Indian lover (the actual name they called him was "woodhawk".) Quite compelling what I saw so I decided to review this here in case I don't have the chance to watch the whole thing. Still, if I do, I'll come back here and either add some comments or rewrite the whole thing...
dougdoepke Better than expected, with a complex script, lots of action (not all well-staged), and even some character development. Francis is fine as the idealistic young doctor whose dedication to his Hippocratic oath is greater than his oath to the army. As a result, he treats hostile Indians as equals, causing trouble for the cavalry when the tribe jumps the reservation. It's hard to tell if Francis's apparent unease is good acting or still a bit of stage fright for a newcomer. But whichever, it fits in perfectly with a tenderfoot trying to get his bearings in unfriendly surroundings.At first I thought Donna Reed's super-coy little flirt was nothing more than star-casting that would ruin the movie. But the script deals intelligently with her development as the plot darkens. Carey's excellent as the no-nonsense Captain, who's the realist counterpoint to the doctor's idealism. Note how he's never treated with disrespect even though some of his decisions seem ethically callous. Too bad, however, the writers included the tiresome cliché of a whiskey- loving sergeant as comedy relief. Nonetheless, director Karlson, who would later excel at crime dramas, keeps things moving, and wonder of wonders, even has the Indians shrewdly shooting horses out from under the cavalry.The movie's theme reflects the growing racial consciousness of the 1950's. I like the way a bond is established between the doctor and the medicine man in their common human concern with healing. But just as importantly, the screenplay manages to make its point without getting preachy. Sure, the production is low-budget, never getting out of greater LA, with an Indian encampment that looks about as real as a Disneyland tableau. Still, it's a thoughtful and generally well-executed little horse opera that's better than it ought to be.
whpratt1 This film starts out with a Calvary Army Officer being shot in the leg by a Native American Indian and is treated by an Army Doctor who is bombed out of his mind on booze and tries to operate on his leg and cuts an artery and the soldier dies. Philip Carey, (Capt. Peter Blake) is very upset about other Army doctors who have caused him problems in the past who were on drugs and booze also. Robert Francis, (Dr. Allen Sewart),"Caine Mutiny" '54 is a new doctor and commissioned by the Army to serve with Capt. Peter Blake. Blake mistrusts Dr. Allen Sewart and gives him a very hard time, because he seems to hate all doctors. Donna Reed,(Laurie MacKaye) takes a liking to Dr. Sewart and encourages him to stand up and fight back at Capt. Blake. May Wynn,(Manyi-ten) "Caine Mutiny" is a white woman who is married to an Indian and seeks the help of Dr. Sewart and falls in love with him. This is a great story and will hold your interest from beginning to the very end. It is very sad that in real life, Robert Francis, was killed in an airplane accident right after he made the great film "Caine Mutiny" he was only twenty-five (25) years of age.