Western Union (1941)

Directed by Fritz Lang this Zane Grey novel was made into an average Western in Technicolor. It stars Randolph Scott as a former outlaw hired by telegraph engineer Dean Jagger (aware of his past because Scott’s character had saved his life) as lead scout for the titled company’s mission to install a line between Omaha and Salt Lake City connecting East with West in the 1860’s. Robert Young plays the son of a wealthy investor that Jagger’s forced to take; he turns out to be more qualified that the “blue coat” (greenhorn) everyone expects him to be. Virginia Gilmore plays Jagger’s sister also with the company and the female part of a love triangle that includes Scott (whom she comes to favor) & Young. John Carradine plays the company’s Doc Slim Summerville its reluctant frightened chef kept in line by Irving Bacon and Chill Wills plays Jagger’s right-hand man. Things go fairly smoothly until Scott’s old leader played by Barton MacLane and his gang show up. They dress up as Indians pretending to be guerrilla warriors for the Confederate South to disrupt the line’s installation by rustling cattle make a profit reselling them and/or setting fire to the company’s camp. This puts Scott in the middle of things suspected by Jagger per his past and not trusted by Young either until a climactic showdown. Russell Hicks appears briefly as Nebraska’s provisional Governor as do several Native Americans credited and uncredited.

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