There were so many Westerns in the 1950s that I guess they tried to do anything to come up with a gimmick - this one is about some French Basque exiles trying to set up a new life in California so they travel across country in a wagon train. Jeff Chandler is a hard drinking guide who goes with them.
That's not a bad gimmick - hey why not give the Basques a film. There's a lot of talk about Napoleon, far too much of that yell they're supposed to do, some talk of customs which all feels phoney - maybe it isn't I don't know but none of it comes across well.
Major debit - a horrible romance where Chandler (not charming here) forces himself upon fiery Susan Hayward (doing a poor Maureen O'Hara). And of course she falls in love but he really manhandles her, so it's kind of yuck. Make that very yuck.
It's a shame because the story isn't bad - it at least tries to be different, and it builds logically to a climax where the Basques and Chandler take on the Indians in the hills. But the handling is poor - very little of it is memorable. This was one of the first movies from the newly formed Seven Arts Productions.
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