Messer an der Kehle

Westbound is a 1959 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Virginia Mayo and Karen Steele.

The film was shot in September 1958 in Warnercolor at cost of a little more than half a million dollars. The Laramie Street set at Warner’s Burbank was used for the setting of Julesburg, Colorado. The Warner Ranch was used for other settings. David Buttolph composed the score. Westbound was released on April 25, 1959.

The film was not a part of the Ranown cycle of Westerns for which Boetticher, Scott and Harry Joe Brown partnered; Scott owed Warners one picture from an old contract, so Boetticher volunteered to direct it himself so as to protect their brand. Although Boetticher never went so far as to disown the film, he felt it was not part of the series and would only discuss it outside of that context.

Boetticher said this and Decision at Sundown were the only mediocre films of the Westerns he made with Randolph Scott.[1]