Stagecoach

Superb performances by John Wayne, Claire Trevor and Thomas Mitchell -- who won the Oscar for best supporting actor -- make for an authentic classic that has been copied but never equaled. [25 Feb 2008, p.C8]

The contrast between the innocence of the wilderness and the ambiguous 'blessings of civilisation' are brilliantly stitched into a smoothly developed narrative, which climaxes with the famous Indian attack on the stagecoach.

Stagecoach gives fine shading to a simple story, making it look and feel like a forgotten American myth.

Here, in a sentence, is a movie of the grand old school, a genuine rib-thumper and a beautiful sight to see.

Perhaps the most likable of all Westerns, and a Grand Hotel-on-wheels movie that has just about everything--adventure, romance, chivalry--and all of it very simple and traditional.

If this is the Old West of our dreams, it’s one that exists in an outsider’s limbo, away from society’s rules, alternating between the breathtaking breadth of the American landscape and the Germanically shadowy lighting of Ford’s claustrophobic interiors.

Certainly it's the weakest of Ford's major westerns, burdened with a schematic and pretentious Dudley Nichols script (the "cross section of society" on board the stagecoach), but its virtues remain intact.

A wildly influential western, one which cemented many of the genre’s best-known tropes and stereotypes, while invigorating the careers of two of its most noteworthy players. Stagecoach made an overnight star of John Wayne, who had toiled in light supporting roles for years, and boosted the profile of John Ford, already a well-recognized director with nearly a hundred entries in his filmography. The pair would collaborate on countless films over the ensuing quarter-century, and had known each other for some time prior, but Ford wanted to wait for the right moment to work together. Hindsight is kind to that judgement. Wayne’s Ringo Kid is no angel (he’s an escaped convict on a mission for revenge), but that’s true of most everyone in this shades-of-gray drama. Stranded in the open Arizona desert, Ringo is picked up by a horse-drawn carriage that’s already bursting at the seams with personality. Onboard sits a US Marshal - bad news for a fugitive - plus a snobby officer’s wife, a drunken town doctor, a sly and shady gambler, a crotchety old banker and an amiable liquor salesman. In each we see both iniquity and virtue (okay, maybe no virtue from the banker) as the looming threat of an Apache war party grows ever-closer. The Kid finds a kindred spirit in Dallas, a harried prostitute and social pariah, and the two gradually win over the others before their journey’s end. Despite its age and well-worn conventions, Stagecoach remains an excellent watch in the modern light. Especially the climactic action scenes, which are startlingly vivid and powerful. Actually, maybe those are a little too real. These herds of nose-diving horses weren’t play acting, and the director said he found one particular stunt so nerve-wracking, he wouldn’t try it again, even if the first take hadn’t worked out.