directed by John Ford
96 minutes
June 1880 - a group of nine disparate people travel by stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory to Lordsburg, New Mexico. They are initially accompanied by a troop of US Army cavalry soldiers who are expecting to meet up with another cavalry unit at Dry Fork, the first stop. The soldiers leave them head back when they discover that there are no soldiers at Dry Fork.
The stagecoach moves on to Apache Wells, expecting to find soldiers there but once again they are disappointed to discover no soldiers waiting for them. Lucy Mallory, one of the two woman riding in the group, gives birth while they are in Apache Wells. Doc Boone, who has spent most of the trip drinking whisky, sobers up just in time to deliver the baby.
There are Apaches in the area. The group has been warned that they are taking a big risk but they press on. They are eventually attacked, by Apaches, but they prevail, thank to the US Army and make it to Lordsburg. None of the passengers are killed but some are injured.
I saw this movie for the first time when I was a kid, probably 6 or 7 years old. It was in a theater with my parents and my brother. My dad was a teenager when this movie was first released. I'm not sure if I have seen it since I saw it back then. I'm sure it has been over 30 years since I saw it last. It has been more than 40 years since I saw it for the first time.
I has my doubts going in but I was impressed with this movie for the most part. It isn't perfect. I don't care for the one note manner in which the Apaches are portrayed. They don't have any lines. The only scene with them is the one where they attack the stagecoach. They seem more like a force of nature than they do human beings.
The focus of the movie is really the interaction among the characters on the stagecoach. Some play bigger roles than other. Dallas (Claire Trevor) and Ringo Kid (John Wayne) get top billing and are the stars of the movie. Dallas is a prostitute who is run out of Tonto by the Law and Order League. Ringo is an escaped convict who is out to kill Luke Plumber, who recently murdered his father and brother.
Two of the supporting characters are played by actors who were also in movies that featured Jimmie Fox. Gatewood, a man who was on the run with a bag full of money, is played by Berton Churchill. He was also in Public Wedding (1937), where he had a more prominent role, although he was not the star. Stagecoach was one of Churchill's last movie. He died in 1940. Tom Tyler played Luke Plumber. Tyler starred in Cheyenne Rides Again (1937), another western. Jimmie Fox is in both movies but he has a more prominent role in Cheyenne Rides Again.
This movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. It won for Best Music Scoring. Thomas Mitchell, who plays Doc Boone, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is best known to me for playing the part of Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The Academy Award for best picture went to Gone with the Wind. Other 1939 movies nominated for Best Picture include The Wizard of Oz and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Victor Fleming, the director of Gone with the Wind, won the Best Director Academy Award.
There are some more familiar faces among the supporting cast. The best known of the lot is John Carradine who plays Hatfield, the southern gambler. He has over 350 screen credits, according to IMDb. I'm sure I have seen in him some other movies or tv shows. He was also the father of David and Keith Carradine.
Podcasts I have listened to about this movie since watching it:
- Classic Movie Musts
- The Movie Palace Podcast
- Reely Old Movie
- I Know Movies and You Don't w/Kyle Bruehl
- Criterion Cast
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