Plot
Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with a scandalous past who has been driven out of town by the high-minded ladies of the community. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is the wife of a cavalry officer stationed in Lordsburg, and she's determined to be with him. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a smooth-talking cardsharp who claims to be along to "protect" Lucy, although he seems to have romantic intentions. Dr. Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is a self-styled philosopher, a drunkard, and a physician who's been stripped of his license. Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is a slightly nervous whiskey salesman (and, not surprisingly, Dr. Boone's new best friend). Gatewood (Berton Churchill) is a crooked banker who needs to get out of town. Buck (Andy Devine) is the hayseed stage driver, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) is along to offer protection and keep an eye peeled for the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a well-known outlaw who has just broken out of jail. While Wilcox does find Ringo, a principled man who gives himself up without a fight, the real danger lies farther down the trail, where a band of Apaches, led by Geronimo, could attack at any time. Stagecoach offers plenty of cowboys, Indians, shootouts, and chases, aided by Yakima Canutt's remarkable stunt work and Bert Glennon's majestic photography of Ford's beloved Monument Valley. It also offers a strong screenplay by Dudley Nichols with plenty of room for the cast to show its stuff. John Wayne's performance made him a star after years as a B-Western leading man, and Thomas Mitchell won an Oscar for what could have been just another comic relief role. Thousands of films have followed Stagecoach's path, but no has ever improved on its formula. ~ Mark Deming, RoviReview
Relegated to B-movie status by the mid-1930s, the western was regenerated most prominently by John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies and quality production values of prestigious 1930s films. In the microcosm of the stagecoach, the confrontation between "civilization" and "savagery," Western future and Eastern past, is played out among characters journeying through hostile Apache territory, with honor-bound outlaw Ringo fighting valiantly for a society that shuns him. Though not the top-billed player, and then a B-movie actor, John Wayne as Ringo became the star hero from the moment that Ford introduces him with a rare kinetic flourish. Ford here introduced his signature Western setting of Monument Valley, lending Stagecoach a realism that set it apart from studio-bound films; and his deep focus interiors preceded Citizen Kane by two years. A critical and commercial hit, Stagecoach helped spearhead the revival of the Western as a viable A-feature, and it turned Wayne into an A-list star. When he made Citizen Kane, Orson Welles claimed that he learned everything about directing movies from watching Stagecoach more than 40 times. ~ Lucia Bozzola, RoviCast
- Claire Trevor - Dallas
- John Wayne - The Ringo Kid
- Andy Devine - Buck Rickabaugh
- Thomas Mitchell - Doc Boone
- George Bancroft - Sheriff Curly Wilcox
- John Carradine - Hatfield
Credit
Alexander Toluboff - Art Director, Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer, Wingate Smith - First Assistant Director, John Ford - Director, Otho Lovering - Editor, Dorothy Spencer - Editor, Walter Reynolds - Editor, Gerard Carbonara - Composer (Music Score), Louis Gruenberg - Composer (Music Score), Richard Hageman - Composer (Music Score), W. Franke Harling - Composer (Music Score), Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score), John Leipold - Composer (Music Score), Leo Shuken - Composer (Music Score), Boris Morros - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bert Glennon - Cinematographer, John Ford - Producer, Walter Wanger - Producer, Wiard Ihnen - Set Designer, R.O. Binger - Special Effects, Frank Maher - Sound/Sound Designer, Yakima Canutt - Stunts, Dudley Nichols - Screenwriter, Ernest Haycox - Short Story Author| Stage to Tucson (1950 Film), Stage to Thunder Rock (1964 Film) | |
| Stagecoach (1986 Film), Stagecoach (1966 Film) |
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