Stagecoach


stagecoach

1939 was a rich year for movies - 'Gone With The Wind', 'Mr Smith Goes To Washington', 'The Wizard Of Oz', are 3 out of many which spring to mind, and it was a particularly good year for the Western genre. As well as 'Stagecoach', the Westerns, 'Union Pacific', 'Dodge City', 'The Oklahoma Kid', 'Drums Along the Mohawk, 'Destry Rides Again' and 'Jesse James' also saw the light of day in a quite astonishing collection of movie talent, richness and variety. After these movies, and particularly 'Stagecoach', the genre would never again be automatically classed as second rate. Instead, it was seen as potentially more sophisticated, with richer characterisation and deeper themes. 'Shane', in 1953, and 'The Searchers' in 1956 could not have been made without 'Stagecoach' showing the way.

The movie, as well as being a box-office hit was praised by the critics and was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Interior Decoration, and Best Film Editing, and won two awards for Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Mitchell) and Best Score (for its compilation of 17 American folk tunes of the 1880s).

Plot Outline

The movie tells the story of a group of nine travellers aboard a stagecoach crossing Indian country between two frontier towns during an Apache uprising. The stagecoach's occupants are a microcosm of the Old West and John Ford explores the characters of each one before introducing us to the hero, the Ringo Kid, John Wayne in all his glory. The characters vary widely in social class, attitude and values and are vividly portrayed in closely confined stressful situations.

The structure of the movie enables Ford to explore important themes such as social prejudice, alcoholism, greed, and revenge whilst blending the whole into an exciting adventure story.

The last part of the film packs in plenty of traditional Western action. Before the film ends the Ringo Kid becomes the hero, risking his life to save the stage from an attack by Geronimo's braves when he could more easily have run away. In another of the film's famous action shots, the strapping Wayne as the Ringo Kid kills the three Plummer boys and thereby gets his revenge for the death of his father and brother. His bravery and moral strength win the day, as he and the good-hearted Trevor fall in love. The sheriff refuses to arrest him due to his bravery and instead, he sends the couple away to start a new life.

Main Cast

Each of the travellers is cleverly and economically sketched in. Dallas, the dance-hall gal (ie prostitute) who is run out of town, together with the alcoholic, disgraced frontier doctor Boone. Peacock, a timid whiskey salesman; Hatfield, a southern gambler; Mrs Mallory, the pregnant wife of an army officer; and Gatewood, a banker who is making off with the assets. Working outside the coach are Buck, the portly driver, and Curly, the local sheriff. In addition to this mix is the rugged outlaw, the Ringo Kid, who is picked up on the road shortly after the coach's departure, and who has broken out of jail to seek revenge for the murder of his father and brother.

There is a wonderful opportunity, of which John Ford takes full advantage, to explore the interaction between the members of this oddly assorted group of people, allowing him to explore a cherished theme, the superior moral qualities of those whom 'respectable' society disdains. As the stagecoach progresses and the pressures build, the outcasts are seen in a more sympathetic and nobler light than their ostensibly more respectable but judgmental and hypocritical companions.

John Wayne as The Ringo Kid John Wayne made more than 200 films over 50 years, and became the best known figure in Hollywood Westerns. His movies range from cheap 'B' Movie shorts to such classics as "Stagecoach", "Red River" and 'The Searchers'. He won an Oscar as best actor for another western, "True Grit," in 1969. Yet some of the best films he made such as "The Quiet Man" and "The Long Voyage Home" were not Westerns and he played sailors, football coaches and war heroes with genuine success.

In the last decades of his career, Wayne became something of a folk hero. He grew to represent a rugged, American ideal of masculinity, tough, sentimental and straight-talking. John Wayne is one of the genuine icons of 20th-century American film.

Claire Trevor as Dallas

Claire Trevor was a very successful and talented actress whose career spanned more than seven decades and included success in stage, radio, television and film. She often played the hard-boiled blonde floozy, and every conceivable type of tart, broad and bar girl role.

After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she began her acting career in the late 1920's and made her movie debut in 1933. She became a glamorous leading lady, opposite male stars like John Wayne, Clark Gable, Glenn Ford and William Holden. It was Stagecoach that made her a major star and she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 'Key Largo' in 1948.

Thomas Mitchell as Doc BooneThomas Mitchell Thomas Mitchell was a great American character actor who seems to have had an important role in so many of the movies of the golden era, including Gone With the Wind, Stagecoach, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr Smith Goes To Washington (all these in the same year - 1939!), It's a Wonderful Life in 1946 and High Noon in 1952. His portrayals were so diverse and convincing that it seems impossible that one actor could have played them all.

After his brilliant movie career he successfully made the move to television in 1951 and made many programmes in the O. Henry Playhouse series.

He was the first actor to win the 'triple' - an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor in Stagecoach in 1939), an Emmy, and a Tony Award.

Andy Devine ... Buck
John Carradine ... Hatfield
Louise Platt ... Lucy Mallory
George Bancroft ... Curley
Donald Meek ... Peacock
Berton Churchill ... Gatewood
Tim Holt ... Lieutenant
Tom Tyler ... Luke Plummer

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Actors and Actresses June Allyson Jean Arthur Fred Astaire Mary Astor Ralph Bellamy Joan Bennett Ingrid Bergman Humphrey Bogart Marlon Brando James Cagney Charlie Chaplin Gary Cooper Joan Crawford Bette Davis Olivia de Havilland Marlene Dietrich Kirk Douglas Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Errol Flynn Henry Fonda Clark Gable Greta Garbo Ava Gardner Judy Garland Greer Garson John Gilbert Paulette Goddard Cary Grant Sydney Greenstreet Jean Harlow Gabby Hayes Rita Hayworth Audrey Hepburn Katharine Hepburn William Holden Bob Hope Leslie Howard John Huston Gene Kelly Grace Kelly Alan Ladd Veronica Lake Hedy Lamarr Janet Leigh Vivien Leigh Carole Lombard Myrna Loy Fred MacMurray Karl Malden Fredric March James Mason Robert Mitchum Marilyn Monroe Hattie McDaniel Maureen O'Sullivan Gregory Peck Sidney Poitier Dick Powell William Powell Claude Rains Ginger Rogers Edward G. Robinson Rosalind Russell Randolph Scott Frank Sinatra James Stewart Elizabeth Taylor Spencer Tracy John Wayne Johnny Weismuller Richard Widmark Fay Wray Jane Wyman Loretta Young


Directors and Moguls

Home 'Tex' Avery Busby Berkeley George Cukor John Ford Sam Goldwyn Alfred Hitchcock Howard Hughes John Huston Elia Kazan Louis B Mayer King Vidor Orson Welles William Wyler Seeing the Stars

History Hollywood's Early History

Movies Home 12 Angry Men 42nd Street Adam's Rib All Quiet on the Western Front African Queen,The All About Eve American In Paris, An Angel Face Bad Day At Black Rock Bandwagon, The Best Years of Our Lives,The Big Heat, The Bringing Up Baby Casablanca Citizen Kane City Lights Double Indemnity Duck Soup Frankenstein From Here to Eternity Giant Gilda Gone With The Wind Grapes Of Wrath,The Gunfight at the OK Corral Guys and Dolls High Noon It Happened One Night It's A Wonderful Life King Kong Lost Weekend, The Maltese Falcon, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Mildred Pierce Mr.Deeds Goes to Town Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Mutiny on the Bounty Night of the Hunter, The Notorious On the Town On the Waterfront Paleface, The Philadelphia Story,The Public Enemy,The Rear Window Rebecca Rio Bravo Roman Holiday Scarface Shane She Done Him Wrong Singin' In The Rain Some Like It Hot Spellbound Stagecoach Star Is Born, A Streetcar Named Desire,A Sunset Boulevard Thin Man, The Top Hat Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Trouble in Paradise Vertigo Wizard Of Oz,The Wuthering Heights Yankee Doodle Dandy




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