Stagecoach (1939)
Directed by John Ford

Film Review

Stagecoach is the film that brought respectability and mainstream appeal back to the western, after a decade in which the genre had fallen into serious disrepute.  Since the introduction of sound, no serious filmmaker seemed interested in the genre so it was left to the poorer Hollywood studios to service the large but undiscerning demand for cowboy-themed action-melodrama, churning out low budget flicks that no self-respecting critic would even bother to watch and which have only slightly less artistic merit  and charm than a bucket of slightly rancid goat's milk.

Director John Ford had resisted making a sound western, even though he had made some fairly respectable silent films in the genre, notably The Iron Horse (1924).  Ford directed Stagecoach thirteen years after making his last western, and by doing so he completely redefined the cowboy film, creating the prototype for what would become, in the following decades, one of the most successful and enduring of film genres.  The classic Hollywood western would combine impressive action sequences with well-drawn psychological drama, celebrating the Old West myths whilst reflecting contemporary social themes.  This is where the sophisticated modern western began.

Ironically, it was the bad reputation that westerns had acquired in the 1930s that almost prevented Ford from making this film.  None of the major studios appeared interested in the project, although this was partly because Ford was adamant that the lead would be played by a comparatively obscure actor named John Wayne. Whilst he had appeared in around eighty low budget westerns (most of which have been forgotten today, and deservedly so), Wayne was not well-known by mainstream cinema audiences, and he certainly was not a star.   Even when independent film producer Walter Wanger agreed to bankroll the film, Ford had to fight hard to get his choice of lead actor.  Wanger wanted Gary Cooper, the undisputed king of the westerns, but Ford stuck to his guns. 

Not for the first time, Ford's judgement proved to be sound.  John Wayne's charismatic and solid screen presence is what made Stagecoach both an artistic and commercial success.  The film not only catapulted Wayne to stardom but established him as the actor who would forever be most associated with the Hollywood western.  The two Johns (Ford and Wayne) would collaborate on over twenty films, several of which are now undisputed masterpieces - including, Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952) and The Searchers (1956).  Arizona's Monument Valley provides Stagecoach with its stunning backdrop; Ford would use the same location in many of his subsequent films.

Stagecoach started out as a short story entitled The Stage to Lordsburg.  This was written by Ernest Haycox, who claimed to have been influenced by the Guy de Maupassant novella Boule de Suif (although this claim has since been partly discredited).   The film won two Oscars, for Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Mitchell) and Best Score (Richard Hageman), and was nominated in five other categories, including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Cinematography (B&W).  It was remade by Gordon Douglas in 1966 with Alex Cord, Ann-Margret and Bing Crosby - and then as a TV film in 1986.  Needless to say, neither remake was a patch on the original.

Stagecoach has all the ingredients of the classic western but it offers far more than the familiar concoction of barroom brawls, shoot outs and Cowboy versus Indian run-ins with barely concealed racist overtones (it would take several decades before native Americans would be shown in a sympathetic light, rather than merely as homicidal savages).  It could be argued that Stagecoach is not a traditional western but rather a superbly crafted character study of a group of diverse people who find themselves in a confined situation.  Each member of the group has something to hide and is unsure how to relate to the others in the party.  It is a formula that has been repeated many times since, perhaps most successfully by Ettore Scola in La Nuit de Varennes (1982).  The conflict between the characters, coupled with the threat of the attacking Indians, makes this a tense and compelling drama which is relieved only periodically by some typically Fordian comic touches.

Stagecoach may appear restrained (and is clearly hampered by its budgetary constraints) compared with the westerns it engendered, but it still has several iconic moments: John Wayne's jaw-dropping entrance (a dolly shot zooming in on a tight close up); the thrilling sequence in which the stagecoach is attacked by marauding Apaches; and the gunfight at the film's climax, which has the character of an expressionist nightmare.  These inspired touches have all been endlessly imitated in subsequent westerns, but rarely with the impact that Ford achieves here.  Small wonder that Stagecoach is considered to be the most influential of all westerns.

Film Synopsis

One day in 1880, a stagecoach leaves a town in Arizona, heading for Lordsburg, New Mexico.  The passengers include alcoholic doctor Doc Boone, disreputable prostitute Dallas, gambler Hatfield, crooked banker Henry Gatewood, whiskey salesman Mr Peacock and a pregnant young wife Lucy Mallory, who is hoping to be reunited with her husband, a cavalryman.  The driver, Buck, is accompanied by Marshal Curly Wilcox, who boarded the coach to catch up with a fugitive outlaw named Ringo.  The latter is out to avenge the deaths of his father and brother at the hands of the gunslinger Luke Pummer.  Before they set out, the travellers were warned by cavalry officer Blanchard that they will be passing through territory where they could be attacked by Geronimo and his belligerent Apaches....