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.
© James Travers 2009
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Next John Ford film:
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
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....
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.