A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey
complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each
other in the process.
Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox.
Stagecoach is not your normal, run of the mill, western. It will have you on
the edge of your seat as passengers make their way through some dangerous
Indian country. By the time the film ends, you will know all of the
characters very well and ,for the most part,care whether they live or
die. This landmark Western served as both the beginning of John Wayne's landmark
film career and his relationship with director John Ford, who would make
some of his best films with Wayne, including The Searchers.
The film involves a group traveling across the desert to the town of
Lordsburg. The first part of the film introduces us to the group, which
includes a drunken doctor, a meek man, a prostitute with a heart of gold
(Claire Trevor), the bumpkin of a driver (Andy DeVine) and the wife of a
soldier.
 |
| Danger holds the reins as the devil cracks the whip ! Desperate men ! Frontier women ! Rising above their pasts in a West corrupted by violence and gun-fire ! |
There is never a dull moment during Stagecoach, which says a lot when
compared to other films of the day. Unlike westerns made over the past
thirty years, Stagecoach doesn't have guns blazing throughout the film. A
credible story is built up which makes the climax all the more
interesting. The desert setting and the stagecoach
itself serve to make the great directing and camera work even greater. So
many classic scenes in one movie. There are lot of little things like the
shot of the coyote howling in the desert night. The shot of the stagecoach
from behind going through a sand wash. The shot of the Indians on the hill
looking down at the stagecoach. Just fantastic work from everyone involved.
Along the way you will also see: The birth of a child, the telegraph
lines cut, an attack by Indians, a chase, a cavalry rescue, a poker
game, a three-against-one gunfight on the streets of a town, and an
exciting climax… After building a 10 years long career as a star of B-Movie westerns,
John Wayne finally proved that he could be a real Hollywood star with
his remarkable performance as Ringo Kid in this film. Granted, Wayne
never had a big acting range, but this film shows what he could do when
provided with a great script. Claire Trevor is simply awesome as
Dallas, taking the classic "hooker with a heart of gold" archetype to
perfection, making a very real and human character. John Carradine
shows his talent in a role that, while not having many lines, says more
with physical expression than with words. However, the real jewel of
this movie is the truly outstanding performance done by Thomas Mitchell
as the friendly, yet unreliable Doc Boone.
 |
| You can't fuck with John Wayne. |
Overall, it's a great movie to watch!! With its drama, suspense,
adventure, moral lesson, story, and plot, this a great movie that you
don't want to miss watching. According to Orson Wells he watched the film more than 40 times while
making Citizen Kane. Truly vintage Ford and vintage Ford/Wayne, a collaboration that went on
to make many great films
Trivia:
A device known as a "Running W" was used on the Indians' horses during
the sequence where they are chasing the stagecoach. Strong, thin wires
are fixed to a metal post, then the other end of the wires are attached
to an iron clamp that encircles the legs of a horse, and the post is
anchored into the ground. The horse is then ridden at full gallop, and
when the wire's maximum length is reached - just when the rider is
"shot" - the animal's legs are jerked out from underneath it, causing it
to tumble violently and throw the "shot" rider off. The trouble was
that the rider knew when the horse was going to fall but the horse
didn't, resulting in many horses either being killed outright or having
to be destroyed because of broken limbs incurred during the falls. The
use of the "Running W" was eventually discontinued after many complaints
from both inside and outside the film industry.
Asked why, in the climactic chase scene, the Indians didn't simply shoot the horses to stop the stagecoach, director John Ford replied, "Because that would have been the end of the movie."
John Wayne's 80th film.
 |
| The Duke always gets the girl. |
Local Navajo Indians played the Apaches. The film's production was a
huge economic boost to the local impoverished population, giving jobs to
hundreds of locals as extras and handymen.
The hat that John Wayne wears is his own. He would wear it in many westerns during the next two decades before retiring it after Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo (1959), because it was simply "falling apart." After that, the hat was displayed under glass in his home.
John Ford's first sound
Western, and his first in that genre in 13 years. Westerns had fallen
out favor with the coming of sound, as it was tricky to record on
location.
John Ford loved the Monument Valley location so much that the actual stagecoach journey traverses the valley three times.
In 1939 there was no paved road through Monument Valley, hence the
reason why it hadn't been used as a movie location before (it wasn't
paved until the 1950s). Harry Goulding, who ran a trading post there, had heard that John Ford
was planning a big-budget Western so he traveled to Hollywood, armed
with over 100 photographs, and threatened to camp out on Ford's doorstep
until the director saw him. Ford saw him almost immediately and was
instantly sold on the location, particularly when he realized that its
remoteness would free him from studio interference.
The interior sets all have ceilings, an unusual practice at the time for
studio filming. This was to create a claustrophobic effect in complete
counterpoint to the wide open expanse of Monument Valley.
 |
| Thrills! Thrills! Thrills! See - The Apache Attack! Charge of the Cavalry! Fight to the Death On the Last Frontier of Wickedness! |
Hosteen Tso, a local shaman, promised John Ford the exact kind of cloud formations he wanted. They duly appeared.
When the film was being cast, John Ford lobbied hard for John Wayne but producer Walter Wanger
kept saying no. It was only after constant persistence on Ford's part
that Wanger finally gave in. Wanger's reservations were based on Wayne's
string of B-movies, in which he came across as being a less than
competent actor, and the box office failure of Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail (1930) in 1930, Wayne's first serious starring role.
John Ford gave John Wayne the script, asking him for any suggestions as to who could play the Ringo Kid. Wayne suggested Lloyd Nolan,
not realizing that Ford was baiting him with the part. Once filming
began, however, Ford was merciless to Wayne, constantly undermining him.
This psychological tactic was designed to make Wayne start feeling some
real emotions, and not to be intimidated by acting alongside the likes
of such seasoned professionals as Thomas Mitchell.
John Ford originally wanted Ward Bond to play Buck the stage driver but gave the role to Andy Devine when he found that Bond couldn't drive a "six-up" stagecoach and there wasn't time to teach him.
John Wayne's salary was considerably less than all of his co-stars', apart from John Carradine.
David O. Selznick was interested in making the film, but only if he could have Gary Cooper as the Ringo Kid and Marlene Dietrich as Dallas.
In 1939 Claire Trevor was the film's biggest star, and thus commanded the highest salary.
 |
| Wait....you made how much more than me for this picture? |
Near the end of the movie, Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler)
has a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights. This is the
notorious "dead man's hand" supposed to have been held by Wild Bill
Hickok before he was killed.
It's believed by many that the famous line "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do," widely attributed to a John Wayne
Western character, is spoken by Wayne in this film, however, it isn't.
His character, The Ringo Kid, instead says "There are some things a man
just can't run away from," when asked why he intends to stay and avenge
his family's murders rather than try to escape to Mexico.
Ranked #9 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Western" in June 2008.
Although Louis Gruenberg
receives screen credit for the musical score, his contribution was not
used and his name was omitted for the Academy Award nomination.
It was selected for the National Film Registry by Library Of Congress in 1995.
Doctor Boone's misquote, 'Is this the face that wrecked a thousand
ships/ and burned the towerless tops of Ilium?', is from 'The Tragical
History of Doctor Faustus' by Christopher Marlowe, Scene xiv.
