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A powerful story of nine strange people.
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.
John Chard
Mar 22, 2020 · via TMDB
We're the victims of a foul disease called social prejudice, my child. Stagecoach is directed by John Ford and adapted by Dudley Nichols from a story by Ernest Haycox. It stars Claire Trevor, John Wayne, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Andy Devine, Donald Meek and Louise Platt. Director of photography is Bert Glennon and director of music Boris Morros. 6 people on board a stagecoach bound for Lordsburg, each one very different in character, each one with their own issues in life, and some carrying shame as well as dark secrets. The journey is fraught with danger as the Apache are tracking them thru the desert flats, can all the polar opposites come together to form a united front? It's now written in history that the 1930s was a bad decade for the Western movie. The decade began with expensive flops The Big Trail & Cimarron and from there the big studios pretty much condemned the genre to being nothing more than a B movie production line. Then in 1937 a story called Stage to Lordsburg was published in Collier's magazine, a story written by Ernest Haycox that itself was inspired by a short story called Boule de Suif written by Guy de Maupassant. John Ford liked the story very much and purchased the rights, trusting Dudley Nichols to rework a screenplay into a classic Western narrative. Meeting resistance from some of the head men at the studios, Ford had to fight hard to not only get the film made, but to also have John Wayne playing The Ringo Kid. Gary Cooper and Joel McCrea were wanted instead of Wayne, and Marlene Dietrich was suggested for the role of Dallas, the role eventually went to Claire Trevor. But Ford stuck to his guns, and rightly so, for now Stagecoach can be seen as a wonderful film that not only launched Wayne to stardom, but also as the film that reignited the Western genre and paved the way for some essential classics that followed. John Ford's first sound Western is rich with character dynamics at play, with the great director exploring what would become a trademark theme of his, that of moral qualities born out of people deemed less pure in society's eyes. True enough Stagecoach is still very traditional in an early Western movie sense, but the study of different characters under duress is magnificently moulded by director and cast alike. It was something that Orson Welles liked about the film, calling it perfect textbook film making, even claiming it to be a film he watched numerous times whilst crafting Citizen Kane. It's easy to believe Welles, we obviously remember the stunning Apache pursuit of the rocketing stagecoach, the stunt work, the breathless energy and the majestic location of Monument Valley, but thematically the film sizzles as well. That Ford is able to marry sharp action with real human drama - intimate drama played out on a massive panoramic landscape - is why Stagecoach continually entertains and influences with each passing year. From the moment Ford zooms up close on the face of John Wayne, a mega-star was born, but more importantly, from the opening credits to the last second of Stagecoach, the Western movie was reborn. A near masterpiece of the genre. 9/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Claire Trevor
Dallas
John Wayne
The Ringo Kid
George Bancroft
Marshal Curly Wilcox
Andy Devine
Buck
Thomas Mitchell
Doc Josiah Boone
John Carradine
Hatfield
Donald Meek
Samuel Peacock
Berton Churchill
Ellsworth H. Gatewood
Louise Platt
Lucy Mallory
Tim Holt
Lt. Blanchard
Tom Tyler
Luke Plummer
Chief John Big Tree
Indian Scout (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt
Cavalry Scout / Indian Attacking Stagecoach (uncredited)
Francis Ford
Sgt. Billy Pickett (uncredited)
William Hopper
Sergeant (uncredited)
Chris-Pin Martin
Chris (uncredited)
Paul McVey
Pony Express Agent (uncredited)
Jack Pennick
Bartender in Tonto (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook
Telegraph Operator (uncredited)
Hank Worden
Cavalryman (uncredited)
Dorothy Appleby
Girl in Saloon (uncredited)
Ted Billings
Bit Part (uncredited)
Ed Brady
Lordsburg Saloon Owner (uncredited)
Fritzi Brunette
Bit Part (uncredited)
Nora Cecil
Boone's Landlady (uncredited)
Steve Clemente
Bit (uncredited)
Bill Cody
Rancher (uncredited)
Tex Driscoll
Bit Part (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum
Deputy Frank (uncredited)
Brenda Fowler
Mrs. Gatewood (uncredited)
Helen Gibson
Girl in Saloon (uncredited)
Robert Homans
Ed the Editor (uncredited)
Si Jenks
Bartender (uncredited)
Cornelius Keefe
Capt. Whitney (uncredited)
Florence Lake
Nancy Whitney (uncredited)
Duke R. Lee
Lordsburg Sheriff (uncredited)
Theodore Lorch
Lordsburg Express Agent (uncredited)
James Pier Mason
Tonto Express Agent Jim (uncredited)
Louis Mason
Tonto Sheriff (uncredited)
J.P. McGowan
Bit Part (uncredited)
Walter McGrail
Capt. Sickel (uncredited)
Artie Ortego
Lordsburg Bar Patron (uncredited)
Joe Rickson
Ike Plummer (uncredited)
Buddy Roosevelt
Rancher (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson
Bit Part (uncredited)
Leonard Trainor
Townsman (uncredited)
Bryant Washburn
Capt. Simmons (uncredited)
Elvira Ríos
Yakima (uncredited)
Frank Baker
Bit Part (uncredited)
Olin Francis
Lordsburg Townsman (uncredited)
George Huggins
Barfly (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon
Townswoman (uncredited)
Blackjack Ward
Townsman (uncredited)
Bert Glennon
Director of Photography
Walter Plunkett
Costume Design
Ben Hecht
Additional Writing
Yakima Canutt
Stunt Coordinator
Yakima Canutt
Stunt Double
David Sharpe
Stunts
Helen Gibson
Stunts
Henry Wills
Stunts
Iron Eyes Cody
Stunts
John Ford
Director
Yakima Canutt
Second Unit Director
Dorothy Spencer
Editor
John Ford
Producer
Robert Parrish
Sound Effects Editor
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Feb 2, 1939
Los Angeles, California
Feb 10, 1939
Miami, Florida
Mar 2, 1939
Mar 3, 1939
May 14, 1950
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1999
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1990
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
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2008 · 14 wins
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1978 · 13 wins
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2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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