The characters are stripped down, traditional, Western stereotypes. Buck wants to turn back, but most of the party votes to proceed. 2020 Toronto International Film Festival Preview Read More; What to Watch on FandangoNOW: ‘The Grizzlies,’ ’Antebellum,’ Pro Football Movies and More Read More; This Week in Movie News: Ryan Gosling to Play a Stuntman Again, Tiffany Haddish Meets Nicolas Cage and More Read More; Explore Content. The film has long been recognized as an important work that transcends the Western genre. In 1970, he allowed it to be used to produce a new negative and that is the film seen today at film festivals. However, there appears to be no concrete evidence for Haycox actually being familiar with the earlier story, especially as he was documented as going out of his way to avoid reading the work of others that might unconsciously influence his writing, and he focused his personal reading in the area of history. "[3] In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. A scene from Stagecoach (1939). Cast; Crew; Details; Genres; Cast . The screenplay is an adaptation by Dudley Nichols of "The Stage to Lordsburg," a short story by Ernest Haycox. Stagecoach (film) Summary. Actors: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, Tim Holt, George Bancroft. [15], Stagecoach has been lauded as one of the most influential films ever made. "STAGECOACH" (1939) Review The year 1939 is regarded by many film critics and moviegoers as the best year for Hollywood films. Writing in 2011, Roger Ebert noted: "The film's attitudes toward Native Americans are unenlightened. Along the way, the pick up Ringo, a man who … Read Angus Wolfe Murray's DVD Review "The film is a template for disaster movies and strangers-trapped-in-a-train scenarios." In June 1880, a group of strangers boards the stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory, to Lordsburg, New Mexico. The film shows the Law and Order League that expels Boone and Dallas to be a group of hateful, self-righteous perpetrators of "social prejudice"; one of them hurries to put on her badge and joins the others in leading Dallas to the stagecoach. Wanger had the same reservations about producing an "A" western and even more about one starring John Wayne. This movie was designed for grown-ups, exploring complex psychological, moral and character issues through its simple story. Further along the road, the stage comes across the Ringo Kid, stranded after his horse has gone lame. Plot Keywords The rights to "Lordsburg" were bought by John Ford soon after it was published in Collier's magazine on April 10, 1937. Curley uncuffs Ringo to help lash logs to the stagecoach and float it across the river. On arriving at Apache Wells, Mrs. Mallory learns that her husband had been wounded in battle. | When she faints and goes into labor, Doc Boone has to sober up and deliver the baby with Dallas assisting. | This film - his first sound Western - was a return to his most-acclaimed film genre after a thirteen year absence following Fox's Three Bad Men (1926) (and The Iron Horse (1924)). Stagecoach The critically-acclaimed classic film, Stagecoach (1939), not only helped to revive … [10], Ford refused to budge; it would be Wayne or no one. Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies and quality production values of prestigious 1930s films. Summary We see a caravan of horses and stagecoaches moving down a dirt road in the middle of the plains. 2020 Election American Film Market Movie Reviews TV Reviews Roundtables Podcasts 'Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story': Film Review 11:03 AM PST 11/8/2016 by Frank Scheck Tweet. In 1880, a motley group of passengers takes the stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico via dangerous Apache territory. Later that night, Ringo asks Dallas to marry him and live on a ranch he owns in Mexico. In the front, sit Buck the driver and Marshal Curley Wilcox, who is riding shotgun to protect the stage from hostile Indians and from the Plummer brothers, a vicious band of outlaws. The Ringo Kid has broken out of prison after hearing that his father and brother had been murdered by Luke Plummer. In one of the most spectacular, hair-raising, dangerous stunts ever recorded on film during the chase across the dry alkali flat, one of the Apaches (Enos Yakima Canutt) leaps from his mount alongside the moving stage onto the lead horses of the stagecoach's team (a stagecoach is pulled by three pairs of horses: the lead, the swing, and the wheel teams). Stagecoach: The Revolutionary Western John Ford built a standard that many future directors would follow with his classic 1939 film “Stagecoach”. Stagecoach is set at a time of escalating white settler encroachment upon, and forcible seizure of, Native American lands in the American Southwest, a process that eventually forced Native Americans onto reservations. Although its main characters are all settlers of one kind or another, the film presents Apache violence against settlers wholly absent from this historical context. Stagecoach A simple stagecoach trip is complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area. A simple stagecoach trip is complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area. When the stage driver, Buck, looks for his shotgun guard, Marshal Curley Wilcox tells him that the guard is off searching for a fugitive. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. Stagecoach was the first of many Westerns that Ford shot using Monument Valley, in the American Southwest on the Arizona–Utah border, as a location, many of which also starred John Wayne. [8] Ford's statement also seems to be the basis for the claim that Haycox himself relied upon Guy de Maupassant's story. At a camp, a flag is raised as a man plays a bugle. Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. Synopsis A powerful story of nine strange people. Wayne had one positive print that had never been through a projector gate. The previous DVD releases by Warner Home Video did not contain the restored print but rather a video print held in the Castle Hill/Caidin Trust library. Stagecoach begins in the Tonto, Arizona Territory in June of 1880. The movie is about a group of people traveling together by stagecoach from the town Tonto to Lordsburg. Upon seeing her distress, gambler and Southern gentleman Hatfield offers his protection to Mrs. Mallory and climbs on. The passengers on the coach include a drunken doctor, two women, a bank manager who has taken off with his client's money, and the famous Ringo Kid, among others. Movie Reviews; Star Wars Guide; Awards Watch; Indie Movie Guide; … Ringo survives the three-against-one shootout that follows, and then surrenders to Curley, expecting to go back to prison. Western genre pieces, such as John Fords’ Stagecoach (1939), exemplify the mirror effect that some films had during those decades. For this location, filming took place near Goulding's Trading Post on the Utah border, about 25 miles from Kayenta. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a female prostitute the Law and Order League wants out of town. The people traveling together are a diverse group of people. Crew Letter from Kayenta, Arizona, December 1938. ‘Stagecoach’ Film Synopsis. Johnny Cash portrays Marshal Curly Wilcox and Waylon Jennings plays the gambler, Hatfield. [2], Along with certain other classic films of its period (e.g., Gone With the Wind), Stagecoach has been criticized for its depiction of historical settings and events, as well as for racist depictions of Native Americans generally and of Apaches in particular. | Similar geographic incongruencies are evident throughout the film, up to the closing scene of Ringo (Wayne) and Dallas (Trevor) departing Lordsburg, in southwestern New Mexico, by way of Monument Valley. The stage reaches Lee's Ferry, which the Apaches have destroyed. [9] Wanger said he would not risk his money unless Ford replaced John Wayne with Gary Cooper and brought in Marlene Dietrich to play Dallas. But he wasn’t a bad guy as he was framed and the second killing would be justified. They are all headed to Lordsburg, New Mexico for various reasons. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. In Tonto, a motley group of passengers board a stagecoach headed for Lordsburg. Taglines AFI's #9 Western Movie Stagecoach. Synopsis Stagecoach is an English movie released on 15 February, 1939. Relegated to B-movie status by the mid-1930s, the western was regenerated most prominently by John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. She thanks Dallas, who gives Mrs. Mallory her shawl. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. Orson Welles argued that it was a perfect textbook of film-making and claimed to have watched it more than 40 times in preparation for the making of Citizen Kane. The scenario is incredibly simple: there are seven passengers and two drivers on a coach driving to … The Hollywood myth that Marion Morrison (aka John Wayne) became an overnight success when director John Ford plucked him from obscurity to play The … Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Stagecoach; A stagecoach carrying a doctor, a preacher, a dancing girl, a crooked banker, an Army Major's wife and her escort travels through hostile Apache country. The western movie I pick is John Ford’s movie Stagecoach (1939). Stagecoach is a model of tight storytelling: the opening fifteen minutes set up all of the film's whys, the next 70 minutes push us, with all due speed - and for those whose chief complaint about old movies is that they're slow-moving, well this one is fast - and a final ten minutes that wrap everything up. Like most Westerns of the era, its depiction of Native Americans as simplistic savages has been criticized.[5]. Willie Nelson portrays famous gunslinger and dentist Doc Holliday. Curly hopes to apprehend Ringo in Lordsburg before any bloodshed occurs. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. Though they are friends, Curley has to take Ringo into custody and crowds him, too, into the coach, but when they reach Dry Fork, the expected cavalry detachment has gone on to Apache Wells. Director: John Ford Genre(s): Adventure , Drama , Western Stagecoach Movie Review Summary. The Overland Stagecoach is making its regular run from Tonto to Lordsburg via Dry Fork, Apache Wells and Lee's Ferry. The Apaches are seen simply as murderous savages; there is no suggestion the white men have invaded their land. Movie Info John Ford's landmark Western revolves around an assorted group of colorful passengers aboard the Overland stagecoach bound for Lordsburg, New Mexico, in the 1880s. Everything you need to understand or teach Stagecoach (film). The Army can only escort them halfway. The passengers consist of Doc … Letter, Louie Platt to Ned Scott Archive, July 7, 2002, New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Director, List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress", "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stagecoach_(1939_film)&oldid=996274877, Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance, Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award, United States National Film Registry films, Articles to be expanded from October 2017, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 December 2020, at 15:51. Movie Reviews; Home For The … We then see a group of American Indians on horseback as the credits roll. This illustrates … The American West, late-1800s. 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. Claire Trevor John Wayne Andy Devine John Carradine Thomas Mitchell Louise Platt George Bancroft Donald Meek Berton Churchill Tim Holt Tom … All of them have the specific motivation for going, but they all share the same goal reaching to Lordsburg. At Lordsburg, Gatewood is arrested by the local sheriff, and Mrs. Mallory learns that her husband's wound is not serious. Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. Featured Movie News. As he tries to grab the reins of the lead horse to … Summaries 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. [6], Before production, Ford shopped the project around to several Hollywood studios, all of which turned him down because big budget Westerns were out of vogue, and because Ford insisted on using John Wayne in a key role in the film. John Wayne played this role at the tender age of 31. The Stagecoach (film) Study Pack contains: Encyclopedia Articles (1) Stagecoach 953 words, approx. [14] Cast member Louise Platt, in a letter recounting the experience of the film's production, quoted Ford on saying of Wayne's future in film: "He'll be the biggest star ever because he is the perfect 'everyman'". Many independent companies were responsible for this film in the years since. They include a drunken doctor, a bar girl who's been thrown out of town, a professional gambler, a traveling liquor salesman, a banker who has decided to embezzle money, a gunslinger out for revenge and a young woman going to join her army captain husband. Among the passengers are the always inebriated frontier doctor, "Doc" Boone, Dallas, the ill-reputed dance-hall girl, Hatfield, the professional gambler, Mrs Lucy Mallory, the wife of a cavalry officer, the whiskey salesman, Mr Peacock, the absconding banker, Mr Gatewood, Marshall Wilcox, and his escaped prisoner, the Ringo Kid. The plot is a straight-forward race through hostile territory, with drunk doctors, a pregnant woman, a dubious banker, and, oh yeah, a shoot-out at the end. There, a group of strangers board a stagecoach to Lordsburg, New Mexico. One of director John Ford ’s defining movies, it also elevated John Wayne to stardom. [16] The film made a profit of $297,690. 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