Stagecoach (1939 film)
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"What more can be said about John Ford’s immortal classic, when all you need to do is watch? Its DNA is everywhere from Kurosawa to Firefly, but the original rip-roaring, sharp-eyed, quick-drawing adventure is still a masterclass. And when the camera dollied in on John Wayne, a star was born."
— MUBI's take
Stagecoach (1939 film)
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1995.
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Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory.
Why It Rocks
- This film's a landmark of American cinema, bringing depth, intelligence, and nuance to the western, a genre which was previously maligned, due to mostly having a catalog of routine, simplistic B films that lacked the kind of meaning and dimension in this film. While the film features all the expected elements of a Western—Indian attacks, chases, shoot-outs, gunfights—the characters set the film apart from the fillers and programmers that made up much of the genre. By treating his story and characters seriously, Ford helped elevate the Western in general, proving that it could accommodate adult situations.
- While the film was based on a short story by Ernest Haycox, about a gunman who falls in love with a prostitute while on his way to a shoot-out, it changes some plot elements, adds and subtracts characters, but essentially follows the basics of Haycox’s plot while also adding depth to the diverse group of characters thrown together in a stagecoach traveling through the New Mexico Territory rife with Apaches.
- It smoothly fuses action, characterization, mature themes, and a powerful visual approach that raised the story to a mythic level. The film takes the structure of a journey, with nine people aboard a stagecoach speeding through dangerous country, all with different backstories, motivations, and concerns. These people are presented as a microcosm of society, with supposedly respectable folks (People such as banker Gatewood, confederate Hatfield, and pregnant Mrs. Lucy Mallory), thrust together with supposed pariahs (People such as prostitute Dallas, outlaw Ringo Kid, and alcoholic drunk Doc Boone). But as the film shows, assumptions can be wrong, as it delves into currents of class, hypocrisy, and morality—as well as poignant longing for love and fair-minded treatment by society. Ironically enough, the so-called "disrespectable characters" turn out to be the most noble, and heroic characters in the piece.
- Prior to this film, John Wayne had mostly appeared in B-movies, but this film served as Wayne's big break where he really gets to showcase his acting range as the Ringo Kid (a gunslinger known as “Malpais Bill" in the original short story). He also gets one of the most iconic “star” entrances in screen history: a rapid camera movement toward Wayne as he twirls a Winchester, ending on a huge close-up. He manages to stand out within an already talented cast. Wayne gets plenty of reaction shots throughout, making him more prominent even in scenes where he doesn’t speak.
- The Ringo Kid isn’t just a typical Western gunslinger seeking vengeance- he’s a fully realized character, descended from the William S. Hart and Harry Carey “good bad man,” and brought to life by Wayne’s unique blend of sincere respect, bashfulness, straight-shooting honesty, and that indefinable quality called charisma.
- Talented ensemble cast, aside from John Wayne, there's also Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, and Andy Devine all giving top notch performances.
- It's has proven an enormous influence over filmmakers ranging from Orson Welles, who screened it repeatedly before starting Citizen Kane, to Joss Whedon, creator of the television series Firefly and its film version, Serenity.
- Incredible stunt work from Yakima Canutt. During the chase sequence, Canutt doubles John Wayne for a jump from the stagecoach to one of its six horses, followed by two more jumps until he is riding a horse in the front—all at full speed and in one continuous take. At another point, he doubles a Navajo rider by leaping from a galloping horse to one that is pulling the stagecoach. Ringo shoots him, he is dragged under the stagecoach for a few seconds, and finally he lets go and the stagecoach rushes over him. The chases are so impressive, they're being copied to this day.
- The film's images of majestic buttes, far-flung horizons, and immense skies are so stately that they still evoke feelings of pride and grandeur.
The Only Bad Quality
- Despite most of the characters being complex despite seemingly being stereotypes, the film still has a barbariac portrayal of Native Americans, who are portrayed as little more than one-note murderous monsters. There's a scene in an where the innkeeper’s wife is an Apache woman. She’s clearly harmless, and it’s played comedically that the passengers are so taken aback by her presence. But it’s later revealed that the woman left to alert her fellow Apaches of the stagecoach’s whereabouts, so they can come in for the kill. In doing so, the film essentially confirms the passengers’ racist first impressions, suggesting that even the most innocent looking Native Americans are out for blood. This was a wasted opportunity to break another stereotype. For obvious reasons, this scene hasn't aged well.