Stagecoach (film)

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This article is about the 1939 film. For the 1966 remake, see Stagecoach (1966 film).
Stagecoach

re-release film poster
Directed by John Ford
Produced by Walter Wanger (Executive producer)
Written by Dudley Nichols & Ben Hecht, based on story by Ernest Haycox
Starring Claire Trevor
John Wayne
Andy Devine
John Carradine
Thomas Mitchell
Louise Platt
George Bancroft
Donald Meek
Tim Holt
Tom Tyler
Music by Gerard Carbonara
Cinematography Bert Glennon
Editing by Otho Lovering
Dorothy Spencer
Walter Reynolds
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) February 15, 1939
Running time 96 min.
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Stagecoach is a 1939 western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of The Stage to Lordsburg, a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film sees a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach to the town of "Lordsburg" through dangerous Apache territory.

Although Ford had made many silent films in the Western genre prior to Stagecoach, this was his first using sound. It was also the first of many films which Ford made on location in Monument Valley, in the American southwest on the Arizona - Utah border, many of which starred John Wayne.

Contents

[edit] Plot

A motley group of strangers boards the stagecoach to Lordsburg, New Mexico, among them prostitute Dallas and alcoholic Doc Boone, who are both being driven out of town by a "morality league"; pompous banker Henry Gatewood, who is trying to sneak away with money embezzled from his bank; Southern gentleman and gambler Hatfield; Lucy Mallory, who is intent on seeing her cavalry officer husband; whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock; Marshal Curly Wilcox; and the driver, Buck. Hatfield is very protective of Lucy, while Doc Boone is very interested in staying near Peacock so that he can take "free samples" of Peacock's whiskey.

Along the way, they pick up the Ringo Kid, a young rancher who was framed for murder by the Plummer brothers and has broken out of jail. He intends to get even with Luke Plummer for killing his father and brother. Even though they are friends, Curly has no choice but to take the Kid into custody. As the trip progresses, the Kid takes a strong liking to Dallas, although the others avoid her and treat her rudely because of her past.

They encounter a U.S. cavalry detachment, which informs them that Geronimo and his Apache warriors are on the warpath and that they will not be able to escort the stagecoach all the way. The passengers vote on whether to continue on to Lordsburg or turn back. With only Peacock objecting, they go forward and reach Apache Wells in the evening.

After hearing her husband had been wounded in battle, Lucy faints. Hatfield and Marshal Wilcox carry her into another room. Doc Boone is called upon to sober up and help Lucy through her childbirth. Eventually Dallas emerges holding her newborn child. Later that night, Ringo asks Dallas to marry him. Dallas believes that Ringo would not be proposing to her if he knew her past, so she does not give him an answer. The next morning, however, she agrees to marry Ringo if he agrees to give up his plan to confront the Plummers, since she is convinced that they will kill him. Encouraged by Dallas, Ringo makes a break for it, but turns back when he sees signs of Indians nearby. The stagecoach is chased by Indians. Curly releases the Kid from his handcuffs so that he can help fight them off. During the long chase, Hatfield is killed and Peacock injured. Just as they run out of ammunition, the U.S. cavalry charges to the rescue.

When the passengers finally make it to Lordsburg, Gatewood is arrested by the local sheriff for absconding with bank funds and Lucy is told that her husband's wound is not serious. Dallas begs Ringo not to go up against the Plummers, but he is determined to settle matters. In the ensuing shootout, the Kid dispatches Luke Plummer and his two brothers. He returns to Curly, expecting to go back to jail; he asks the lawman to take Dallas to his ranch. When he gets on a wagon to say goodbye to her, Curly and Doc laugh and start the horses moving, letting him "escape". It ends with the sheriff offering to buy Doc Boone a drink, and Boone surprising everyone by replying "Just one."

[edit] Plot origins

The screenplay is an adaptation by Dudley Nichols of The Stage to Lordsburg, a short story by Ernest Haycox. The rights to "Lordsburg" were bought by John Ford soon after it was published in Colliers Illustrated on 10 April 1937.[1] According to Thomas Schatz, Ford claimed that his inspiration in expanding Stagecoach beyond the barebones plot given in The Stage to Lordsburg was his familiarity with another short story, Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant.[2] Schatz believes "this scarcely holds up to scrutiny" (p.27) and argues that a more likely inspiration was Bret Harte's 1892 short story The Outcasts of Poker Flats.

Ford's claim also seems to be the basis for claiming that Haycox himself relied upon Guy de Maupassant's story. 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]

[edit] Cast

Trevor and Wayne
Trevor and Wayne

[edit] Awards and honors

[edit] Winner

[edit] Nominated

[edit] Honors

[edit] Reputation

Stagecoach has been lauded as one of the most influential films ever made. Edward Buscombe writes that the introduction of Wayne's character Ringo is "one of the most stunning entrances in all of cinema...The camera dollies quickly in towards a tight close-up...So fast is the dolly in that the operator can't quite hold the focus." [4] Orson Welles argued that it was a perfect textbook of film making and claimed to have watched it more than 40 times during the making of Citizen Kane.[5]

[edit] Re-releases and restoration

The film was originally released through United Artists, but under their old seven-year-rights rule, surrendered its distribution rights to producer Walter Wanger in 1946. Many independent companies were responsible for this film in the years since. The film's copyright is currently held by 20th Century Fox, who produced a later 1966 remake of Stagecoach. However, distribution rights are now held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive on behalf of anciliary rights holder The Caidin Trust, with Castle Hill Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures representing. UCLA formally restored the film in 1996 from surviving elements and premiered on cable's American Movie Classics network. The current DVD releases by Warner Home Video do not contain the restored print, but rather a video print held in the Castle Hill/Caidin Trust library.

[edit] Remakes

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ernest Haycox, Jr., Ernest Haycox (1899-1950), Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, 2001. Accessed 14 April 2007
  2. ^ Schatz, Thomas, "Stagecoach and Hollywood's A-Western Renaissance", in John Ford's Stagecoach, ed. Barry Keigh Grant. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003. pp. 21-47. ISBN 0-521-7933119
  3. ^ Ernest Haycox, Jr., Ernest Haycox (1899-1950)
  4. ^ Edward Buscombe, "Stagecoach", British Film Institute, 1992, p.9.
  5. ^ Welles, Orson and Bogdanovich, Peter, This is Orson Welles, Da Capo Press, 1998, pp. 28-29. "After dinner every night for about a month, I'd run Stagecoach.... It was like going to school."

[edit] External links