Stagecoach

John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) is one of the greatest Westerns of all time. It made a star of John Wayne, who had been eeking out a living as a B-movie star, was Ford's first sound Western, and helped establish many of the archetypes and conventions of the Western genre - and for film in general. That it remains entertaining 71 years later is a testament to its power and importance, turning a simple story into perfectly-constructed, top-notch entertainment.

A stagecoach travelling to Lordsburg, New Mexico stops in the small Arizona town of Tonto, with Geronimo's Apaches on the warpath. Among the passengers are: jovial driver Buck (Andy Devine); Dallas (Claire Trevor), a shamed, outcast prostitute; town Marshal Curly Wilcox (George Bancroft); alcoholic Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell); dopey whiskey salesman Peacock (Donald Meek); Hatfield (John Carradine), a dashing gambler-gunfighter; the pregnant Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), wife of a cavalry officer; and Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill), an unscrupulous banker. Later joining the crew is the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), an outlaw seeking vengeance on the Plummer brothers, who killed his family. This contentious, colorful group of passengers deals with Lucy's pregnancy, burned-out trading posts, rough river crossings, and an Indian attack - and that's before they get to Lordsburg. Despite his affection for Dallas, Ringo calls out the Plummers for a showdown, knowing that he faces either death or arrest at the hands of the Marshal.

Stagecoach is a wonderfully economical piece of filmmaking. It establishes its large cast with quick, simple vignettes, making them broad but distinct personages. Polite society is depicted as obnoxious hypocrites, from the pious church committee who evicts Dallas from Tonto, to the bombastic banker; the outcasts Hatfield, Ringo and Dallas are presented as the sympathetic characters, the driving force behind Western settlement and progress. One could object to the portrayal of Indians as war-whooping savages, but they're really just a plot device, another obstacle for our protagonists to overcome. Once the Indians, the elements, their personal problems and Ringo's vendetta are overcome, they've forged a makeshift community of sorts, a cornucopia of colorful characters who represent the American melting pot. Beyond the messages, though, it's a well-done action-adventure film, creating the formula for pretty much everything that followed.

Ford's direction is, of course, without peer. Even in sparse black-and-white, Monument Valley exudes a towering majesty, sheer space used to emphasize the epic nature of the story. Ford's creative use of lighting, low-angle shots and striking editing directly influenced Orson Welles' work on Citizen Kane, and the Monument Valley scenes provided an obvious influence on any number of directors. The film's big action scene, with the Apaches attacking the stagecoach, makes thrilling use of editing, long shots and creative stuntwork (especially Yakima Canutt's famed ride under the moving coach). So exciting is this scene, indeed, that the showdown between Ringo and the Plummers can only be anti-climactic; Ford acknowledges this, providing an amazingly intense set-up without showing the result.

John Wayne became a star on the basis of this film, and with good reason; from his iconic introduction (a quick zoom shot of him twirling his rifle), he shows that he's a born star, already exuding the trademark toughness that made him an American icon. Claire Trevor is perfect as Dallas, emitting the right mixture of toughness and vulnerability. John Carradine gives perhaps his best screen performance, playing the Doc Holiday-esque Hatfield as the archetypical romantic, chivalrous gunfighter. Thomas Mitchell (High Noon) gives a broad yet human performance, presaging Edmond O'Brien's newspaper editor in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Louise Platt is sweet as the pregnant Lucy. The rest of the cast is fine if a bit broad.

Without further ado, Stagecoach is a masterpiece, brilliant in its simplicity. It's hard to criticize the film for employing so many cliches, when it is American frontier mythology at its purest: perhaps the quintessential American Western.