Stagecoach (1939)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Ernest Haycox (story)
Dudley Nichols (writer)

Release Date:

2 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Western | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Danger holds the reins as the devil cracks the whip ! Desperate men ! Frontier women ! Rising above their pasts in a West corrupted by violence and gun-fire !

Plot:

A simple stagecoach trip is complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area. The...

Plot Keywords:

Cult Western | Giving Birth | Native American Attack | Pregnancy | Pregnant Woman

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 30	6:15 PM	TCM
Wed. July 30	9:00 PM	HALMRK

Cast

Claire Trevor	...	Dallas
John Wayne	...	The Ringo Kid
Andy Devine	...	Buck
John Carradine	...	Hatfield
Thomas Mitchell	...	Doc Boone
Louise Platt	...	Lucy Mallory
George Bancroft	...	Marshal Curly Wilcox
Donald Meek	...	Samuel Peacock
Berton Churchill	...	Henry Gatewood
Tim Holt	...	Lt. Blanchard
Tom Tyler	...	Luke Plummer

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Australia:G | Iceland:L | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:S (1951) | Norway:16 (1939) | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Beale's Cut, Newhall, California, USA

Company:

Walter Wanger Productions

Trivia:

Producer Walter Wanger wanted Gary Cooper for the role of Ringo but Cooper's fees were too high. 'Bruce Cabot (I)' unsuccessfully tested for it before John Ford got his wish and cast John Wayne.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the beginning sequence when the stage is coming into town you can see that the buildings are stage facades as the camera shot is at an angle and it is clear there is no structure behind the false front.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Cavalry scout: These hills here are full of Apaches. They've burnt every ranch building in sight.
[referring to Indian scout]
Cavalry scout: He had a brush with them last night. Says they're being stirred up by Geronimo.
Capt. Sickel: Geronimo? How do we know he isn't lying?
Cavalry scout: No, he's a Cheyenne. They hate Apaches worse than we do.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Stagecoach, a great movie, a great western.

I first saw Stagecoach the year it was released 1939, when I was nine years old. I saw it again the other afternoon as a rerun on tv. Despite that technically it is showing it's age, afterall it is 63 years old, and all of it's players are no longer with us, it is still one of the greatest westerns to ever grace a cinema screen. The indian attack, the cavalry to the rescue, the drunken doctor, the bar room floozie with a heart of gold, the gambler, and the hero doing "what a man's got to do" and escaping without a scratch . All the ingredients and more of a classic western but done superbly. Not a scene overplayed, not a (film) shot wasted.