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Stagecoach (1939)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
A classic (if not the classic) Western, Stagecoach wields the standard elements of any Cowboys and Indians flick with such precision that the whole is far greater than the sum. Set in the wide and dusty western frontier, where the decrepit shanty towns cower before the magnificence of Monument Valley, a stagecoach passes by. Stopping briefly in the town of Tonto, the stage changes horses and picks up a mixed batch of passengers. A microcosm of the Wild West, the travellers range from upstanding and decent Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) to town-whore Dallas (Claire Trevor), hounded away by a so-called legion of decent women. In the middle ground rest Doc Josiah Boone (Thomas Mitchell), Hatfield (John Carradine) and Mr Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek). The contents of Peacock's case hold a special fascination for Doc, simply because they're numerous samples of whiskey and he's an unrepentant old souse. On top, Buck (Andy Devine) drives the stage while town sheriff Curly Wilcox (George Bancroft) rides shotgun. He wouldn't normally take the job but there are Indians on the warpath, led by Geronimo, and a well-known outlaw, the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), has broken out of jail and he'd like to get him. At the last moment a cavalry detail joins them, for protection, and banker Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill) jumps aboard before the stage departs.

Out on the rutted road, heading speedily for Lordsburg, the atmosphere inside the coach is already thick. Doc's making his way through Peacocks's samples, who seems somewhat cowed in this company, while Gatewood sounds off at everything that's wrong with the country, thinking himself the perfect gentleman and citizen. Suddenly they grind to a halt as Curly has a particular stroke of luck - Ringo is standing in the road, waiting for a lift after his horse went lame. Ringo wants to get to Lordsburg, desperately, but resigns himself to arrest by Curly, who's an old acquaintance. Inside, Doc recognises Ringo as the brother of a man he once treated and enquires after his former patients health. The answer, "He was murdered", brings silence. Soon they arrive at a way station, where their armed escort is to leave. Unfortunately there's no replacement and heated debate erupts over whether they should continue, with those who have a murky past in Tonto eager to continue. Barely hidden prejudices also surface when they eat, with Lucy refusing to sit near Dallas or Ringo. These two society misfits get on well together, mulling over their past before leaving with the stage.

Now unprotected, Buck drives the horses with wild energy, hoping to at least outrun any Apaches who may be lurking nearby. Through conversation we learn the force that drives Ringo onwards; the Plummer brothers killed Ringo's father and brother and are waiting in Lordsburg for his scalp. He's out for revenge, pure and simple, but Ringo's also the only one who treats Dallas as an equal (everyone else is contemptuous). Doc continues to drink, Hatfield behaves mysteriously and Gatewood seems ever more paranoid, gripping his valise like a life-jacket. They eventually arrive at another way-station, having seen no Indians, where the proprietor Chris (Chris-Pin Martin) warns them that the Apaches recently raided this very station and that there are no troops nearby. When Lucy finds that her husband, a Cavalry captain, was wounded she collapses and is carried off. Doc is then brutally sobered up and, after a few hours, he returns with news of a further passenger. Dallas enters with the baby girl and, suddenly, she becomes a lady!

With the stakes now raised to even more unbearable levels, and evidence that the Apaches are nearby, the group must make a final dash to safety. The odds are that a lone stagecoach won't make it but these passengers are a plucky lot and working together (apart from bad-egg Gatewood) they might just make it.

The beauty of Stagecoach is that it combines strongly drawn characters with frenetic action and awe-inspiring panoramas. Even though the movie trots through the story at a fair clip we're never short-changed on the personal front, being given fully-rounded personalities which have depth, emotion and a feeling of past. It's true that the coach seems full of stereotypes but that's only because later films relentlessly copied from this one! Technically, John Ford was in total control of the medium when he directed camera shots which passed naturally from long-shot to close-up, smoothly handing out plot details as and when we need them. The action work is great, particularly that of stuntman Yakima Canutt when he leaps from horse to horse with total disregard for his safety. However, the essence of this movie is the humanity that resides in all of us, whatever the layers of social conditioning that overlay it. The film simply provides windows which allow us to recognise this truth, even if they're rather well directed windows. Stagecoach made John Wayne a star and it's easy to see why.

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