Fella_shibby Saw this in the 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently on a bluray. It is an awesome entertaining film with beautiful scenery n amazing action sequences. The long shots captured the landscapes well, the characters r all very memorable n the tension is maintained throughout, the action scenes were top notch, especially the stagecoach running in the middle of the vast wide open space n pursued by the Indians. Wayne shooting his guns from the top n he controlling the horses were amazing action sequences. This movie did two great things. Wayne became a major movie star n western movies upgraded to A grade. It is also the first western shot in the beautiful Monument Valley. The movie is about a group of passengers who r travelling in a stagecoach. The passengers are given the alarming news that Geronimo is on the warpath and that their lives are in danger but each of the passenges has their own reasons for taking the risk. When the Marshall is informed that an outlaw is present in the destination town, he joins the stagecoach which is filled with a driver whos got a unique voice, a prostitute who has just been forced out of the previous town, a drunken doctor, a pregnant woman, a gambler, a liquor salesman and a crooked banker. Wayne gets a solid entrance after we have heard about him multiple times from other characters. Ringo Kid (Wayne) joins the stagecoach cos his horse has gone lame. He has to surrender his gun to the Marshall n will be arrested once they reach the destined town but our Ringo kid has to settle score with a trio of outlaws who killed his father n brother.

beckr1 Relegated to B-movie status, the Western was Hollywood's stepchild and was never thought of as a serious movie. Stagecoach changed all of that and movie history was made. Moral ambiguity abounds as a cast of disparate characters are put together in claustrophobic environments and forced to deal with each other in the ultimate road trip movie (still used today: Rain Man, Little Miss Sunshine). Orson Welles watched Stagecoach over 40 times while filming Citizen Kane and incorporated scenes with ceilings (a practice rarely used). Akira Kurosawa was inspired so much by this movie he went on to make The Seven Samarai. Stop and think about this for a minute, Stagecoach was responsible for two of the greatest movies ever made!! Combine this with being John Ford's first talking film, his first time filming in Monument Valley and John Wayne's star- making role makes this not only an influential Western genre film but also one of the most influential films of all time.

morrison-dylan-fan Nearing the end of the poll on ICM for the best movies of 1939,I started to check on Amazon UK for DVDs. Hearing about the impact it had on Citizen Kane,and also a fan of their team-up for The Long Voyage Home,I saddled up for the first collaboration between John Ford and The Duke.The plot:In 1880 a group of passengers get on the stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. Among the passengers are prostitute Dallas and alcoholic doctor Boone. Before setting off,Buck finds out that his regular guard has gone off to chase after outlaw Henry "The Ringo Kid" escaped jail so he can get revenge for Luke Plummer killing his dad and brother,which leads to Marshal Curly Wilcox taking the role of guard. Going into Apache land, the stagecoach team are soon met by the Apache's,and Ringo.View on the film:Riding into his first "talkie" Western, producer/ director John Ford & cinematographer Bert Glennon display a remarkable eye for using the soundtrack to build upon the images,from the pop of bullets darting round the screen,to the creaking sounds of the stagecoach highlighting how close the group are to danger at every turn. Going to Monument Valley for the first time, Ford looks across a valley of spectacular action,via wide-shots crisply following Yakima Canutt's stunt work, and stylish shots looking out of the window of the rumbling coach.Inspiring Orson Welles (who watched it over 40 times when making his debut) use of ceilings in Citizen Kane,Ford and Glennon brilliantly contrast the great outdoors action with an intimate,claustrophobic atmosphere,of the limited space in the rooms subtly bringing a closeness to Dallas and Ringo,and also squeezing the group into a tight space,where they must work with each other to escape. Loosely based on Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant (whose Bel Ami was wonderfully adapted in the same year) and Ernest Haycox's short story The Stage to Lordsburg,the screenplay by Dudley Nichols superbly gives every member of the gang their fair share of attention,which goes from the ill at ease Wilcox and dashing Ringo, to the playful Buck and alluring Dallas. Sending them round the track,Nichols makes each element of the group join into a thrilling team, with the cornering from the Apaches sanding down the dividing differences.The biggest name in the cast when the movie was made, Claire Trevor gives an excellent performance as prostitute (something the Hays Code had "issues" with) Dallas,thanks to Trevor making Dallas strong- willed against any of the guys,but also being well aware of the "outcast" status the job labels her with. Joined by a charming Andy Devine as Buck and a terrific George Bancroft as Wilcox, Da Duke gives a great performance as outlaw Ringo. Pushed around by Ford behind the scenes, Wayne bring out the rough treatment on screen by giving Ringo eyes a burning determination to see the stagecoach complete the journey.

socialnetworkman John Ford's "Stagecoach" boasts dynamic characters with satisfying arcs, classic thrills, a breakthrough performance by John Wayne, charismatic set pieces, as well as a charismatic director--it is rightfully deemed one of the most influential Westerns. Wayne's performance is restrained and charming, and among his other stagecoach colleagues are an empathetic prostitute driven out of town, suitably named Dallas (Claire Trevor), the vulnerable stagecoach driver Buck (Andy Devine), an alcoholic and shameless doctor Boone (Thomas Mitchell), a cowardly whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek), a rigorous marshal Curly (George Bancroft), the mysterious gambler Hatfield (John Carradine), an unlikable banker Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill), and a stressed wife Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt). With these characters--empathetic, sympathetic, mysterious, charming, likable, unlikable--all crammed in a claustrophobic stagecoach, we ultimately get a character study with Western thrills thrown in there to fill us with anxiety in losing one of them.