Stagecoach

The western never seems to fade away, many times it seems to, but it always comes back. It's difficult to remember that way back when movies were still in its infancy, people would flock to westerns the same way they do with super hero movies of today. Westerns started off in the early silent days, you could trace it back to "The Great Train Robbery". It would live on as classic B-stories or Saturday matinee serials. Very few people took westerns seriously, they were made up for action sequences where the good guys shot the bad guys and that was that.

Then John Ford came along, is there any other director so well known for westerns. Ford started out in silent films making the very kind of westerns I stated above, but he knew there could be something more to the genre. I"m not sure if there was a legitimate western made before "Stagecoach" came along, but one things for sure, it took most of the credit for being the first one that took it seriously.

"Stagecoach" has since taken on a legendary status for many reasons, it introduced John Ford's mythical monument valley, it also introduced a star in John Wayne by giving him one of the most famous close-up intros in history. Besides that, "Stagecoach" was also the film that Orson Welles allegedly watched over thirty times before he started filming "Citizen Kane". Besides all the legendary status, it's also a very entertaining and intriguing western.

"Stagecoach" was dubbed the "Grand Hotel" of westerns, it's a multi-character story of a bunch of strangers who must share a stagecoach together. Among the colorful people along for the ride are a gambler (John Carradine), the wife of a calvary officer (Louise Platt), a meek but kind liquor peddler (Donald Meek), a drunken doctor (Thomas Mitchell), and his call-girl friend Dallas (Claire Trevor). Riding the stage is Any Devine and the sheriff Curly (George Bancroft). Each person has there own reasons for leaving town on the stagecoach, Dallas and the doctor have been run out of town by the locals for being unsuitable for society. The gambler seems to be in love with the wife of the Calvary officer, and Curly's looking for The Ringo Kid (Wayne). Ringo has just escaped from jail to avenge the death of his brother, and Curly wants to bring him back to jail for his protection.

On top of all the personal dramas, there is also danger of Apache attacks, the stagecoach is accompanied by the Calvary for awhile, but then they are on their own to fend for themselves. We first meet John Wayne's Ringo in the middle of road, the camera pans right up to Wayne's face, it's almost a blatant way to say to the audience, "this is a new movie star". Ringo takes most of the center stage, he falls hard for Dallas, yet he doesn't know her background, he's on his way to meet his destiny, of course you could say that for most of the people here.

You can't really take "Stagecoach" as seriously as it may have been back then, it was probably John Ford's intent on showing three dimensional characters could live in the west. In this way he succeeds where many have failed. The other films it tries to emulate are "Grand Hotel" and "Dinner at Eight", both of which I find entertaining, but the characters never seem three dimensional to me, there's more love in "Stagecoach", Ford deals with simple feelings of compassion, and redemption and takes it seriously, it's there he's given credit. Many of these scenes might be considered cliche by today's standards such as the doctor having to sober up fast with coffee in order to deliver a baby, yet it works with this film.

Of course the film looks marvelous, Ford is a master of spectacle especially with Monument Valley as its backdrop, the contrast between the majesty of the mountains and the human action around it is breathtaking, Ford was obviously touched by the location of this film and could see the dramatic possibilities surrounding it.

The intimate scenes are just as effective, with the use of black and white cinematography, as the group of travellers are huddled in a Mexican cantina while there is a Mexican song being such outside, it's a quintessential Ford scene. Many of the performances also transcend their somewhat cliched trappings; Wayne has his natural charisma working for him, you can understand just why he became the most popular star in America. Many critics of Wayne find that he's not much of an actor, however I beg to differ, Wayne just knew how to react, he knew film acting was different from real acting, of course he couldn't perform Shakespeare, but no one could ride a horse better.

Claire Trevor is quite touching as Dallas, you can see a cynical side to her that would come in handy when she would be a grand dame of film noir, of course she has a heart of gold. Thomas Mitchell, one of the great character actors of his day has a wonderful time as Doc Boone, the drunken physician, Mitchell had memorable work the same year in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "Gone with the Wind", and gave one of the best death scenes in "Only Angels have Wings", but he got the Oscar for "Stagecoach".

John Ford won four Oscars for directing in his career, yet not one for a western, today of course we associate him for his westerns, it's hard not to. With "Stagecoach", Ford created the road map for westerns to come, he created the archetypes, the feeling, the nostalgia, and the action. He was still romantic about the west, the darker elements of "Fort Apache", "The Searchers", and "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance" were still to come, but "Stagecoach" prepared us for a rich tapestry from this great American poet.