STAGECOACH

US, 1939, 97 Minutes, Black and White.
Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Donald Meeks, Andy Devine, John Carradine.
Directed by John Ford.

Stagecoach was one of the great films of 1939, considered a classic year, the year of Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Dark Victory, The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex and other significant and well-remembered films.

John Ford had been working, especially with westerns during the 1930s. However, they tended to be B-budget. But Ford had begun to emerge as a significant director with such films as The Informer in 1935 and The Hurricane in 1937. This was his first major western and he was to go on to make many classic westerns during the '40s, '50s and into the mid-'60s. He was to win Oscars with such films as How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man. Other classic westerns made by Ford include My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master as well as more elaborate westerns in the '50s and '60s like The Searchers, considered one of his greatest films, The Horse Soldiers, Sergeant Rutledge, How The West Was Won and Cheyenne Autumn. His last film was Seven Women.

John Wayne was about to emerge as the classic screen presence of the tall, tough, no-nonsense hero. Here he is more ambiguous as Ringo. Cecil B. de Mille was to use him soon in Reap the Wild Wind. But it was especially in the Ford westerns, many of those mentioned previously, that Wayne emerged as a strong screen presence. He was also to work as a western icon in many of the films of Howard Hawks, including Red River and Rio Bravo.

Thomas Mitchell won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the alcoholic doctor. Claire Trevor (who was to later win an Oscar for Key Largo) is the archetypal prostitute in the west.

The stagecoach provides another image of the microcosm, a cross-section of people caught and confined in a dangerous situation where their interactions can be dramatised. There was to be a remake of Stagecoach in 1966, directed by Gordon Douglas, with a lesser cast that included Alex Cord, Ann-Margret?, Bing Crosby and Van Heflin. The basic theme was also the subject of Martin Ritt's fine western, Hombre, with Paul Newman and Fredric March (1967).

1. How did this 30s film become a classic western?

2. How well did it use the conventions of the typical western: an outpost, the cavalry, the stagecoach, the journey, the Indian chase, the western towns, the shootout?

3. How did the film gauge audience response to these conventions and so use them to entertain them and even instruct them? How exciting was the film?
4. How did this film present the old myth of the west, about cowboys, Indians, heroes, heroics?

5. What was the social criticism implied in this film - especially as regards Christian charity? How strongly did this come across? Was the criticism valid?

6. The film depended for its suspense and interest on the interaction of the characters in the stage coach: Dallas: A woman of ill-repute, the reaction of the town ladies, Lucy Malleray's reaction, the suspense at the table, Ringo's manners towards her, the possibilities towards her changing, her assisting in the birth, her dream of someone being interested in her and changing her life, its fulfilment? Ringo: The conventional hero, the outcast, the man who went from prison to society in a week, likeable, having the respect of the sheriff and friends, yet in trouble, bent on revenge? Hatfield: the gambling man, with the attitudes of the south, a gentleman, his reaction to the ladies, his relish in killing the Indians, his death and his final attitudes? Doc Boone: the alcoholic, the outcast, making caustic comments on behaviour with insight, partly a comic character, his sobering to perform the operation? Gatewood: the typical hypocritical criminal, criticising authority yet robbing the bank, the criticism implied in his comments and behaviour, his being tricked by rushing to get away? Mr. Peacock: the kindly man, the man with timidity yet charity? Lucy Malleray: the contract with Dallas, prim yet courageous yet having the ability to learn charity? The Sheriff: his role in getting the stage through, his responsibility for Ringo and prison, his determination, the western spirit? Buck: a western comic figure, courageous enough, getting people through?

7. The effect of the Indian chase? The film's attitude towards Indians? The effect of the chase on those in the coach, their binding together to save themselves?

8. The shootout situation. The nature of the town, the western attitudes, the tough cowboys, revenge? How effective was the final shootout?

9. The happy ending. Was it appropriate for the film?

10. Why has this become a classic western?