THE OX-BOW INCIDENT

US, 1942, 90 minutes, Black and white,
Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Henry Morgan, Anthony Quinn, Harry Davenport, Jane Darwell.
Directed by William Wellman.

The Ox- Bow Incident has become a classic Western although some of its techniques and build-up are a little too obvious now. However, it has enough force and realism to make an impression on any audience. Its straightforward, but very sombre, picture of vengeful men lynching their fellow-men has a message for all time.

Two men ride into town and ride out at the end, but they participate in an incident that might have been common enough in a lawless West. There is a terrible cruelty and harshness in the faces of the lynching posse. There is a doom and relentlessness about the incident that reminds one of the impending fate of ancient Greek tragedies. In this light, the letter of Donald (Dana Andrews) reads like an elevated moral on the tragedy being enacted. On the level of realism, which is the way most audiences would take the film, the letter seems grandiose and pretentious.

A fine film on the grim aspects of man, law and society.

1. Should the film have been considered primarily on the level of realism, or of a Western version of ritual tragedy? (Social realism or poetic drama?)

2. How did the film build up its picture of frontier life and the law of the West - e.g. the isolation, the love of fighting (not necessarily to win), drinking, boredom and nothing to do, girls abandoning men for the city?

3. What was the basis of law in the town? What was the authority of the sheriff, the Deputy, the Judge? Could the deputy constitute the lynching posse as a lawful court and jury?

4. What was the role of Mr Davies and Sparks? Did they make the, moral issues clearer? (A type of Greek chorus?)

5. What motivated the men in the posse - friendship? justice? vengeance? boredom?

6. How did the camera comment on the characters of the men in the posse by the way it photographed their faces?

7. What was the point of the incident with the stage-coach? Did it prepare the audience for what was to happen?

8. Comment on the characters of:
- the leader of the posse
- the drunken man who mimicked the singing
- the southern Major Tetley
- his son
- Ma Grier
what was each trying to prove?

9. The three men to be lynched - what kind of men were they? What were their reactions to the accusations?
- the (naming) yet religious attitude of the Mexican
- the fear of the old man
- the desperate fear, yet nobility of Donald.

10. The letter - how convincing as realism, as part of the ritual?

11. Why did the major delay the hanging until sunrise?

12. What was the point of the division of for and against the hanging? The major's son making a stand?

13. Reaction when the sheriff arrived and the men were proven innocent?

14. Why did the major shoot himself? Did the men in the bar -understand their guilt? Were they really affected by the letter?

15. The psychological and social effects of lynching?