Stagecoach

Not just the prototype but the godfather of the modern western. Ford's masterpiece influenced the genre in numerous ways, as well as giving birth to his long-running partnership with John Wayne, surely the most creative director-actor relationship in the history of cinema.

The story follows a stagecoach party travelling from Tonto to Lordsburg filled with a real collection of characters: a prostitute, a drunkard doctor, a pregnant woman, a gambler and a crooked banker. They are joined by escaped convict The Ringo Kid (Wayne) who turns out to be the hero in their midst when he chivalrously and selflessly protects them from the inevitable attack by the Indians, so he gets away with the girl and his freedom at the end, the sheriff conveniently "forgetting" to arrest him.

Stagecoach is unequivocally seminal for several reasons. Ford's characterization has great depth and complexity, and several of the film's characters would be models for many westerns to come. Wayne's laconic loner in particular obviously prefigures some of his more modern counterparts. And in the furiously edited chase sequence Ford clinches the essential epic feel of the western by his dramatic utilisation of the Monument Valley location. Stagecoach basically moved the western up from being a lightweight vehicle to something capable of carrying more serious themes within its stock structure. A masterful film, it remains essential viewing for not only all westerns fans but for anyone interested in cinema.

Review by Mark Radice>
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95