What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here:http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
Stagecoach is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#63)
10 Top 10's (#9 Western)
Netflix allowed me to review this film, which I’m positive I saw on an old movie cable channel at some point a long time ago. The trouble is that I could not remember any of it, and I am not exactly sure why that is, though it seems to be a common problem for many who have seen it. I think this is because Stagecoach could be a fairly run-of-the-mill western, except for the fact that it has some notable and extraordinary aspects that are either going to stick in one’s memory or are not. One such notable aspect would be the introduction of John Wayne in what would be his breakthrough, if not first, role, and since the man made a living of primarily starring in westerns, they are bound to run together in one’s subconscious.
Still, Stagecoach becomes something of a surprise, released in that Golden Year of cinema, 1939, and no doubt buried by other films of that year with more fanfare, such as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Wuthering Heights. Stagecoach is an ensemble film set against the Old West, and the title refers to a method of public transportation, a horse-drawn coach, that people used to get from one town to another across the far expanses of desert and mountains occupying the southwest. In this particular story, the passengers are a motley crew of people with various issues and problems who are all determined to reach a town called Lordsburg. Riding in the coach all the way from Virginia is Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), a society woman who is determined to see her husband, in the national cavalry, due to the fact that she is in a delicate condition. A nervous whiskey drummer named Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is traveling to sell his wares and to return to his family, though he encounters, in the stage’s opening stop, Dr. Josiah Boone (Thomas Mitchell), a drunken doctor who has been ousted out of town by a women’s society determined to uphold the propriety (or “law”) of their town, and Mr. Peacock’s apparent new best friend. Dr. Boone is accompanied by a woman named Dallas (Claire Trevor), also ousted by the women’s society, who has a mysterious and apparently scandalous past. Gatewood (Benton Churchill) is a crooked banker who has stolen from his own bank and appears to be escaping life with his austere wife. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a gambler seemingly taken with Lucy, who accompanies her on the journey as her self-proclaimed protector. Buck (Andy Devine) drives the coach, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) promises to be along for the ride, hoping to catch up to the Ringo Kid (Wayne), who has recently escaped from prison. He is something of an honorable outlaw and former rancher, who has sworn a vendetta against the Plummer brothers, who murdered his father and brother. When the stage finally does catch up to Ringo, he warns the sheriff that Apache Indians are afoot and attacking settlers who rove into their territory, which the road to Lordsburg happens to pass through. In the meantime, though the cavalry temporarily accompanies the stage, the passengers are eventually abandoned in the advent of war with the Indians and must decide to brave the trek unprotected, all while managing the tenuous interpersonal dynamics between the passengers themselves.
Stagecoach is an interesting blend of traditional western, action-adventure film, and character drama. It literally has something for everyone, and for that reason, it’s entertaining, even for a western, which, if you are an avid follower of this blog, you know is my least favorite film genre. John Ford, the director of this and other great westerns such as The Searchers, expertly directed this film, making it a thrilling adventure as well as a compelling story of characters vying and struggling between social acceptance or civilization and ostracism or social exclusion.
The money shot in this film is the introduction of Ringo Kid. A gunshot heralds his presence, and then a fast-moving dolly camera zooms in on a stoic, chiseled John Wayne, introducing him to film history, this film included, with pluck and artistic bravado. Other impressive elements of this film include the performances, particularly by Wayne, who made Kid a sympathetic hero, striving to protect the society that would otherwise shun him from Apache attacks and menacing outlaws. Also, Thomas Mitchell, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film (though he ironically appeared in Mr. Smith and Gone with the Wind the same year), was delightful as the drunkard Boone, who injected some witty and acerbic humor into the proceedings even as his feigned intoxication required him to offer a little slapstick, and his rare sobriety offered glimpses into a thinking and feeling man who was once great at his profession. Dr. Boone is certainly of the most layered characters ever to grace early cinema, and Mitchell gave an outstanding performance.
The stunt work in this film is also both impressive and marvelous; the scene where the stagecoach is actually attacked by Indians on horseback, with Ringo jumping from horse to horse in the stage’s train, is gaspingly exciting for the year in which the film was made. The cinematography is also sort of breathtaking for a black and white film: the wide camera views of desert vistas and two-track trails as well as romantically lit moon-soaked nights in which Ringo, uncaring of Dallas’ past, attempts to consummate the unspoken love between them, are truly amazing. Also, the story is satisfying – formulaic according to what the genre demands, to be sure, but filled with clearly defined lines of good and evil, right and wrong, judgment and misjudgment, and happy endings. The score was also delightful, tinny and orchestral though it was, because it was so illustrative of the events on screen.
I have but one complaint about this film, which is the fact that Dallas’ scandalous past is easily assumed but deliberately ambiguous and confusing, no doubt as a result of the Hayes Production Code of film decency in place at the time (after all, prostitution was probably not something to celebrate or call by name in movies in 1939 – see also Gone with the Wind). I also have one comment: the digital transfer of this film was not so good. The contrasts in the black and white DVD I had made some parts of the film hard to see, particularly when it was supposed to be daylight and sunny. That’s not a critique of the film, naturally, as it is more of an expression of sadness at the difficulty film preservationists and others must have when attempting to transfer these aged films to new digital media.
All in all, though, Stagecoach is fun to watch, entertaining and artistic, and another great product from a great year in Hollywood history. Even though the film seems to provide the template for many a western to follow, the AFI did not see fit to rank this film on its Revised list, opting instead for Cabaret as a new addition to its updated ranking. I do enjoy Cabaret more, because I enjoy musicals more, but I find that Stagecoach is likely often also overlooked in consideration of the year and other films that were released at the same time. As for my personal patented ranking, I think the film merits an 8.5 between minor flaws/very good and perfectly entertaining. This ranking reflects the ambiguity of Dallas’ story, the fact that I don’t enjoy westerns as much, and the fact that Indians are, yet again, the bad guys, thanks to the ignorance of people of that present day, though I will say that the film’s treatment of Mexican and Hispanic characters was decidedly less uncomfortably caricature-like than in other, even later, films of the genre. As for the test, I’m not sure that Stagecoach passes. While I tentatively love the film, it’s not one I could find myself watching repeatedly, though I did enjoy the smoldering romance between Ringo and Dallas. Still, Stagecoach has its place in film history and is a great watch for anyone interested in exploring early westerns, the films of John Ford, or the films of John Wayne and even for anyone just interested in watching a bona fide good movie.