Classic Movie Review: Stagecoach
By Clint Chirpich
March 16, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Going into it, I didn't really know what to expect from Stagecoach. Other than the very basic facts - a Ford western starring John Wayne - I didn't know much about the film. Sometimes that is the best way to watch something - go in "blind" and absorb everything as it comes at you.
Stagecoach is a relatively simple film, at least from a plot perspective. Nine individuals are on a stagecoach trip from Tonto, in the Arizona territory, to Lordsburg, in the New Mexico territory. Along the way, they have to deal with personal prejudices, weather conditions, a baby being born, and the dangers of traveling through Apache country while Geronimo is on the warpath.
Claire Trevor, a fairly successful and "name brand" actress at the time, had top billing and one of the largest roles as Dallas, a prostitute who is being forced to leave Tonto on the coach. The ladies of "The Law and Order League" are trying to clean up their town and also send the drunk, amiable Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) on his way. He joins Dallas on the coach, along with a whiskey salesman (Samuel Peacock, played by Donald Meek), the pregnant Mrs. Mallory (Louise Platt), a Southern gentleman and card shark (Hatfield, slyly played by John Carradine), and Ellsworth Gatewood (Berton Churchill), the town's banker who's recently embezzled $50,000 and is fleeing the scene of the crime. Driving the coach is Buck (played by the wonderful Andy Devine) and Marshal Wilcox (George Bancroft) is riding shotgun.
Along the way, they come across the Ringo Kid, an escaped fugitive played by John Wayne. Ringo seems to be a nice guy who simply got himself into some trouble, but he also broke out of prison with the lone goal of killing Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler) and his brothers as retribution for killing his own father and brother. There's a long history between the families, but the audience is only given the slightest information - just enough to keep us wondering just what kind of men Ringo and the Plummers are.
Wayne is rather good in Stagecoach and impressed me with his relaxed manner in some scenes and quiet intensity in others. Ringo is a complex character and Wayne is able to play all the angles really well. Wayne had been toiling away in "B" pictures - as everything from a crew member, stuntman, and actor - for over a decade, but Stagecoach was his big break. Ford insisted on casting Wayne, even refusing to change his mind after numerous studios passed on the film because of Wayne's attachment. Luckily, Ford eventually got to make his film the way he wanted, and cinema history was changed forever. Wayne, of course, became one of the biggest stars of all-time and spent the next three decades entertaining millions of people, eventually becoming a true Hollywood icon.
I was surprised to find that Wayne wasn't the lead in Stagecoach, though. That honor goes to Trevor's Dallas - the prostitute with more integrity than nearly everyone else on the coach. I've never seen Trevor in anything else, so I didn't know what to expect from her, but she was excellent. There are a lot of little moments where she makes a subtle point with just a look or just her body language, but when she has to speak up and defend herself, Trevor is more than capable.
Wayne's character isn't introduced until about the 20 minute mark, but it's a fantastic introduction. Some terrific editing and a quick zoom add up to a shot that I'll remember for ages. Ford seemed to be saying, "Here's John Wayne. You don't know him, but you'll never forget him now."
The rest of the cast is in fine form, too, especially Mitchell, who has probably the showiest role as the habitually intoxicated Doc Boone. There are definite comedic moments at the expense of Boone's alcoholism, but Mitchell never plays it too far over the top, so there's always a human side in sight. Mitchell gets to shine in both funny and serious scenes and went on to win the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for the role. It was a well-earned award, no doubt.
I'd also like to highlight the work of Andy Devine as Buck. I've only recently discovered Devine (after watching The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance), but after seeing him in these two films, I'm excited to see more of his work. Devine has a very unusual voice, but it instantly lends pathos to his performances and helps him create interesting, uncommon characters. In Stagecoach, Buck is a bit of a coward, ready to turn and retreat at the first signs of trouble, but once the trouble arrives, he doesn't shrink away. Devine's folksy performance immediately pulled me in and I rooted for Buck during the entire film.
The lone performance that I think fell flat was Churchill as the scheming banker, Gatewood. He just comes across as a little too one dimensional and I didn't really care about him one way or the other, unlike the rest of the characters, who I was emotionally invested in. Gatewood seems like a stock character and nothing more. I think the blame for this can be spread in three different directions - Churchill, Ford, and the screenwriter Dudley Nichols. Churchill gives a mostly lifeless performance, but he wasn't aided by his director or writer. There are a couple of moments near the beginning of the film where Ford lingers on close-ups of Gatewood, hitting the audience over the head with the message "This guy's no good and can't be trusted!" Both shots really struck me as odd and hurt the film's flow and made Gatewood seem like a silly character. And Nichols just didn't seem to put much work into the character, unlike how he handled the other eight main roles and even most of the supporting roles.
That's a small blemish on an otherwise terrific film, which was Ford's first western with sound (he had made dozens of silent westerns previously) and his first filmed at the majestic Monument Valley, on the border between Arizona and Utah. The scenery is wonderful and has that perfect "Old West" feel to it - large expanses of desert with beautiful mountain peaks in the distance - and I understand why Ford would return again and again to this same spot to film many of his classic films.
My favorite part of the film has to be the attack scene when the Apache warriors descend upon the coach, trying to murder (or do worse to) everyone on board. There's a moment during the attack that contains one the most breathtaking stunts I've ever seen: an Apache man leaps from his horse onto the coach's lead horses. He's shot and falls to the ground, as all six horses and the coach itself drive over him. It was an insanely dangerous stunt to attempt - there were no CGI tricks to use or even hidden safety measures in place - but Ford and the stuntman (veteran Yakima Canutt, who would also double for Wayne in parts) decided to go for it and succeeded marvelously. It's an intense sequence.
All the technical components of the film are absolutely fantastic. Everything from the cinematography and editing to the art direction and costumes is first rate. The totality of all these aspects is what makes Stagecoach such an enduring classic. It doesn't just do one or two things well; it does everything at a high level. The editing was so impressive that Orson Welles watched Stagecoach more than 40 times in preparation for the making of his own classic, Citizen Kane, because he wanted to replicate its successful editing technique. The score is especially well done and adds nicely to the film, rather than distracting from it like some scores do. The music is used expertly to underscore intense or romantic or comedic moments, but never is overbearing. In fact, the score was so good that it won an Academy Award.
My only real problem while watching Stagecoach - due in no fault to the film or the filmmakers - is the picture quality in the version I saw. I recorded it off of TCM and they must only have access to an old print, since much of the picture was marred in one or more ways. There were noticeable scratch marks throughout and I feel the picture was far too dark at the corners in several scenes. The Criterion Collection did a complete remaster of Stagecoach in 2010 and I will eventually buy that version and see the film in the way it should be seen, under the best possible conditions.
After doing some research online, I learned how Stagecoach revitalized the western genre, bringing it back from its "B" picture dredges and placing it firmly in the "A" list again. In addition to winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and Best Score, Stagecoach was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Editing and probably would have won several more if it hadn't been released in 1939 - the year of Gone With the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Wuthering Heights, and The Wizard of Oz.
Stagecoach is certainly one of the best westerns I've seen and the American Film Institute agrees, ranking it as the #9 western film of all-time, a distinct honor considering all the films in contention.