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Continuing my efforts to see more westerns - especially those considered classics of the genre - next up in my viewing queue was the seminal John Ford film from 1939, Stagecoach.

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.

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