Review of Stagecoach (1939) by Dennis B — 19 Sep 2015

John Ford's "Stagecoach" boasts dynamic characters with satisfying arcs, classic thrills, a breakthrough performance by John Wayne, charismatic set pieces, as well as a charismatic director--it is rightfully deemed one of the most influential Westerns.

Wayne's performance is restrained and charming, and among his other stagecoach colleagues are an empathetic prostitute driven out of town, suitably named Dallas (Claire Trevor), the vulnerable stagecoach driver Buck (Andy Devine), an alcoholic and shameless doctor Boone (Thomas Mitchell), a cowardly whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek), a rigorous marshal Curly (George Bancroft), the mysterious gambler Hatfield (John Carradine), an unlikable banker Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill), and a stressed wife Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt).

With these characters--empathetic, sympathetic, mysterious, charming, likable, unlikable--all crammed in a claustrophobic stagecoach, we ultimately get a character study with Western thrills thrown in there that fill us with anxiety in losing one of them, may it be the unlikable banker, we still fear for him.