Review of Stagecoach (1939) by Todd L — 08 Apr 2011

Since I first got into this website I have matured quite a bit as far as my perspective of film goes. A couple of months ago I would have called you a liar if you said I would be watching John Ford and Wayne Westerns from the 1930's. To be honest, as an artist who loves the beauty of vivid color palettes, the sight if flat black and white images usually make me want to pull my fucking hair out. That's why, despite loving comic books more than I can tell you, there are some classic comics that I cannot pick up. The same goes for film. I love color so much that it pains me to see movies without it, but I have to say that it never even crossed my mind when I was watching this.

Stagecoach is a work of sheer brilliance that everyone should see. Westerns ranked down there with Musicals as my least favorite genres for a very long time, but ever since I saw 3:10 To Yuma, my love for them has not stopped blossoming. I'm not sure, but I think this is my first time watching a John Ford movie. Maybe a John Wayne film as well. From what I learned this is the movie that propelled John Wayne into the star he became. I have to say it was a pleasure watching the birth of a star. He fit his role to perfection, as did pretty much everyone else in the movie. This movie revolves around its characters. And a character is only as good as the actor in the costume portraying them. The entire cast of Stagecoach did their part.

The dynamics of the characters was beyond fantastic. They were all very different personalities, yet they seemed to complement each other very well. The drunken doctor was my second favorite character, second only to the driver of the stagecoach. He was a big bumbling doofus, and he made me laugh at just about everything he said. He proved that humor can be very simple, yet clean, and still get all the laughs it aims to get. Very funny movie, but it has a heart as well. The whore (I guess she was a whore) who was as sweet as anyone brought heart to the story. Her relationship with Ringo developed a bit quickly for my taste, but that was a minor issue.

I can go on all day about the characters, but I won't. I'm pretty sure many have already seen it and everyone else has heard of Stagecoach at some point or another. There is a tiny bit of action in this movie as well. And I won't say too much about it because it is very reserved, and nothing exciting by today's standards, but I enjoyed watching the characters work together to survive the much anticipated Apache attack. Stagecoach considered by many to be the greatest Western of all time. While I would not go that far, it was certainly one of the best I have seen. That does not mean much because I haven't seen many. But I look forward to.