Review of Stagecoach (1939) by Kris W — 23 Oct 2010

"Danger holds the reins as the devil cracks the whip ! Desperate men ! Frontier women ! Rising above their pasts in a West corrupted by violence and gun-fire!".

"Thrills! Thrills! Thrills! See - The Apache Attack! Charge of the Cavalry! Fight to the Death On the Last Frontier of Wickedness!'".

Kinda dated and slow at times, but the action sequences hold up pretty well, as does the cinematography. One of the stars is John Carradine, father of David (Kill Bill's Bill), Keith (Nashville), Robert (Revenge of the Nerds) Carradine, as well as grandfather of Martha Plimpton (Goonies).

[first lines].

Cavalry scout: These hills here are full of Apaches. They've burnt every ranch building in sight.

[referring to Indian scout].

Cavalry scout: He had a brush with them last night. Says they're being stirred up by Geronimo.

Capt. Sickel: Geronimo? How do we know he isn't lying?

Cavalry scout: No, he's a Cheyenne. They hate Apaches worse than we do.

Buck: If there's anything I don't like, it's driving a stagecoach through Apache country.

Henry, the Ringo Kid: Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from.

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Come busting in here - you'd think we were being attacked! You can find another wife.

Chris: Sure I can find another wife. But she take my rifle and my horse. Oh, I'll never sell her. I love her so much. I beat her with a whip and she never get tired.

Dr. Josiah Boone: Your wife?

Chris: No, my horse. I can find another wife easy, yes, but not a horse like that!

Ringo Kid: Well, I guess you can't break out of prison and into society in the same week.

Ringo Kid: You may need me and this Winchester, Curly. Saw a ranch house burnin' last night.

[the telegraph breaks off in mid-message].

Capt. Sickel: Well? What's wrong?

Telegraph operator: The line went dead, sir.

Capt. Sickel: What have you got here?

Telegraph operator: Only the first word, sir.

Capt. Sickel: (reading) Geronimo.

Henry Gatewood: So you're the notorious Ringo Kid.

The Ringo Kid: My friends just call me Ringo - nickname I had as a kid. Right name's Henry.

The Ringo Kid: That was my kid brother that broke his arm. You did a good job, Doc, even if you were drunk.

Dr. Josiah Boone: Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing.

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Now folks, if we push on we can be in Apache Wells by sundown. Soldiers there will give us an escort as far as the ferry. Then it's only a hoot and a holler into Lordsburg. We got four men who can handle firearms - five with you, Ringo. Doc can shoot if sober.

[the stagecoach occupants vote on whether to continue without a cavalry escort].

Marshal Curly Wilcox: You, Doc?

Dr. Josiah Boone: I'm not only a philosopher, sir, I'm a fatalist. Somewhere, sometime, there may be the right bullet or the wrong bottle waiting for Josiah Boone. Why worry when or where?

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Yes or no?

Dr. Josiah Boone: Having that philosophy, sir, I've always courted danger. During the late war - when I had the honor to serve the Union under our great president, Abraham Lincoln... and General Phil Sheridan - well, sir, I fought mid shot and shell and cannon roar...

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Do you wanna go back or not?

Dr. Josiah Boone: No! I want another drink.

Dr. Josiah Boone: I'll take that shotgun, Luke.

Luke Plummer: You'll take it in the belly if you don't get out of my way.

Dr. Josiah Boone: I'll have you indicted for murder if you step outside with that shotgun.

Luke Plummer: [throws the shotgun on the bar] We'll attend to you later.

Dr. Josiah Boone: [to bartender after Plummer leaves] Don't ever let me do that again.

Dr. Josiah Boone: Seems to me I knew your family, Henry. Didn't I fix your arm once when you, oh, bumped off a horse?

Ringo Kid: Are you Doc Boone?

Dr. Josiah Boone: I certainly am. Ah, let's see... I'd just been honorably discharged from the Union Army after the War of the Rebellion.

Hatfield: You mean the War for the Southern Confederacy, sir.

Dr. Josiah Boone: I mean nothing of the kind, sir!

Ringo Kid: That was my kid brother broke his arm. You did a good job, Doc, even if you was drunk.

Dr. Josiah Boone: Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing. What happened to that boy whose arm I fixed?

Ringo Kid: He was murdered.

Hatfield: A gentleman doesn't smoke in the presence of a lady.

Dr. Josiah Boone: Three weeks ago I took a bullet out of a man who was shot by a gentleman. The bullet was in his back!

Hatfield: You mean to insinuate...

Ringo Kid: Sit down, mister. Doc don't mean no harm.

[the stagecoach occupants are voting whether or not to continue without a cavalry escort].

Marshal Curly Wilcox: How 'bout you, Mr. Hancock?

Samuel Peacock: Peacock. I'd like to go on, brother. I want to reach the bosom of my dear family in Kansas City, Kansas as quickly as possible; but, I may never reach that bosom if we go on... so, under the circumstances - you understand, brother - I think it best we go back with the bosoms... I mean the soldiers.

Ed (editor): McCoy! Billy, kill that story about the Republican Convention in Chicago and take this down: "The Ringo Kid was killed on Main Street in Lordsburg tonight. And among the additional dead were..." Leave that blank for a spell.

McCoy, typesetter: I didn't hear any shootin', Ed.

Ed (editor): You will, Billy, you will.

[last lines].

Dr. Josiah Boone: Well, they're saved from the blessings of civilization.

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Yeah.

[laughs].

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Doc, I'll buy you a drink.

Dr. Josiah Boone: Just one.