Review of The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) by Kenneth L — 13 Dec 2009

A gripping, tight little morality play. Henry Fonda gives a solid performance, but his star character doesn't actually do much; he's just the character we identify with as we watch the rest of the characters in action.

It's funny that 14 years later he starred in 12 Angry Men, which was essentially the same story transplanted from the old West to a contemporary jury room. Dana Andrews is touching, and Anthony Quinn's character is interesting and unusual.

The moral about rule of law is nice and obvious, and Fonda gets to give a nice speech at the end. It's a Western based on a novel, but would work equally well as a play. There is one out-of-place scene that was clearly thrown in to provide an attractive female character, but it adds nothing.

The movie would have been better off without that scene. The production values are pretty standard for the time, maybe a bit tighter and more modern-feeling than most 1940s films. This is definitely what is known as "a minor classic.

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