Stagecoach was considered a classic western at the time it was made.\u00a0 It also proved to be the breakout performance for John Wayne\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
The plot involves a stagecoach making a run straight through an Indian uprising under Geronimo.\u00a0 The passenger list is a cross section of various types found in westerns.\u00a0 Driving the coach are a lawman named Curley Wilcox and for comic relief Buck, played by Andy Devine.\u00a0 There\u2019s a prostitute with a heart of gold named Dallas who\u2019s been thrown out of town by the ladies of the Decency League.\u00a0 There\u2019s a southern gambler named Hatfield played by John Carradine.\u00a0 There\u2019s the drunken Doc Boone played by Thomas Mitchell.\u00a0 There\u2019s the obnoxious town banker Mr. Gatewood who has secretly absconded with the bank\u2019s money.\u00a0 There\u2019s Mr. Peacock who is a mild-mannered whiskey salesman.\u00a0 There\u2019s Mrs. Lucy Mallory the pregnant wife of a cavalry officer.\u00a0 And last but not least, the Ringo Kid played by John Wayne.\u00a0 Ringo has busted out of jail and is headed to Lordsburg like the rest of them but in his case, it is to find and kill the three Plummer brothers who killed his father and brother and framed him for one of their crimes.<\/p>\n
The passengers represent the various class and moral differences that make for friction and hard feelings between them.\u00a0 The main story is the journey through Apache territory and the gun battle with Geronimo\u2019s men but along the way the drunken doctor sobers up long enough to deliver Mrs. Mallory\u2019s baby.\u00a0 Dallas and Ringo strike up a romance.\u00a0 Doc Boone finishes off all of Mr. Peacock\u2019s whiskey samples.\u00a0 Gatewood and Mrs. Mallory discover that he served under her father the general in the Civil War.<\/p>\n
But the final chapter is the showdown between Ringo and the Plummers.\u00a0 And after Ringo finishes off all three of them (with just three bullets!) he gives himself up to Curley to finish out his sentence in jail.\u00a0 But Curley decides to take the law into his own hands and frees the Kid and sends him off with Dallas to start their new life together across the state line at Ringo\u2019s family ranch.\u00a0 The storybook happy ending.<\/p>\n
For our generation the story probably seems a little too stereotyped, the acting too broad and the ending too pat.\u00a0 The idea that a lawman would release his prisoner on his own recognizance to allow him to engage in a gunfight after which he would just walk back into custody to be brought back to prison seems like some kind of fantasy.\u00a0 The expectant mother travelling on a stagecoach through an Indian attack seems even crazier.\u00a0 But the movie does provide an enjoyable story.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t consider it any kind of best in class western.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s a good story with several good actors, especially Thomas Mitchell and John Carradine.\u00a0 And it\u2019s fun to see a young John Wayne navigating around actors who were much bigger stars than he was at the time.<\/p>\n
I recommend this movie to fans of westerns, John Wayne and movies of this era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stagecoach was considered a classic western at the time it was made.\u00a0 It also proved to be the breakout performance for John Wayne\u2019s career. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[3377,3378,3218,43,38,1355,3379,97],"class_list":["post-16629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-andy-devine","tag-john-carradine","tag-john-wayne","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-thomas-mitchell","tag-westerns"],"yoast_head":"\n