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Stagecoach Sponsored by El Paso Chile Company 1939 | Not Rated | Action, Western | d. John Ford John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine |
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| The classic John Ford Western is innovative and noteworthy for many things, not least of which was truly launching John Wayne from bit player/stuntman to star (as sympathetic semi-outlaw Ringo Kid). However, the major appeal comes in the “Grand Hotel on wagon wheels” storyline, in which a diverse group of personalities (played by a fine aggregation of distinct character players) all end up on the same stage heading to Lordsburg, but each with their own goals. Notable among the group are pregnant army wife Louise Platt, “fallen women with a heart of gold” Claire Trevor (who gets billing over Wayne) gentlemanly Southern gambler John Carradine, the appropriately named timid whiskey salesman Donald Meek, and Thomas Mitchell in an Oscar-winning turn as the alcoholic doc, who mooches on Meek but proves himself in a pinch. Indian attacks, snow storms, outlaw shootings, birth and death, and wild wagon chases all form the cycle of Ford's West. Though remade and imitated many times, none approached the original. - AL | ||