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Line 1: {{work\|wppage=Stagecoach (1939 film)}} [[File:Stagecoach.jpg\|frame]] {{quote\|''Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from''.\|The Ringo Kid ([[John Wayne]])}} '''''Stagecoach''''' is a classic 1939 [[The Western\|Western]] directed by ~~the legendary~~ [[John Ford]], ~~and~~featuring [[John Wayne]]'s first major role. The actor had previously appeared in some 80 B pictures; most studio executives were vehemently opposed to casting him in a major film, but John Ford (whose first ''sound'' Western this was to be) insisted on Wayne. (Notably, the actor was paid far less than any of his co-stars except for John Carradine.) Ford, well known for abusing his cast and crew, reportedly brutalized Wayne to screw an effective performance out of him -- and succeeded. This film also marked the first time that Ford would shoot in [[Scenery Porn\|Monument Valley, Utah]], the site that would become his favorite setting and almost a trademark of his films. The film was [[The Remake\|remade]] in 1966 by director Gavin Douglas, with Alex Cord replacing Wayne as the Ringo Kid, [[Bing Crosby]] as Doc Boone, [[The Longest Day\|Red Buttons]] as Peacock, [[The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.\|Stephanie Powers]] as Mrs. Mallory, Mike Connors as Hatfield, Robert Cummings as Gatewood, Van Heflin as Curley, [[Dr. Strangelove\|Slim]] [[Blazing Saddles\|Pickens]] as Buck, and Ann-Margret as Dallas. Despite an improved script (the Gatewood subplot is particularly satisfyingly tied in to the Ringo plot, with [[The Great Race\|Keenan]] [[Santa Claus is Comin' to Town\|Wynn]]'s delightfully nasty Luke Plummer being fatally hired by the defaulting banker) and a remarkably strong showing by Crosby, the film is killed dead by a leaden performance by Cord. Ultimately the most memorable aspects of this remake are the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUlPqXDnE0 portraits done of the cast in-character] by [[Norman Rockwell]]. ▼ ~~''Synopsis''~~ {{tropelist}} A random cross-section of 1880s American society boards the stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory, to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory, including the [[The Alcoholic\|alcoholic]] Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell), whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek), the pregnant officer's wife Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), gambler and [[Southern Gentleman]] Hatfield (John Carradine), [[Corrupt Corporate Executive\|banker]] Henry Gatewood (Barton Churchill), and [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold\|soiled dove]] Dallas (Claire Trevor). US Marshal "Curley" Wilcox (George Bancroft) provides protection, and Buck (Andy Devine) drives the coach. Before long, they pick up the Ringo Kid (Wayne), who is planning to kill the outlaws who killed his family. Wilcox and the Kid are old friends, but Wilcox arrests him anyway. The Kid begins to fall for Dallas. * [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The movie draws inspiration from "Boule de Suif", a short story by [[Guy de Maupassant]]. The story is a social critique of French passengers trying to flee a hot spot in the French-Prussian War, and where one of the passengers (a [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold\|jovial well-meaning prostitute]]) is forced to have sex with a Prussian officer to help the coach passengers escape. The movie changes the setting, removes the degradation of the prostitute, but leaves the social critique pretty much intact (with a karmic punishment for the crooked banker, as required by the [[Hays Code]]).▼ The US cavalry warns the stagecoach passengers that Apaches are active in the area and that Geronimo is on the warpath. However, the stagecoach sets out anyway, first with a full cavalry detachment, but not long on the trip they break away to join the main Army group. They get to Dry Fork without incident, though the outpost is undefended, and continue on to Apache Wells, where Lucy is expecting to meet her husband, who is in the Army. When they reach Apache Wells, they find it nearly abandoned, no soldiers in sight, and Lucy's husband nowhere to be found. Someone at Apache Wells tells Lucy that her husband has been wounded, and hearing this Lucy faints and gives birth, off-screen, so the passengers rest a day before pressing on. The Ringo Kid considers escape, but decides against it when he sees smoke from buildings burnt by Apaches. They continue on to Lee's Ferry, which is burnt down, and ford the river. They think they're clear, but several dozen Apaches on horseback attack them. After a long chase, during which one passenger dies and another is injured, the US cavalry stages a last-minute rescue. Once they arrive in Lordsburg, the Ringo Kid has a shoot-out with the outlaws, then goes back to Wilcox, expecting to be arrested. Instead, Wilcox and Doc Boone laughingly allow the Kid to escape with Dallas, and they ride off into the sunrise. ▲The film was [[The Remake\|remade]] in 1966 by director Gavin Douglas, with Alex Cord replacing Wayne as the Ringo Kid, [[Bing Crosby]] as Doc Boone, [[The Longest Day\|Red Buttons]] as Peacock, [[The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.\|Stephanie Powers]] as Mrs. Mallory, Mike Connors as Hatfield, Robert Cummings as Gatewood, Van Heflin as Curley, [[Dr. Strangelove\|Slim]] [[Blazing Saddles\|Pickens]] as Buck, and Ann-Margret as Dallas. Despite an improved script (the Gatewood subplot is particularly satisfyingly tied in to the Ringo plot, with [[The Great Race\|Keenan]] [[Santa Claus is Comin' to Town\|Wynn]]'s delightfully nasty Luke Plummer being fatally hired by the defaulting banker) and a remarkably strong showing by Crosby, the film is killed dead by a leaden performance by Cord. Ultimately the most memorable aspects of this remake are the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUlPqXDnE0 portraits done of the cast in-character] by [[Norman Rockwell]]. ~~----~~ ~~=== These films provide examples of: ===~~ ▲* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The movie draws inspiration from "Boule de Suif", a short story by [[Guy de Maupassant]]. The story is a social critique of French passengers trying to flee a hot spot in the French-Prussian War, and where one of the passengers (a [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold\|jovial well-meaning prostitute]]) is forced to have sex with a Prussian officer to help the coach passengers escape. The movie changes the setting, removes the degradation of the prostitute, but leaves the social critique pretty much intact (with a karmic punishment for the crooked banker). ** A more direct source of the movie was "The Stage to Lordsburg" by Ernest Haycox, which had a "bare-bones plot". Ford merged it with de Maupassant's story to add more characterization. * [[The Alcoholic]]: Thomas Mitchell earned his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for being convincingly alcoholic as Doc Boone. By movie's end - having proved himself a good doctor - he's hinting at cutting back on the whiskey... Line 28 ⟶ 19: * [[The Cavalry]] * [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Gatewood * [[Dead Man's Hand]]: Luke holds this hand. He is shortly ~~therafter~~thereafter gunned down by the Ringo Kid. * [[Enemy Mine]]: Wilcox and the Ringo Kid * [[The Gambler]]: Hatfield again Line 39 ⟶ 30: * [[Southern Gentleman]]: Hatfield. He's more gambler than gentleman, though. * [[Standard Snippet]]: Par for the course in a John Ford movie, but probably used more here than in any other. By one count, the score uses seventeen folk and popular songs from the era, some as [[Leitmotif\|leitmotifs]], for instance ''I Dream of Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair'' for Mrs. Malory. * [[Star-Making Role]]: John Wayne had been a bit player and B-movie actor for nearly a decade before this film made him a huge star. * [[The Trope Kid]]: The Ringo Kid * [[US Marshal]]: Wilcox Line 45 ⟶ 35: {{reflist}} {{Vatican Best Films List}} [[Category:The Criterion Collection]] [[Category:Roger Ebert Great Movies List]] Line 51 ⟶ 42: [[Category:Academy Award]] [[Category:Stagecoach]] [[Category:Tarzan]]▼ [[Category:Film Westerns]] [[Category:Native American Media]] [[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]] ▲[[Category:~~Tarzan~~Film]]