A small group of passengers take the stagecoach across dangerous territory as they each look to find their own escape or redemption.
With Geronimo and the Apache threatening, the regular journey from Tonto to military Lordsburg across traditional Apache lands is made the more dangerous. The disparate group joining the stagecoach have their own reasons to leave Tonto including Dallas (Claire Trevor), marched as she is to her departure by the local moral majority, local bank manager Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill) with more than clothing in an overnight bag and The Ringo Kid (John Wayne) out to prove he’s been wrongly accused of a crime.
As the journey moves from outpost to outpost, so relationships evolve between passengers and crew with the warring Apache an increasing threat. With the alcoholic Doc Josiah Boone (a splendid Thomas Mitchell) increasingly drunk and romance blooming between the Kid and Dallas, so Stagecoach evolves into a classic frontier epic seemlessly directed by John Ford.
Nominated for 7 Oscars in 1940 including best film, director, cinematography – won 2 (Thomas Mitchell for best supporting actor and musical score).
Rating: 64%
Director: John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath, The Quiet Man)
Writer: Dudley Nichols (Bringing Up Baby, The Informer), Ben Hecht (Notorious, Scarface) – based on story by Ernest Haycox
Main cast: John Wayne (True Grit, The Alamo), Claire Trevor (Key Largo, Dead End), Thomas Mitchell (It’s a Wonderful Life, Gone With the Wind), John Carradine (The Grapes of Wrath, The Ten Commandments)
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