STACK Template

32 / 101

032 AUGUST 2017
visit EXTRAS FEATURE
drummer and an aristocratic
Southern gambler. Along the trail
they happen upon Ringo Kid, a
fugitive from justice, who hitches
a ride with them to Lordsburg to
avenge the death of his father
and brother at the hands of Luke
Plummer who he knows will be
there waiting for him. During the
hazardous journey they must all
learn to work together to survive.
Not surprisingly, the least socially
reputable members of the group
perform the most heroically. The whore and
drunken doctor deliver the baby and Ringo
ensures the safety of the coach when attacked
by the Apache. The film ends with a climactic
gunfight between Ringo and the Plummer gang
on the empty streets of Lordsburg.
Viewed today these now familiar types
and tropes might seem a little clichéd. But
by combining a richly detailed narrative
with dramatic action, Ford delivered for
cinema audiences the first "adult western".
Furthermore, it has become a virtual anthology
of scenes and techniques that has inspired and
guided generations of filmmakers. Orson Welles
reportedly viewed Stagecoach over forty times
whilst making Citizen Kane.
Stagecoach is also identified as the film
that launched John Wayne's rise to stardom
and screen immortality. For Wayne, his role
as the Ringo Kid was the culmination of eight
years slaving away in the B-western graveyard
appearing in over 50 forgettable "cowboy
movies". Now he found himself working with
distinguished veteran actors such as Thomas
Mitchell, John Carradine, George Bancroft and
a frequently tyrannical movie director. Ford's
hostile treatment of Wayne on the film set has
passed into legend. He rode him mercilessly
with such vitriolic comments as "Can't you walk
for Chrissake, instead of skipping like some
goddamn fairy. Hell, I should
have hired Gary Cooper for the
part instead of a big oaf". The
character, Ringo, is a resolute
man when confronted with
danger but he is awkward,
inarticulate and uncomfortable
in social settings. Ford's
continual belittling and bullying
of Wayne in front of the rest
of the cast and film crew
was deliberate. By doing so
he managed to draw out the
best performance from the
novice actor by making him feel exactly as his
character is depicted in the movie. Some time
during the making of Stagecoach John Wayne
became a bona fide film actor.
Part of the movie's location introduced
audiences to the spectacular mesas and buttes
of Monument Valley, an isolated area of the
Navajo Indian reservation on the border of
Utah and Arizona. Ford employed the Navajo
population as movie extras and labourers
during the location filming of Stagecoach. He
would continue to do so for all of the critically-
acclaimed and popular films he would go on to
shoot there. Over the next twenty-five years
the magnificent vistas would serve Ford as
his dream landscape of the American past.
Monument Valley became synonymous with the
old west and forever identified with moviegoers
as John Ford country.
Stagecoach was released in February 1939
and reviewers were unanimous in their praise,
describing it as a true American classic. It also
proved a substantial commercial hit, grossing
more than a million dollars in its first year. In
addition it garnered seven Academy Award
nominations including Best Director and Best
Film. But that year it was up against Gone With
The Wind which practically swept the awards
board, nevertheless, it still managed to win two
Oscars. Thomas Mitchell won Best Supporting
Actor for his portrayal of the drunken Doc
Boone and composer Richard Hageman for best
music score.
John Ford's Stagecoach gave the western
a respectability it had never had before and
moreover, its impact on adult cinema audiences
led to the western becoming a permanently
popular film genre for the next
three decades.
The cast of Stagecoach l to r. Andy
Devine, George Bancroft, John
Carradine, Donald Meek, Louise Platt,
Claire Trevor and John Wayne (missing
from the scene are Thomas Mitchell
and Berton Churchill)
The impressive
entrance of John
Wayne in Stagecoach.
One of the many amazing stunts from the movie
performed by Yakima Canutt here doubling for
Wayne's character Ringo as he leaps from the
coach to retrieve the horses' harness
A scene from Stagecoach filmed in the
magnificent Monument Valley
continued
st154_030-032_BobJ.indd 3 21/7/17 12:16 pm