Stagecoach (1939)

	Directed by: John Ford	COUNTRY USA GENRE Western NORWEGIAN TITLE Siste vogn til Lordsbury RUNNING TIME 96 minutes
	Produced by: Walter Wanger
	Written by (based on the novella "Stage to Lordsburg" by Ernest Haycox): Dudley Nichols

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Dallas	Claire Trevor
The Ringo Kid	John Wayne
Hatfield	John Carradine	½
Dr. Josiah Boone	Thomas Mitchell
Buck Rickabaugh	Andy Devine
Mr. Samuel Peacock	Donald Meek
Lucy Mallory	Louise Platt
Sheriff Curly Wilcox	George Bancroft

Review

John Ford's western classic (his first of many trips to Monument Valley) is one of the best examples of magnificent studio filmmaking. It contains every essential element and puts each to best possible effect, and Ford displays his immaculate ability to let every image and every segment propel his narrative forward with impressive vigour. Stagecoach sets off with perhaps the best opening sequence in classic narrative filmmaking, as we are introduced to the film's many distinctive characters. These are not all necessarily multi-dimensional, but they are so brilliantly conveyed and interlaced that they remain essential to the story up until the very end. John Wayne defined the western loner persona, and Ford took the entire genre to the next level. Arguably the first ever road movie, this is a calculated, energetic, and incredibly amiable piece of film history.