Stagecoach marks the first collaboration between director John Ford and actor John Wayne. The film tells the story of nine people embarking on a dangerous journey through Apache territory on, you guessed it, a stagecoach. The cramped interior of the stagecoach forces its passengers to interact and deal with each other in ways made unique by their situation. The film has some memorable characters and a thrilling climactic chase scene, but overall left me with a bitter impression of John Ford as a director.
Stagecoach struck me as the sort of film that did too much in too little time. Thinking back to the events of the film feels like a hurricane of underdevelopment. The problem with having nine people on the stagecoach is that it never allowed most of them to become anything more than a totally flat character. In my opinion the banker, Peacock, the gentleman type gambler guy whose name I cannot even recall, Lucy Mallory, and Dallas all felt very one-dimensional. This is particularly troubling because Dallas is supposed to be the main love interest and her character didn't seem to extend anywhere beyond "the love interest." The other four characters were good. Doc Brown was alright but not what I would consider to be Oscar worthy, John Wayne was John Wayne, so either you're thrilled by his performances or don't care for him at all, but the thing about this film that surprised me most was the characters I thought were the best. The sheriff and the stagecoach driver really stood out. They were played so excellently that their actors took the sort of flat characters they were given and turned them into something worth watching. Were the performances of two secondary characters enough to carry the film for me? No, but they certainly put forth a gallant effort.
I gave the film a 5 out of 10 not because I liked it enough to warrant a 5, but because I noticed and understood that there were parts of the film that were very well done. That being said, I hated it. It sickened me. Cowboys versus Indians type westerns disgust me to no end. The way the films so often portray their native American antagonists is absurd and bigoted, with Stagecoach being no exception. I do come from a place of bias, I was raised by a proud Native American mother, so I realize I'm taking more offense to this than the average viewer, but that doesn't change the fact that John Ford must have had an ignorant and hateful view of these people. The truth is "Geronimo" was a real man named Goyathlay, and he did lead revenge attacks after Mexican soldiers murdered his mother, wife, and three children. Geronimo was a name given to him by Mexican soldiers, so a good number of people at the time of this film's release would have recognized him as a real person, but John Ford just relies on the Native American tribal killer stereotype to make him a threatening villain in the film, no other substance is given to the antagonist.
Stagecoach struck me as the sort of film that did too much in too little time. Thinking back to the events of the film feels like a hurricane of underdevelopment. The problem with having nine people on the stagecoach is that it never allowed most of them to become anything more than a totally flat character. In my opinion the banker, Peacock, the gentleman type gambler guy whose name I cannot even recall, Lucy Mallory, and Dallas all felt very one-dimensional. This is particularly troubling because Dallas is supposed to be the main love interest and her character didn't seem to extend anywhere beyond "the love interest." The other four characters were good. Doc Brown was alright but not what I would consider to be Oscar worthy, John Wayne was John Wayne, so either you're thrilled by his performances or don't care for him at all, but the thing about this film that surprised me most was the characters I thought were the best. The sheriff and the stagecoach driver really stood out. They were played so excellently that their actors took the sort of flat characters they were given and turned them into something worth watching. Were the performances of two secondary characters enough to carry the film for me? No, but they certainly put forth a gallant effort.
I gave the film a 5 out of 10 not because I liked it enough to warrant a 5, but because I noticed and understood that there were parts of the film that were very well done. That being said, I hated it. It sickened me. Cowboys versus Indians type westerns disgust me to no end. The way the films so often portray their native American antagonists is absurd and bigoted, with Stagecoach being no exception. I do come from a place of bias, I was raised by a proud Native American mother, so I realize I'm taking more offense to this than the average viewer, but that doesn't change the fact that John Ford must have had an ignorant and hateful view of these people. The truth is "Geronimo" was a real man named Goyathlay, and he did lead revenge attacks after Mexican soldiers murdered his mother, wife, and three children. Geronimo was a name given to him by Mexican soldiers, so a good number of people at the time of this film's release would have recognized him as a real person, but John Ford just relies on the Native American tribal killer stereotype to make him a threatening villain in the film, no other substance is given to the antagonist.