Stagecoach
Synopsis
Danger holds the reins as the devil cracks the whip ! Desperate men ! Frontier women ! Rising above their pasts in a West corrupted by violence and gun-fire !
A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.
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An absolutely beautiful film, and one of the best Westerns I've ever seen. Featuring the most grand and majestic shots of Monument Valley that I've ever seen. The story is excellent too, a skillful interpersonal drama, steeped in the silent tradition - full stories told in the looks shared between people.
The intro of John Wayne took my breath away and I could not imagine a better establishing shot for this film legend (whether or not you buy into that legend is a separate discussion, although I did find him to be quite charming here).
And the famous attack - beyond description, only seeing is believing. After the film ended, I revisited that scene several times.
Although parts are difficult to watch these days, knowing that the treatment of both the horses and the Native Americans were inhumane, it's still an excellent and necessary viewing in the history of Westerns and American film.
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"Don't ever let me do that again."
It never hurts when a perfect piece of casting can turn your protagonist from an underwritten "good-hearted outlaw archetype who's nice to hookers and wants to avenge his family" into a "good-hearted outlaw archetype who's nice to hookers, wants to avenge his family, and is also JOHN FREAKING WAYNE."
Having recently made sense of the Marilyn Monroe phenomenon, today I turned my sights on the role that made Wayne a star. It's not hard to immediately see why - like Marilyn in Some Like It Hot, the role doesn't require impressive acting so much as it requires presence, something that Wayne, in his effortless everyman charm and embodiment of a good natured bad-ass,…
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A classic western that has aged like fine wine. John Ford's influential storytelling and innovative craft has preserved itself, this film took the genre to heights it had never previously reached. Also marking the beginning of Ford and John Wayne's historic cinematic relationship that resulted in some of the most beloved classics of all time (The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Haycox, it tells the story of 9 people who embark on a journey through volatile Apache territory in a stagecoach. Each character has become a cliche, but they are wonderfully developed and they all serve as differentiating representations of the old American west.…
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**Part of the Best Picture Project**
Wow. That was awesome.
It is such a shame Criterion didn't have the original negatives to help restore this film because it is a beautifully shot film. Great work with framing and camerawork, followed by some great lighting work in the film's closing minutes.
This film is John Wayne's first introduction into the Best Picture Project, and boy what a film to get him in on. From his introductory shot (and what an iconic entrance to boot), to the film's closing minutes, Wayne is great as Ringo Kid, mainly because he's so young and full of energy in this movie.
And this film is full of energy! Even though nothing really happens until the…
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More modern films need to be this fun/good. Awesome characters, amazing stunts. It's just all good.
Beer: Ithaca Country Pumpkin - 4/5 (quite drinkable)
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Just flicking through the reviews on here.. Have I seen the right film? John Ford's western, featuring a rather young looking John Wayne? That film? Is that what people are giving 5 stars to?
I'm not really a John Wayne fan, nor a western fan in general, but I do like John Ford. Stagecoach is probably a better film than She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (one of their other collaborations) though, but not as good as The Searchers (another collaboration.)
I don't really get what people seemed to like about this. It is billed as a "powerful story" but I didn't get that. It seemed fairly uneventful and uninteresting to me. For a film that takes place mostly inside a…
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Obra mestra, i gran adaptació del "Bola de Sebo" de Maupassant, canviant les estocades morals de l'escriptor per un esquema més primitiu i menys contundent, però farts de Whisky i amb una prostituta actractiva i melangiosa.
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John x 2. Toppklass.
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Rules. pay attention to the structure and narrative economy
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Full review in Episode #85.
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A dangerous gateway into western films. It will leave you longing for more like it, and there's no guarantee you'll find more.
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Epic.
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I don't think it's that I'm not much of a Western fan so much as it is that I'm just picky when it comes to the genre. Call me shallow or simple-minded all you want, but at the end of the day, I need my Westerns to be EXCITING. John Ford's Stagecoach is undoubtedly well-made and acted, but I still found it pretty dull more often than I did interesting. I'm not gonna say "It needed more shootouts," but I WILL say the characters didn't interest me all that much. John Wayne is good, though, and easily the most likable character in the film. But everyone else just felt like...not fillers, but just the sort of characters you'd find on a checklist of Western archetypes. Overall, though, it's not awful, just not all that impressive.
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Archetypal in its form, but through the crystalline construction of the Western mythology Ford undercuts a progressive slant that is refreshing and fascinating. The chase sequence is so thrilling I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real. There might be black and white hats, but Ringo the Kid seems to wear both.
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My first thought was, "Tarrantino can go fuck himself."