Stagecoach

Theatrical Release Date: 1939 03 02 (USA)

UPC: 715515052511

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Mild Violence, Suitable for Children, Western Violence]

Summary: Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with a scandalous past who has been driven out of town by the high-minded ladies of the community. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is the wife of a cavalry officer stationed in Lordsburg, and she's determined to be with him. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a smooth-talking cardsharp who claims to be along to "protect" Lucy, although he seems to have romantic intentions. Dr. Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is a self-styled philosopher, a drunkard, and a physician who's been stripped of his license. Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is a slightly nervous whiskey salesman (and, not surprisingly, Dr. Boone's new best friend). Gatewood (Berton Churchill) is a crooked banker who needs to get out of town. Buck (Andy Devine) is the hayseed stage driver, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) is along to offer protection and keep an eye peeled for the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a well-known outlaw who has just broken out of jail. While Wilcox does find Ringo, a principled man who gives himself up without a fight, the real danger lies farther down the trail, where a band of Apaches, led by Geronimo, could attack at any time. Stagecoach offers plenty of cowboys, Indians, shootouts, and chases, aided by Yakima Canutt's remarkable stunt work and Bert Glennon's majestic photography of Ford's beloved Monument Valley. It also offers a strong screenplay by Dudley Nichols with plenty of room for the cast to show its stuff. John Wayne's performance made him a star after years as a B-Western leading man, and Thomas Mitchell won an Oscar for what could have been just another comic relief role. Thousands of films have followed Stagecoach's path, but no has ever improved on its formula. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Western

Awards: U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Black and White Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Acting – National Board of Review Best Director – New York Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 10 Best Films – New York Times

Features: New restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompresses monaurak soundtrack
Audio commentary by western authority Jim Kitses (Horizons West)
Bucking Broadway, a 1917 silent feature by John Ford, with new nes music composed and performed by Donald Sosin
Journalist and television presenter Philip Jenkinson's extensive 1968 video interview with Ford
New video appreciation of Stagecoach with director and Ford biographer Peter Bogdanovich
New video interview with Ford's grandon Dan Ford about the director and his home movies
New video piece, featuring journalist Buss Bissinger, about trader Harry Goulding's key role in bringing Monument Valley to Hollywood
New video homeage to legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, with celebrated stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong
Video essay by writer Tag Gallagher analyzing Ford's visual styke in Stagecoach
Screen Director's Playhouse 1949 radio dramatization of Stagecoach, with John Wayne, Claire Trevor, and Ford
Theatrical trailer

Stagecoach

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 05/25/2010

Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Academy Apeture

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 96 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Lucia Bozzola

Relegated to B-movie status by the mid-1930s, the western was regenerated most prominently by John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies and quality production values of prestigious 1930s films. In the microcosm of the stagecoach, the confrontation between "civilization" and "savagery," Western future and Eastern past, is played out among characters journeying through hostile Apache territory, with honor-bound outlaw Ringo fighting valiantly for a society that shuns him. Though not the top-billed player, and then a B-movie actor, John Wayne as Ringo became the star hero from the moment that Ford introduces him with a rare kinetic flourish. Ford here introduced his signature Western setting of Monument Valley, lending Stagecoach a realism that set it apart from studio-bound films; and his deep focus interiors preceded Citizen Kane by two years. A critical and commercial hit, Stagecoach helped spearhead the revival of the Western as a viable A-feature, and it turned Wayne into an A-list star. When he made Citizen Kane, Orson Welles claimed that he learned everything about directing movies from watching Stagecoach more than 40 times. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ted Billings  Actor 
Patsy Doyle  Actor 
Si Jenks  Actor 
Margaret Smith  Actor 
Leonard Trainor  Actor 
Dorothy Appleby  Actor 
Steve Clemente  Actor 
Robert E. Homans  Actor 
Louis Mason  Actor 
Bill Cody  Actor 
Chief John Big Tree  Actor 
Helen Gibson  Actor 
Theodore Lorch  Actor 
Patrick Wayne  Actor 
Artie Ortega  Actor 
Franklin Farnum  Actor 
Kent Odell  Actor 
Merrill McCormick  Actor 
Fritzi Brunette  Actor 
Tex Driscoll  Actor 
Vester Pegg  Actor 
Nora Cecil  Actor 
Chris-Pin Martin  Actor 
Joe Rickson  Actor 
Hank Worden  Actor 
Ed Brady  Actor 
Cornelius Keefe  Actor 
Harry Tenbrook  Actor 
Jack Pennick  Actor 
Jim Mason  Actor 
William Hopper  Actor 
Buddy Roosevelt  Actor 
Marga Ann Deighton  Actor 
Gerard Carbonara  Composer (Music Score) 
John Ford  Director 
John Ford  Producer 
Louis Gruenberg  Composer (Music Score) 
Richard Hageman  Composer (Music Score) 
W. Franke Harling  Composer (Music Score) 
Dudley Nichols  Screenwriter 
Max Steiner  Composer (Music Score) 
Walter Wanger  Producer 
John Leipold  Composer (Music Score) 
Leo Shuken  Composer (Music Score) 
Claire Trevor  Actor 
John Wayne  Actor 
Andy Devine  Actor 
Thomas Mitchell  Actor 
George Bancroft  Actor 
John Carradine  Actor 
Louise Platt  Actor 
Donald Meek  Actor 
Berton Churchill  Actor 
Tim Holt  Actor 
Elvira Rios  Actor 
Francis Ford  Actor 
Florence Lake  Actor 
Walter McGrail  Actor 
Paul McVey  Actor 
Brenda Fowler  Actor 
Yakima Canutt  Actor 
Bryant Washburn  Actor 
Duke Lee  Actor 
Tom Tyler  Actor 

Country: USA