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Directed by: John Ford  
Written by: Dudley Nichols (and an uncredited Ben Hecht), from Ernest Haycox's story Stage to Lordsburg, inspired by Guy de Maupassant's Boule de Suif
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| Tookey's Review |
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| Pro Reviews |
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| Mixed Reviews |
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| Anti Reviews |
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| Cast |
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| Released: |
1939 |
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| Genre: |
WESTERN
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
BW |
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| Length: |
99 |
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A stagecoach travels west, and falls foul of an Indian attack.
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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A seminal western, despite its unreconstructed view of Indians as savages, and a long first hour, in which characters are set up at a pace which will strike modern audiences as pedestrian. The climactic attack is among the most exciting ever filmed - and is all the more effective because we have come to care about the characters.
Stagecoach made a star of John Wayne, who had been languishing in B-features; it established Monument Valley in Utah as the classic western location; and it made John Ford the foremost director in this genre - prior to this, he had not directed a Western for 13 years.
The New York Film Critics voted Ford Best Director; but credit should also go to cinematographer Bert Glennon, art director Alexander Toluboff, and editor Dorothy Spencer, all of them Oscar-nominated. The Academy Award-winning music (by Richard Hegeman, W. Frank Harling, John Leopold, Leo Shuken and Louis Gruenberg) also played an important role in making this film a classic.
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