Stagecoach: Taking the Stage
By May 27, 2010
Dismiss from your mind, momentarily at least, the John Ford we know, who could define himself with the three words “I make westerns.” Before Stagecoach (1939 Read more »
- United States
- 1939
- 96 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.37:1
- English
SYNOPSIS: This is where it all started. John Ford’s smash hit and enduring masterpiece Stagecoach revolutionized the western, elevating it from B movie to the A-list and establishing the genre as we know it today. The quintessential tale of a group of strangers thrown together into extraordinary circumstances, Stagecoach features outstanding performances from Hollywood stalwarts Claire Trevor, John Carradine, and Thomas Mitchell, and, of course, John Wayne, in his first starring role for Ford, as the daredevil outlaw the Ringo Kid. Superbly shot and tightly edited, Stagecoach (Ford’s first trip to Monument Valley) is Hollywood storytelling at its finest.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Dallas | Claire Trevor |
| Ringo Kid | John Wayne |
| Buck | Andy Devine |
| Hatfield | John Carradine |
| Doc Boone | Thomas Mitchell |
| Lucy Mallory | Louise Platt |
| Curley | George Bancroft |
| Peacock | Donald Meek |
| Gatewood | Berton Churchill |
| Lieutenant | Tim Holt |
| Luke Plummer | Tom Tyler |
Credits
| Director | John Ford |
| Presented by | Walter Wanger |
| Original story | Ernest Haycox |
| Screenplay | Dudley Nichols |
| Cinematography | Bert Glennon |
| Editing | Otho Lovering and Dorothy Spencer |
| Art direction | Alexander Toluboff |
| Associate art direction | Wiard B. Ihnen |
| Costumes | Walter Plunkett |
| Sound | Frank Maher |
| Assistant director | Wingate Smith |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Audio commentary by western authority Jim Kitses (Horizons West)
- Bucking Broadway, a 1917 silent feature by John Ford, with new 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 grandson, Dan Ford about the director and his home movies
- New video piece, featuring journalist Buzz Bissinger, about trader Harry Goulding’s key role in bringing Monument Valley to Hollywood
- New video homage to legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, with celebrated stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong
- Video essay by writer Tag Gallagher analyzing Ford’s visual style in Stagecoach
- Screen Director’s Playhouse 1949 radio dramatization of Stagecoach, with John Wayne, Claire Trevor, and Ford, downloadable as an MP3 file
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by David Cairns and Ernest Haycox’s “Stage to Lordsburg,” the short story that inspired the film
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Press Notes
Press Notes: Stagecoach
June 01, 2010
Few films are as monumental as Stagecoach, as reviews of the new Criterion DVD and Blu-ray editions of John Ford’s newly restored western landmark remind us. On his indieWIRE Read more »
