Stagecoach Overview:

Stagecoach (1939) was a Western - Black-and-white Film directed by John Ford and produced by John Ford.

The film was based on the short story The Stage to Lordsburg written by Ernest Haycox published in Collier's in Apr 1937.

SYNOPSIS

This film is the greatest Western entry in Hollywood's annus mirabilis of 1939, and Ford's prototype for the Western genre he dignified. This also marked Wayne's commercial breakthrough and a new level of maturity in his performances. A motley crowd - a loose woman, a gambler, a banker with a mysterious satchel, an expectant young bride, a whiskey salesman, and a drunk doctor - set out from a dusty New Mexico town with Devine at the reins and Bancroft riding shotgun and with eye out for the escaped outlaw, the Ringo Kid (Wayne). They pick up Wayne soon enough, and alliances and suspicions are forged in the tension of anticipating an Indian attack. The first of many Westerns filmed in the forbidden majesty of Monument Valley.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Stagecoach was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1995.

Academy Awards 1939 --- Ceremony Number 12 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorThomas MitchellWon
Best Art DirectionAlexander ToluboffNominated
Best CinematographyBert GlennonNominated
Best DirectorJohn FordNominated
Best Film EditingOtho Lovering, Dorothy SpencerNominated
Best Music - ScoringRichard Hageman, Frank Harling, John Leipold, Leo ShukenWon
Best PictureWalter Wanger (production company)Nominated
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Stagecoach: BlogHub Articles:

Claire Trevor and John Wayne head the cast of “Stagecoach”

By Stephen Reginald on Jun 30, 2021 From Classic Movie Man

Claire Trevor and John Wayne head the cast of “Stagecoach” Stagecoach (1939) is an American Western classic directed by John Ford and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. The film was produced by Walter Wanger Productions and the cinematography was by Bert Glennon (Young Mr. Linco... Read full article


Silver Screen Standards: Stagecoach (1939)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 5, 2021 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: Stagecoach (1939) I took a short ride in a stagecoach once, at the Old Tucson Western theme park in Arizona, and it permanently altered my impression of films like Stagecoach (1939), where travelers make long journeys in those noisy, dusty, bumpy conveyances. Anybody who ... Read full article


Review: Stagecoach (1939)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Apr 21, 2019 From 4 Star Films

While the western hardly began with Stagecoach, one could go out on a very slight limb and say it became a more fully realized version of itself in the hands of John Ford; it all but grew in stature as a genre. This progression cropped out of the prevailing assumption of the day and age that the wes... Read full article


Stagecoach: An Appreciation

By Amanda Garrett on May 15, 2018 From Old Hollywood Films

Claire Trevor and John Wayne in the classic Western Stagecoach (1939). This article is part of The Classic Comfort Movie Blogathon hosted by Classic Film & TV Cafe. "What I remember is the time John Wayne killed three people with a carbine while falling to the dusty street in Stagecoach," ... Read full article


DOUBLE BILL #7: Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956)

By Carol Martinheira on Oct 10, 2017 From The Old Hollywood Garden

DOUBLE BILL #7: Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956) On October 10, 2017October 10, 2017 By CarolIn Uncategorized John Ford and John Wayne. One of cinema?s greatest and most celebrated director-actor partnerships. They made dozens of films together and they were ... Read full article


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Quotes from Stagecoach:

[the stagecoach occupants are voting whether or not to continue without a cavalry escort]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: How 'bout you, Mr. Hancock?
Samuel Peacock: Peacock. I'd like to go on, brother. I want to reach the bosom of my dear family in Kansas City, Kansas as quickly as possible; but, I may never reach that bosom if we go on... so, under the circumstances - you understand, brother - I think it best we go back with the bosoms... I mean the soldiers.


[first lines]
Cavalry scout: These hills here are full of Apaches. They've burnt every ranch building in sight.
[referring to Indian scout]
Cavalry scout: He had a brush with them last night. Says they're being stirred up by Geronimo.
Capt. Sickel: Geronimo? How do we know he isn't lying?
Cavalry scout: No, he's a Cheyenne. They hate Apaches worse than we do.


[Mrs. Mallory, a passenger, has just given birth]
Buck: Hey, Curly, do you think I oughta charge Mrs. Mallory's baby half fare?


read more quotes from Stagecoach...

Facts about Stagecoach:

Near the end of the movie, Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler) has a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights. This is the notorious "dead man's hand" supposed to have been held by Wild Bill Hickok before he was killed.
John Ford loved the Monument Valley location so much that the actual stagecoach journey traverses the valley three times.
John Wayne's salary was considerably less than all of his co-stars', apart from John Carradine.
read more facts about Stagecoach...
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Best Supporting Actor Oscar 1939






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National Film Registry

Stagecoach

Released 1939
Inducted 1995
(Sound)




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