Monday, January 23, 2012

119. Stagecoach

Stagecoach
1939
Directed by John Ford

The first John Wayne on the list.  This is quite the pivotal moment.  I kind of love John Wayne.  I know he was kind of a wooden actor.  I also know that his views on certain...ahem...topics would ensure that we would not get along.  Not to mention all the racism in almost every single one of his movies. Despite all that, he has always reminded me of a different time.  He makes me think of my grandfather and always has me imagining my parents' childhoods.

That being said, my favorite John Wayne is The Searchers, and when I watch his other movies, I feel like they pale in comparison.  This movie is about a group of diverse people that share a stagecoach.  The trip is endangered because (of course; this is John Wayne movie) of "Injuns".  Actually, the Ford hired local Native Americans to play the roles of the Apaches which boosted the tribe's economy by huge amounts.  Kind of a Catch-22 since they always play ruthless warriors.

This film has excellent character development.  It is the kind of movie that the younger male generation hates because there is not action every five seconds.  Instead, it is a character study of a really different group of people.  I liked it, but like I said, if you want an excellent John Wayne, go for The Searchers.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

I think I am going to have trouble getting the next film too.  These 30s films have been quite difficult to obtain.

John Wayne's 80th film.

Orson Welles watched the film 40 times during the filming of Citizen Kane.

Full movie:


17 comments:

  1. I like The Stagecoach for the very same reasons you do. I would not be surprised to learn if this movie invented the genre of isolating a diverse group of people, apply outside pressure and see what happens. And that is really interesting. For me The Stagecoach is second after The Searchers.

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    1. I think it was the first! Have you seen The Hateful Eight yet?

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  2. Nope. I am awfully behind on modern films.

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    1. It's the same kind of concept, although I am not sure how you feel about Tarantino.

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  3. Tarantino is hit or miss with me. He balances the edge of being cool or crap. From the previews I have seen this one looks like the latter for me. Jackie Brown was awesome and so was Pulp Fiction and Death proof.

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  4. Agreed. Although a friend and I share a philosophy that Reservoir Dogs vs. Pulp Fiction is one of the great ways to see if someone knows about films. The correct answer is Reservoir Dogs.

    The other great test is whether or not they like Meet The Parents (Correct answer: it's terrible)

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  5. Yeah I am still not sure how I felt about The Hateful Eight, as parts of it felt like Tarantino was trying too hard to be Tarantino. And I liked Reservoir Dogs better so does that mean I pass the test? It's mostly because I like the actors in Dogs better and there isn't rape. My reasoning might lose your approval.

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  6. Another John Wayne/John Ford western you should like is Fort Apache, as Wayne's character is sympathetic to the Indians in that one.

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  7. To Dessie (who is tonight, pretending to be Sheldon Cooper).
    Whilst I get and agree with the 'Meet the parents' answer, and believe it needs no explanation, I feel there is no correct answer to the 'Dogs'' v 'Pulp' dichotomy ..
    If I had to, (and I don't really want to) I guess it would be 'Pulp', , but would argue that is taste rather than filmic knowledge or appreciation..

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  8. (Hang on a sec whilst I Google who Sheldon Cooper is . . . Hmmm, that's probably supposed to be a dig, but I'm too wrapped up to take it as such and end up feeling slightly flattered)

    I suppose the very nature of two people discussing such a question with an insufficient safety net of self-irony means that we were both into cinema, the idea of rated lists (and so are you if you're on this blog) and that we are a tiny bit judgemental and elitist. Therefore, the only correct answer can be to select the slightly less crowd-pleasing option knowing that it will put us in a minority from which we can claim pseudo-intellectual delusions of superiority. Either that or we just liked Tim Roth getting more air time.

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  9. My apologies Dessie, I thought you were making an in joke yourself.
    No dig or insult was intended. Sheldon is always posing dichotomy type questions, and then adding 'of course the correct answer is ..' and giving what HE thinks the answer is. I really believed you were referencing him for humorous effect.. Sorry.

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  10. Dessie, my grovelling apologies continue, as I shudder to think what info googling Sheldon cooper gave you.. It MAY have told you how he is in fact a hugely intelligent genius, but more likely it said how he is utterly socially inadequate, rude, arrogant and utterly impossible to cope with.. Oooops. I really, really wasn't trying to make any comparison myself .. It was just your use of one of his catch phrases of 'Of course the correct answer is' made me think you were making a tongue in cheek reference yourself .. My comment was just me trying to say 'got the joke'..

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    1. Someone at work just told me that I sound like Sheldon Cooper. This is only the second time I've ever heard the name.

      I think I need to accept that this isn't a coincidence and you're probably both right.

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  11. I will check out Fort Apache! I don't watch the Big Bang Theory either, but I gather that guy is a genius. But yeah we are all kind of snobs, which has really been messing up my dating game btw.

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    1. Here's a great way to use your movie knowledge to BOOST your dating game: The world's first(!) Nicolas Cage dating website!!!

      The site matches you to your ideal life partner based upon how you each rank Ol' Horse Face's films. What could be better?

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    2. Oops, forgot the link:
      https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/803089400/cage-match-the-worlds-first-nicolas-cage-dating-we

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  12. Oh don't worry, I don't take offence at almost anything. And I'm very used to properly bruising encounters on the internet, not this light joshing. The other day, for example, I called someone an "emotionally-thwarted rage dispenser" I'm still congratulating myself at that one now. He stopped replying after that.

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