Stagecoach
A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.
Critics Sentiment
Apaches attack the stagecoach in a long horseback chase across the dry lake bed
Stage reaches the Apache-sacked ferry and Curley uncuffs Ringo to float the coach across
The film surges from its most procedural stretch, the sacked ferry crossing and smoke-signal dread around minute 65, to the unanimously celebrated Apache chase sequence beginning around minute 70, a jump of roughly 2.2 points that represents the film's defining tonal leap from tension to full-throttle spectacle.
Stagecoach opens with strong but measured enthusiasm as Ford efficiently establishes his ensemble of social outcasts, then builds steadily through character-driven warmth and moral irony in the middle passages. The film peaks explosively with the Apache chase, which reviewers across all eras treat as a landmark of cinematic action, before settling into a brisk and satisfying resolution that rewards the film's central argument that the ostracized are more honorable than the respectable. The overall arc is one of confident, sustained quality with a single transcendent spike.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 68
Claire Trevor
Dallas
John Wayne
The Ringo Kid
George Bancroft
Marshal Curly Wilcox
Andy Devine
Buck
Thomas Mitchell
Doc Josiah Boone
John Carradine
Hatfield
Donald Meek
Samuel Peacock
Berton Churchill
Ellsworth H. Gatewood
Louise Platt
Lucy Mallory
Tim Holt
Lt. Blanchard
Tom Tyler
Luke Plummer
Chief John Big Tree
Indian Scout (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt
Cavalry Scout / Indian Attacking Stagecoach (uncredited)
Francis Ford
Sgt. Billy Pickett (uncredited)
William Hopper
Sergeant (uncredited)
Chris-Pin Martin
Chris (uncredited)
Paul McVey
Pony Express Agent (uncredited)
Jack Pennick
Bartender in Tonto (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook
Telegraph Operator (uncredited)
Whitehorse
Indian Chief (uncredited)
Crew
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