Stagecoach
Movie, 1939, The '50s and before, Set in Arizona Territory
Stagecoach is #1 of 34 in release order and #1 of 34 in chronological order in the Westerns.
The story
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.
Stagecoach recap
Stagecoach (1939) puts nine strangers on a coach crossing Apache country from Tonto to Lordsburg while Geronimo is on the warpath. John Ford directs. Aboard are Dallas (Claire Trevor), a prostitute run out of town; Doc Josiah Boone (Thomas Mitchell), a drunk physician; Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), an army officer's pregnant wife; Hatfield (John Carradine), a Southern gambler; Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek), a whiskey salesman; and Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill), a banker carrying stolen money. Buck (Andy Devine) drives, with Marshal Curley Wilcox (George Bancroft) riding shotgun. On the road they pick up the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), an escaped convict heading to Lordsburg to settle with Luke Plummer, who killed his father and brother. At the Apache Wells station Doc sobers up to deliver Lucy's baby with Dallas's help, and Ringo asks Dallas to share his ranch across the border. The burned-out ferry at Lee's Ferry warns that the Apaches are close. The collection opens here, with the film that made Wayne a star.
Stagecoach ending explained
Stagecoach ends with Ringo killing the Plummers in Lordsburg and Curley letting him ride off to Mexico with Dallas. First the Apaches chase the coach across a salt flat; Hatfield dies, and the cavalry arrives as the ammunition runs out. In town Gatewood is arrested, and Ringo walks out to face the three Plummer brothers. Instead of returning him to prison, Curley and Doc set the horses running, and Doc remarks that the couple are saved from the blessings of civilization. The film draws on Ernest Haycox's story "The Stage to Lordsburg" and was remade in 1966 and for television in 1986.
Post-credits scenes
No. There is no post-credits scene.
Where to watch Stagecoach
Stagecoach is streaming on Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Hoopla, Fandor, and Pluto TV in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango At Home.
Ratings
IMDb 7.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes 100%
Where it fits
- Release order: first, before My Darling Clementine.
- Chronological order: first, before My Darling Clementine.
Cast
- Claire Trevor as Dallas
- John Wayne as The Ringo Kid
- George Bancroft as Marshal Curly Wilcox
- Andy Devine as Buck
- Thomas Mitchell as Doc Josiah Boone
- John Carradine as Hatfield
- Donald Meek as Samuel Peacock
- Berton Churchill as Ellsworth H. Gatewood
- Louise Platt as Lucy Mallory
- Tim Holt as Lt. Blanchard
- Tom Tyler as Luke Plummer
- Chief John Big Tree as Indian Scout (uncredited)
Directed by John Ford.