LogFAQs > #956751397

CoolCly: I really didnt know what to expect with such old movies. Im not sure I even realized they made movies in 1939, and I certainly didnt think they would have things figured out like good writing and acting. But this movie surprised me, and was a great way to start the viewing. The ensemble here is very strong with each passenger of the stage having their own distinctive and memorable character, and the interactions and conflicts among them were good.

I liked the main lawmans acting, and John Wayne was pretty solid. Doc Boon was an interesting character. His alcoholism is treated as a problem, especially when they need to call on him for his expertise, though they really joke it off at the end. His scene in the bar at the end where he stands up to the guys going to the shootout is really good.

Hatfields glee at shooting Apache Indians is very strange to see after his stern demeanor the entire movie coming up to this. His intent to shoot the woman with his last bullet to spare her from being captured but getting shot offscreen first and dropping the gun was surprisingly dark.
The charming rogue with a heart of gold really is timeless. Whether its Starlord today, or Han Solo 40 years ago, or John Waynes Ringo in 1939, there he is. His decency towards the woman is pretty nice, always standing up for her when shes clearly the outcast and not giving an F that shes a hooker.

The action is really just people riding and chasing after the stagecoach while the stagecoach shoot at them one by one but it was actually pretty fun to watch. It was an engaging start to the action with the Docs toast and Mr Peacock getting arrowed like that. The stunt of the guy jumping on the horses and then getting shot several times with Ringo was pretty good. Did that guy literally get trampled by horses?? Fucking LOL at the cavalry showing up with their bugle and waving sabres around.

The shootout at the end was super quick, but the build up to it was pretty good. I had no idea who that guy that wanted to kill Ringo even was but the tension was palpable in town, and the Doc standing up to that dude in the bar was pretty nice.

All in all, Im really impressed with this movie. The cast and plotting were very strong. The aging of the film making does hold this back a bit but I think this establishes a firm baseline on what a western can be. I expect any other Western on the list to exceed what Stagecoach did in 1939, and if it doesnt and falls below it in my list, then it wasnt worth watching.

5.5/10

Pokewars: I enjoy the group dynamics in movies where they all have different motivations, points-of view. Cast plays off each other well, and we get some solid action for such an older film.

Inviso: On paper, I should like this movie a lot more than I do. Its right up my alley of throwing together a disparate group of personalities and forcing them to work together in a relatively-enclosed storyline. But ultimately, the personalities themselves are a little bit too flat and one-dimensional, and they dont play off each other very well. Yeah, everyone interacts with one another well enough, but its like unless you have a very specific relationship (Kid/Curley or Kid/Dallas), then the story is painted as surface-level conversations at best. This leads to the plot feeling very dry, and this wasnt a particularly interesting watch. I will say its hilarious to see John Wayne, who looks grizzled and old regardless of the movie, called The Ringo Kid. But thats all I really have to say.

Johnbobb: There's definitely a portion of films on this list that I'm not dreading but not necessarily looking forward to. The "John Wayne is charming but also racist, pilgrim" era. Here Wayne shines by being the only person to treat the prostitute (I assume that's what was implied) as literal garbage. Don't know if it's indicative of the times or just society in general that the actively wanted escaped criminal is treated with more compassion and welcoming than the sex worker looking for a better life. I do love the concept of unrelated strangers with completely different backstories being forced together under dire circumstances and learning things they have in common. It's a concept that's been done thousands of times since though, and often better, as man of these are pretty thinly developed characters. Overall, not bad.

Karo: This fat moron runs the west's first taxi service and we see how many weird characters he can manage to fit into one stagecoach including but not limited to, a drunkard, a convict, and the worlds thinnest pregnant woman.
The first half of the film is just basically like playing Oregon Trail except less interesting and without the dysentery, and I am waiting for SOMETHING to happen to just make the agony stop.
Finally something does happen and they get ambushed by indians, which of course end up as nothing but fodder for our reject cowboys to carelessly murder for their audacity to try and resist genocide.
Even after what is seemingly the climax they randomly go off with the convict trying to get his revenge on a bunch of guys who put him in jail, which the marshal just lets happen because what is wrong with everyone in this movie. Predictably, they meet in the street in the center of town, but because they are just so stupid they confuse AM with PM and have a showdown at high midnight. Said showdown is anticlimatic and not even shown because of course it isnt.
Fuck right off with this cheap old-timey rubbish.

KBM: The most enjoyment I got out of this was whenever the characters would say the name Geronimo and the soundtrack would play this totally overbearing Villain Sting music. That aspect of this movie was pretty fun. Other than that, though, this really isn't one that stands the test of time. In fact, this movie is sort of indicative of what I went into this project THINKING most Westerns would be like, and why I expected to enjoy this list of films a good deal less than I ended up doing. I realize this codified a lot of the big Western tropes, but they're just tropes I don't enjoy. A few mildly interesting character moments aside (once you ignore all the Confederate sympathizing ugh), it just all devolves into a dull let's see how many of these evil savage Injuns we can shoot third act that simultaneously bores me and turns my stomach with its intrinsic dehumanization. I can see why this launched John Wayne into the spotlight, though he's actually all right here, and even proves he can emote a little bit on occasion. But overall, this one (like so many John Ford movies, imo) is wildly overrated.
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Bear Bro
The Empire of Silence