Stagecoach
Friday, August 7 at 9:00 pm
Previous to the film’s debut, Westerns were generally regarded as cheap, low-grade Saturday matinee B-movie filler.  This was Director John Ford’s first Western “talkie;” his first work with the yet-to-be-famous actor, John Wayne; his first work filmed amidst Monument Valley’s iconic buttes; and the first Western to incorporate sophisticated characterizations.  The film takes place in Arizona in the late 1880’s.  A random grouping of passengers – a corrupt banker, a gambler, a whiskey salesman, a pregnant army officer’s wife, a dance hall girl, a marshal, and the stage driver are crossing Indian Territory during a time of trouble.  Along the way they pick up an escaped outlaw, the Ringo Kid.

Their characters are tested and revealed when the group is threatened during their trip. Issues of class, prejudice, respectability, alcoholism, greed, revenge, and shame are all brought out as the travelers confront one another.  It is truly a groundbreaking work. It revived the Western’s popularity and set a new standard for cinematography.