stagecoach (movie)

Trevor and Wayne

Stagecoach is a 1939 Western which tells the tale of a motley group of strangers thrown together on a stagecoach which is attacked by Indians. It stars Claire Trevor, John Wayne (in the role which made him a star), Andy Devine, John Carradine Berton Churchill and Thomas Mitchell. The film was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht from the Ernest Haycox story "Stage to Lordsburg". It was directed by John Ford. The movie premiered in Los Angeles, California on February 15, 1939. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Thomas Mitchell won for Best Supporting Actor. Mitchell was also featured in Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Only Angels Have Wings in the same year, but it was his performance in this movie which gave him the Oscar. This was the first of many films that John Ford made in Monument Valley, Utah, many starring John Wayne. Others included:

My Darling Clementine

Fort Apache

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Wagonmaster (filmed in Moab)

Rio Grande (filmed in Moab)

The Searchers

Sergeant Rutledge

Cheyenne Autumn

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. A 1966 remake starred, among others, Ann-Margret, Van Heflin and Bing Crosby.

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