Stagecoach marks John Ford's return to the Western genre after a thirteen year hiatus and features John Wayne. The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards in 1939, considered a landmark year for American film.  This is an almost flawless film.  This first pairing of Wayne and Ford holds no less magic than any of the others.  It is thrilling to see John Wayne's appearance in this picture as The Ringo Kid while knowing what he did for Westerns during the next 35 years.  His promise as a cowboy star is unmistakable, and the rest of the cast, portraying a motley collection of all the staple Western characters, are excellent as well.  The obstacles here the passengers' conflicting pasts and motives and the dreaded Geronimo who has "jumped the reservation" and is on the warpath.   One heart-warming romance successfully forms to a passenger's poetic blessing:  "Well, they're saved from the blessings of civilization..."

 An outstanding early Western.  An undisputed Classic.

                                                                     Jed

Screenwriter: Dudley Nichols from Ernest Haycox's "Stage to Lordsburg".

Cast: Claire Trevor     ---      Dallas 
John Wayne      ---       The Ringo Kid 
Andy Devine    ---        Buck 
John Carradine  ---       Hatfield 
Thomas Mitchell  --     Dr. Josiah Boone 
Louise Platt       ---        Lucy Mallory 
George Bancroft  ---    Sheriff Curly Wilcox 
Donald Meek    ---        Samuel Peacock 
Berton Churchill  --      Henry Gatewood 
Tim Holt            ---       Lieutenant Blanchard 
Tom Tyler         ---       Luke Plummer