WESTERNS: Stagecoach (1939)

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of racism against Natives, bullying, animal cruelty. Grab your six shooters and your saddles, we're kicking off our first-ever Westerns series! There's a lot in the genre for us to catch up on, and we start this week with a seminal film, one whose importance is unfortunately the only thing it's really got going for it. John Ford practically created the Western as we know making this movie but the dialogue and the characters are so rigid that it's somehow boring for a 90-minute movie. Still, if you've ever rolled your eyes at John Wayne and wondered "how the hell did he get to be a movie star", look no further than his performance here, smoldering and intense while staying relatable. The cast is pretty great, and the stunts are on par with anything that can be done with wires today. Still, this one is more "important" than a fun hang, so proceed with caution. Load up the wagon as we watch 1939's Stagecoach on Have a Good Movie! You can email us with feedback at [e-mail], or you can connect with us on BlueSky! If you like the podcast, please subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends. Intro and outro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive. Excerpt taken from the theme to the film The Magnificent Seven, written and composed by Elmer Bernstein. Copyright 1960 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayers Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Excerpts taken from the main theme to the film Stagecoach, written and composed by Richard Hageman. Copyright MCMXXXIX by Walter Wagner Productions, Incorporated. Excerpt taken from "The Ballad of High Noon" from the film High Noon, written by Ned Washington, composed by Dimitri Tiomkin, and performed by Tex Ritter. Trademark and Copyright 2007 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.