Pun Salad

John Wayne. John Ford. What more do you want to know? For some inexplicable reason, I'd never seen this one. IMDB says this was John Wayne's eightieth movie. He still had about ninety left to go.

The movie isn't just John Wayne, though. He's part of an ensemble cast that have been jammed into a stagecoach taking a perilous trip through Indian country, where the fierce Apaches, stirred up by Geronimo, have been on the attack.

A couple travellers are being run out of town by the bluenoses: drunken Doc Boone and "Dallas". (Dallas's sins aren't explicitly mentioned, but the movie makes it pretty clear that her profession is the one where "with a heart of gold" is often appended.) There's Mrs. Mallory, a prim and proper lady from the east in search of her Army officer husband; she has an Undisclosed Condition; Hatfield, a southern gambling gentleman; Peacock, a meek whiskey salesman, to whom Doc Boone attaches himself like a limpet. And more.

But then the "Ringo Kid"—Mr. Wayne—shows up; he's busted out of jail, and he's off to settle a score with the Plummers, who drygulched his father and brother, and set him up for his prison term.

The storytelling is masterful, and the characters are deftly drawn by the script, and impeccably acted. Thomas Mitchell got a well-deserved supporting-actor Oscar for his portrayal of Doc Boone. The movie would have probably won more Oscars if it hadn't been competing against a few other little movies: Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington … 1939 was a pretty good year for going to the movies.