104. Stagecoach (1939)

In 1939, a golden year of Hollywood filmmaking, legendary director John Ford returned to the almost defunct genre that had launched his career, the Western. Stagecoach brought a new sophistication to Westerns, made the 32-year-old John Wayne a movie star, and won Academy Awards for both its stirring musical score and supporting actor Thomas Mitchell. (John Ford eventually won 4 best directing Oscars – still today more than any director in history.)
With its stellar cast, expert action sequences and location shooting in Monument Valley, Stagecoach brought an epic scope to what would have been merely an intimate drama in another director’s hands.  But a lot has changed culturally in the past 84 years. 
Our panel of film-lovers young and old discusses the archaic sexual mores of the time (the film is set in 1880), changing attitudes toward Native Americans and conceptions of masculinity, and whether the endless imitation of this classic has made Stagecoach seem stereotypical or seminal.
Hosts: Mark Netter & David Tausik
Panelists: Grace Chapman, Jake Flowers & Guy Lewis
An ElectraCast Production

AFI Greatest American Movies (original list): #36
Restored Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjXnoXdyA7k
IMDb with original trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031971/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach_(1939_film)
Original Variety Review: https://variety.com/1939/film/reviews/stagecoach-1200412191/
Original New York Times Review: https://www.nytimes.com/1939/03/03/archives/the-screen-a-fordpowered-stagecoach-opens-at-music-hall-mickey.html
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