The Ox-Bow Incident
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Movie Reviews of The Ox-Bow Incident
Movie Review: Nothing to do in this old west Nevada burg but drink, fight,
Summary: 4 Stars
eat & sleep. Then word comes down. A well liked rancher has been murdered & his cattle rustled. Both are hanging offenses. The sheriff is out of town, leaving an incompetant deputy. Despite the pleadings of the judge, the deputy forms a posse to track down the killers. It takes about a nano-second to realize that this is a lynch mob. Henry Fonda is a drifter with a sense of righteousness who joins the "posse". Woe be to whomever they encounter. A classic western about mob rule & frontier justice. One of the earliest & best on the subject. They ambush a cattle rancher played by Dana Andrews & his two partners, one of them a shady, young, Anthony Quinn. Andrews pleads for his life. He has a wife & children. The blood thirsty mob fueled with booze will hear none of it. Fonda & several others protest the lynchings as murder but are silenced by the majority. This is America right? Majority rules. This is justice at it's worst. That is no justice at all. Without any moral or legal authority the three men are hanged with unreal haste. The blood lust of this mob will be quenched. Very shortly, the Sheriff arrives with the news that the rancher has only been wounded & three men have been apprehended. There is a small sub-plot about why Fonda is there in the first place that is unimportant to the story. Excellently shot & directed western classic from the forties.Movie Review: Serious and Intelligent
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Ox Bow Incident" opens perfectly as Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan ride over a ridge into a gloomy western town. While that the first scene is not exactly unique, it is strikingly well done here.
It soon develops that a popular rancher has been murdered. A lynch mob is quickly formed, albeit without any evidence pertaining to the deed, a dead body or witnesses to a shooting. In perfect hindsight, that should have been a red flag! The wise heads in town are shouted down. The sheriff is away. A deputy forms a posse, with no authority to do so. That should have been another red flag. Among the bad guys is an almost callow Dana Andrews, decidedly not like the hardboiled cop from "Laura" or "Where the Sidewalk Ends". In fact, most of the cast are sensitive and well-spoken. The ultimate complication emerges with the arrival of the sheriff with the news that the dead rancher is very much alive! The fadeout reverses the opening with Fonda and Morgan riding off into the gloaming.
The strong point of OBI is the gloomy mood that persists throughout. This is a very efficient movie with only 75 minutes running time. HF made only one more movie before entering the Navy for WW2. OBI is a perfect example of the lost art of black and white movies -and the madness of attempting to colorize them.
Movie Review: Short and Sharp
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is incredibly tense and concise; the antithesis of sprawling, yawning Westerns like "The Missing" and "Open Range." At just 75 minutes, shot in claustrophobic black-and-white, not a shot or line of dialogue is wasted. Dana Andrews is completely sympathetic as the leader of the three men unjustly accused of murder, while Henry Fonda has an unusually disquieting turn as someone who goes along with the lynching...at least, until the very end of the picture. They are just two of the many powerful performances. It's a great picture, even for people (like me) who aren't really too keen on Westerns.The DVD includes a commentary by Dick Etulain, Western professor and enthusiast, and director William Wellman's son. This gets repetitive quickly, so it's best to sample the first thirty minutes and then move on. Strangely, Fox's sound editors seem to have felt similarly, because Wellman repeats a comment right in the middle of the film! Also included are a trailer, photo gallery, restoration comparison, and the real gem of the thing - a great "A&E Biography" episode on Henry Fonda.
Movie Review: Hangin's any man's business if he's there...
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie, filmed back during the days of WWII, is still as emotionally compelling as it was then. Based on the adaptation of Walter Van Tilburg Clark's book of the same title, this story is about some cowboys eager for some justice after news has reached them of a fellow local's murder. These thirty odd men and one woman went off searching for justice and end up learning an important lesson.
Henry Fonda, one of the lead characters, plays the reluctant and rambunctious stranger. His character goes along with the "mob" more then anything, but he is truly in the center of the ethical debate that lingers around the lives of the three men who may be the murderers.
As I said, this story is still strong today. The only baggage this film brings along with age is black and white (if you don't like it), but mainly a few archaic non-politically correct comments. This shouldn't distract you as it is merely something to note as a sign of the times. Mainly, just enjoy this film, for the classic it is.
Movie Review: A Classic.
Summary: 4 Stars
This film was made in 1943 and stars the young Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan. Dana Andrews stars as does a very young Anthony Quinn. The performances here are very strong, especially from Fonda, Andrew and Quinn. Harry Morgan was the same in 1943 as he was in Mash in the `80's. I was particularly surprised by Dana Andrews; he was very effective as the rancher about to be hanged. I had always thought of him as a kind of lightweight but this film changed my mind.
It was easy to see the future stardom of these three actors from the film. The film itself is a western, but not your usual kind of western. This one is very dark and for the era, not very romanticized. These were real cowboys living the dangerous life of the frontier and some paid the price with their lives.
There was very little law and order and even less justice.
I can recommend this film strongly especially for the serious amateur of films around this time. I wasn't even born yet!