A while ago we missed the 85th anniversary of the premiere in Miami, Florida of the original film of Stagecoach, which was a breakout role for the film’s star John Wayne and heralded his magnificent career in film, although this was already his 80th film. Directed by John Ford, with whom Wayne had forged a lasting friendship and appeared in many of his films, it also starred Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine of the famed family, and Thomas Mitchell, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar; it also won for Best Music Score, with Ford nominated as Director, also nominated as Best Film and for Cinematography, Art Direction and Editing. The plot concerned a simple stagecoach trip from Tonto in Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area, whilst the passengers include a drunken doctor, two women, a bank manager who has run off with his client’s money and on the way they pick up the renowned Ringo Kid (Wayne). There was also some excellent stunt work in the film, marshalled by the renowned Yakima Canutt, who was responsible for the stunt of a shot attacker on the horses falling down underneath them and being dragged under the coach, as well as a perilous run in the stagecoach across a fast-flowing river. Orson Welles said the film was a perfect example of film-making and watched it 40 times before making Citizen Kane. Local Navajo Indians played the Apaches in the film. At the end of the film the Ringo Kid confronts Luke Plummer played by Tom Tyler, who is first seen playing poker, with a hand of black aces and eights, the famed Dead Man’s Hand as held by Wild Bill Hickock when assassinated. The stagecoach in the film is now in a museum in Kernville, California. It is often attributed to Wayne’s character in this film that he said “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” but he actually said “There are some things a man just can’t run away from.” Scenes on location:- Lucerne Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert, Monument Valley in Utah & Arizona, also Agathla Peak, Teec Nos Pros & Mesa & Kayenta & Red Mesa & Mexican Water, Arizona; also Beale’s Cut, Newhall (which is now following an earthquake closed off), Santa Clarita & Victorville & Kern River & Calabasas, Bakersfield & Muroc Dry Lake & Encino & Canon City, California; whilst filming the crew were billeted in Kayenta Northern Arizona; also filmed at Iverson’s, the oldest film ranch in the Northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley & studios in West Hollywood & Chatsworth, Los Angeles.
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