Now this is not a film I had heard very much about... perhaps passed it on the odd shelf in HMV or Virgin or flicked past it on TCM or Movies4Men... but hearing that it starred none other that John Wayne - the king of the western, I went straight to my grandfather (a devoted John Wayne follower).

I said (Grandson to Grandfather) - "we are to watch Stagecoach and blog about it for school" - and after requesting the definition of 'blog' he immediately went and retrieved the shiny DVD boxset that was the entire John Wayne collection - hence how I came about watching 'Stagecoach'.

'Stagecoach' was not exactly what I expected - I did not expect to enjoy it (not being a fan of old westerns) however I was pleasantly surprised. I also expected it to open on John Wayne's heroic entrance although I was surprised to find that he did not appear until much later in the film. The film is essentially an action road movie which follows a disparate bunch of people in a 'stagecoach' as they embark on a perilous journay accross Apache territory. I thought Wayne's performance as Ringo Kid was excellent, subtle and very human. The same can also be said of the supporting cast who were all equally convincing. Every character is unique (although they appear as stereotypes on the surface) - none of them turn out to be as they first appeared.

The direction by John Ford was magnificent (our film tutor Andy Dougan is constantly praising him - and now I can agree). I thought the film was paced very nicely - heart-pounding action as well as some very touching and emotional pieces - e.g the final battle near the end really focusses more on the character interaction rather than the battle itself.



All in all I think this was a wonderful piece of movie-making and with two Oscar wins and whole host of other awards - it can most definitely be considered a classic!