Stagecoach (1939)

I watched the movie Stagecoach for this journal and decided to talk about the acting involved in making this a great movie. Before I talk about the acting I will give a brief plot summary of the film. Everyone boards a stagecoach , among them are Dallas (Claire Trevor), the town whore, and Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell), an alcoholic. Both of them are being driven out of town by a morality group. shortly after the journey starts they come across The Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a young rancher who has broken out of jail. He was in jail for a murder that he didn't do it was actually the Plummer brothers. He is out for revenge on Luke Plummer even though they are friends. They run into an Apache tribe that Ringo helps fight and Dallas has a baby.

I didn't choose acting because I thought it was all that great, but because John Wayne was in it. Without watching any movies with Wayne in it I still knew about him because of all his movies has done. He has been apart of two hundred and forty films. He had a lead role in a record holding one hundred forty two.

In Stagecoach Wayne plays the Ringo Kid (not to be confused with the old comic book character, they actually have no relation.) In Stagecoach John Wayne had his break through role after making seventy low budget westerns and adventures. A funny story about how Wayne got his break in the film industry all started when he went to USC on a football scholarship. He had a friend get him a job as a prop guy in exchange for tickets. He then met John Ford the director of Stagecoach and the man that made him famous. Wayne has been type casted as a western actor for his entire career. His trade marks are hid very deep voice and slow talking. Though John Wayne is the most well known actor in Stagecoach, his performance was trumped by supporting actor Thomas Mitchell

Mitchell played Doc Boone, a Drunk man who needs to sober up in order to birth Dallas' child. Mitchell's acting of a drunken doctor breaks away from his normally cocky and self assured roles of his past. The change payed off in the end because Mitchell brought home an Oscar as best supporting actor. Mitchell was accustomed to acceptance speeches by the end of his career with the triple crown of acting. A Tony, Oscar, and an Emmy. Individual accolades aren't the only awards Mitchell's films collect. In 1939 alone three of ten films nominated for Best film, he stared in.

Claire Trevor played Dallas, a prostitute that falls in love with Ringo. The fact that Dallas was a prostitute wasn't a new thing among western films. Of the three I've scene the leading actress has been one. Trevor has been type casted as a floozy and a broad in almost all the movies she is in, mostly because they've primarily been westerns.

As an on going theme I noticed in my research on the actors in Stagecoach its that type casting is a commonly used technique. John Wayne and Claire Trevor both pump out more westerns than Edina pumps out W's. I would think that this would lead to very good performances because they've essentially been doing the same thing for they're entire careers.

(all additional information comes from wikipedia and IMBD.com)