Stagecoach (1939)

A group of Western characters (alcoholic doctor, elegant gambler, escaped convict, woman of ill repute, sheriff, cowardly stagecoach driver, pregnant lady, banker and whiskey salesman; all of them in close quarters which makes for constant tension,) decides to chance a possible Comanche attack to go to nearby Lordsburg.

Most have perfectly justified reason for taking the risk (stopping a murder, revenge, being run out of town, etc.) but some reasons are unknown.

Some are simply being pushed into it.

John Ford’s carefully set ups a microcosm to delineate the differences between crime and justice; between respectability and disrepute, (between being a 'gentleman' or a 'lady' or not being one); and between civilization and wilderness/savagery, with some characters staring on one end, and as the story develops, blurring the lines and ending up on the other side.

Other characters will simply learn not to judge appearances or to trust 'reputations'.

When a newborn shows up, there is no longer any doubt of what is actually at stake.

The movie is mostly set up as a series of disappointments (the cavalry is always nowhere to be found at the outpost it's expected to be) which keeps ramping up the suspense; and when the exciting chase develops (featuring lots of crazy stunts) the audience is more than primed for it.

Amazingly, even after this rousing sequence is over the film still has a few surprises left over, none of which ever feel anticlimactic.

With Claire Trevor, John Wayne (in a star-making role), Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek (who like in My Little Chickadee (1940) keeps getting confused with a clergyman), Berton Churchill, Tim Holt & Tom Tyler.

A funny, exciting, dramatic morality play and a Classic, seminal John Ford Western