Scene from John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939)

This morning. I watched John Ford’s Stagecoach for the nth time. It is a film I love, partly because it was the director’s first great Western and the film that made John Wayne a star. (Of course, Ford had been making Westerns since 1917, when he filmed Straight Shooting with Harry Carey, Senior.)

I particularly love the scenes at the beginning, when the full stagecoach is making its way with a cavalry escort to Apache Wells. The scenes were shot in Arizona’s Monument Valley, which Ford made famous with his films. Every one of the characters on the stagecoach is interesting and has his or her say, from John Wayne to Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, George Bancroft, Berton Churchill, Andy Devine, to Claire Trevor and the lovely Louise Platt.

When the stagecoach is attacked by Apaches as it nears Lordsburg, the Indians are real Indians—mostly Navajos.

In the years to come, Ford made many more great westerns, films like My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache and Three Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Wagon Master and Rio Grande (1950), The Searchers (1956), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), Two Rode Together (1961), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

John Ford received more best director Oscars than any one else, yet none of them were for a Western. One of those Westerns, The Searchers, is considered by many (including myself) to be the greatest film ever made. (Will I be watching the Oscars on March 15? Nope!)

I will continue watching John Ford’s Westerns again and again, and they will continue to amaze me.