The Ox-Bow Incident

Plot synopsis:
The Ox-Bow Incident takes place in Nevada in 1885 and begins with Art Croft (Harry Morgan) and Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) riding into the town of Bridger's Wells. They go into Darby's Saloon and find that the atmosphere is subdued, in part because of the recent incidents of cattle-rustling (the stealing of livestock) in the vicinity. Everyone wants to catch the thieves.Gil learns that his former girlfriend left town at the start of the spring and drinks heavily to drown his sorrows. Art and Gil are possible rustler suspects simply because they are not often seen in town. The townspeople are wary of them, and a fight breaks out between Gil and a local rancher named Farnley. Immediately after the fight, another man races into town on horseback, goes into the saloon and announces that a rancher named Larry Kinkaid has been murdered. The townspeople immediately form a posse to pursue the murderers, who they believe to be the cattle rustlers. The posse is told by the local judge that they must bring the presumed rustlers back alive for trial, and that their deputization by a deputy is illegal, but little heed is taken of this. Art and Gil join the posse as well, as much to avoid being its target as to participate. Davies (Harry Davenport), who is vehemently opposed to forming the posse because of its capacity for "mob rule," also joins. Among the other people in the posse are "Major" Tetley (Frank Conroy) and his son, Gerald (William Eythe). The major informs the posse that three men with cattle bearing Kinkaid's brand have just entered Bridger's Pass, and therefore shouldn't be too difficult to catch.On their journey, the posse encounters a stagecoach. They try to stop it, but the stagecoach guard assumes that it is a stickup, and shoots, accidentally wounding Art in the left shoulder. In the coach are Rose Mapen (Mary Beth Hughes), Gil's old girlfriend, and her new, obviously rich husband, Swanson (George Meeker).Later in the night, in the Ox-Bow canyon, the posse finds three men sleeping on the ground, with what are presumed to be stolen cattle nearby. The posse interrogates the men: a young, well-spoken man, Donald Martin (Dana Andrews); a Mexican named Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn) who claims to be unable to understand English; and a delusional old man named Alva Hardwicke, portrayed by veteran Hollywood character actor/silent film director Francis Ford (brother of famed film director John Ford). Martin claims that he purchased the cattle from Kinkaid, but that he received no bill of sale because the sale took place out on the range. No one believes Martin, and it is therefore decided that the three men are to be hanged at sunrise.Martin, as his last wish, writes a private letter to his wife and asks Davies, the only member of the posse that he trusts, to deliver it. Davies reads the letter, and, hoping to save Martin's life, gives it to the others to read. Because of the letter's eloquence, Davies believes that Martin is innocent and does not deserve to die. However, Martin finds out that his letter has been read, and becomes angry at the betrayal of his privacy.During the argument, the Mexican, who is actually a gambler named Juan Morez, tries to escape and is shot. The posse discovers that Juan is able to speak "American" and ten other languages and that he has Kinkaid's gun. Major Tetley wants the men to be lynched immediately because he does not want any of the rustlers to escape through the courts. A vote is taken on whether the men should be hanged or taken back to face trial. Only seven of the group (of approximately twenty-five people), among them Davies, Gerald Tetley, Gil and Art, vote to take the men back to town alive; the rest support immediate hanging. Gil tries to stop it, but is overpowered. The group must choose three people to hit the horses out from under the condemned men. Farnley and Jenny Grier (Jane Darwell), the only woman in the posse, volunteer, and Gerald Tetley is ordered by his father to be the third. While the others hit the horses of the old man and Morez, Gerald Tetley does not, and the horse therefore simply walks out from under Martin. Farnley shoots Martin to kill him.After the lynching, the posse heads back towards Bridger's Wells. On the way, they meet Sheriff Risley (Willard Robertson). They tell him with pride of their actions, but the sheriff replies that Lawrence Kinkaid was not killed, is under the care of the doctor in Pike's Corner, and that the men who shot him have already been arrested. Risley strips the deputy of his badge and asks Davies, whom he knows would not have supported a hanging, to tell him who was involved. "All but seven," Davies replies. "God better have mercy on you," the sheriff tells the posse. "You won't get any from me."The men of the posse gather back in Canby's Saloon and drink in silence. Major Tetley returns to his house and locks the door so his son cannot come in. His son yells at him through the door, telling him what he thinks of him. Major Tetley walks into another room and shoots himself. In the saloon, Gil reads Martin's letter out loud to Art while the other members of the posse are listening. In the closing scene, mirroring the initial scene, Gil and Art ride out of town to deliver the letter to Martin's wife and family.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
Too many filmmakers these days think that a long running time is what makes a great film; but Wellman has proved that tight plotting and an important story are the far more important aspects.
Henry Fonda is quite good, as usual, in the closest thing the movie has to a main character, but it seems pointless to single him out in what is obviously such an ensemble effort, and in a movie that only lasts a mere 75 minutes or so and has such a large cast, each actor manages to color his/her character with delightful details, sometimes with no more than a single line of dialogue or one reaction shot."The Ox-Bow Incident" is a fantastic film.
However, over the years it has become an artistic success with fans who appreciate good movie-making when they see it.The performances are all first rate--particularly HENRY FONDA as the not too bright drifter who opposes the lynching mob, Harry Morgan as his rather slow witted sidekick, Frank Conroy as the General with the weakling son (William Eythe), and most importantly, DANA ANDREWS, who has the most riveting role in the whole film and makes the most of it.
Afterwards, the knowledge that the man they allegedly hanged is not dead, comes as a twist that drives home the senselessness of what their mob mentality has done.Mary Beth Hughes has a decorative role as the only feminine interest in the film--except for an uncredited bit by Margaret Hamilton and an unusually grim and unsympathetic role for Jane Darwell.Well worth watching, a message picture that delivers without being preachy.
Henry Fonda as Gill Carter is perfectly sedate and compassionate, even though he is far from being a flawless character, Dana Andrews as Donald Martin is heart achingly real, while others like Frank Conroy as Major Tetley are suitably full of ignorant bluster.
Miller's cinematography is an asset for the picture.This film brought to mind another Henry Fonda film: "12 Angry Men", in which a more or less posse is trying to decide the fate of a young man accused of committing a heinous crime.
In this film, we get a similar idea, in that the mob group that is formed will end up bringing the wrong kind of justice to the three unfortunate men that are deemed guilty and will be lynched; for all practical purposes these men would be proved innocent in a real court of justice.Henry Fonda does an excellent job as Gil Carter.
The issues of mob psychology and the miscarriage of justice which can occur when passion overcomes reason and logic were not new even at the time of the filming of the movie, but even then, few were willing to listen to such a sobering tale of morality and justice while America was at war.
The classic elements of unity of time, space and action are used here with great effectiveness and emphasize the dramatic nature of the story and its ultimate, almost inexorable outcome, in the great tradition of Greek or Shakespearan tragedies.Indeed one of the most surprising moments in the film does not occur in the middle or at the end of the movie, but at the very beginning, as the main character and his partner enter the saloon in the small town which is the center of the drama.
One may draw for example some quick conclusions regarding the infamous Major Tetley or his son, but the true villain may be in fact the judge, who even as he realizes a gross injustice is about to be committed, choses to do nothing out of laziness and indifference.The movie was never provided a big budget, which accounts for its set location and the size of its cast, limited in number but of epic proportions in talent (featuring a young and great  Anthony Quinn, Dana Andrew at his very peak, a surprisingly unmotherly Jane Darwell, and a powerful Harry Morgan).
Although writers have called the film version of Walter Van Tilburg Clark's grim condemnation of vigilante justice,"The Ox-Bpw Incident," a "faithful adaptation," it diverges significantly from its original source in three important instances.In the novel the two fair-minded, affable saddle tramps played by Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan ultimately vote with the mob to summarily hang the trio of unfairly accused rustlers without a trial.
Zanuck obviously would not allow a valued contract player such as Fonda to besmirch his screen image by making such a choice, so Lamar Trotti's screenplay has Fonda's character and his partner vote against the mob and even physically resist them to no avail.A second major shift is the reading of Dana Andrews' farewell letter to his wife at the end of the film.
Although I've seen the movie dozens of times and once owned a 16mmm print, which I showed annually to my students, I've always found the actual reading of the letter preachy and anticlimactic although I agree Wellman deserves great style points for the exquisite framing of Fonda and Morgan in the shot.Finally, the narrative in the novel is told by the Art Croft character (played by Harry Morgan) and the action is filtered through his perceptions.
Not only is Croft's point of view abandoned for this film adaptation, a lot of his lines are delivered by his partner Gil Carter This is understandable as Henry Fonda was a star while Morgan was not, so this change in perspective is not surprising.Perhaps couching weighty philosophical concepts like justice in specific terms narrow and limit it for the audience, even trivialize it.
He resisted Darryl Zanuck and Fox's suggestion to cast Mae West in the Jane Darwell role to boost the film's meager box office prospects and had to agree to direct "Buffalo Bill" for Zanuck, a film and character he personally abhorred in order to get "Ox-Bow," a movie he believed in, made.In order to do "The Grapes of Wrath" Henry Fonda had to agree to a lengthy Fox contact in 1940 and because of it had to do some pretty lousy films.
The only one he was proud of was "Ox-Bow." Although Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, Jane Darwell and the rest of the cast give expectedly fine performances, it is many of the usually anonymous character actors who do the best work of their long careers in "The Ox-Bow Incident." Frank Conroy (as the sadistic Major Tetley), William Eythe (as his weakling son Gerald), Harry Davenport (as the gentle storekeeper Mr, Davies), Leigh Whipper (as the sincerely religious, dignified former slave Sparks), Paul Hurst (as Smith, the boozy, loudmouth town drunk), Dick Rich (as the obnoxious, bullying Deputy Butch Mapes), Matt Briggs (as the unctuous, vacillating Judge Tyler), Victor Kilian (as Darby the cynical, laconic saloonkeeper), and Francis Ford (as the demented, senile Civil War veteran Dad) all vividly remain in the memory.
Shall we call this western?This is so moving,so harrowing and so tragic it would be a sacrilege.With a running time of 75 min,William Wellmann's work runs the whole gamut of emotions:hatred,contempt,madness,despair,indifference,you name it.Besides,the script is wonderfully written,depicting with a gutsy realism the supporting characters :the old man,the terrifying shrew,the renegade officer,his coward son -but who 's the real coward in the end?-,the Mexican,all are unforgettable.Between the lines ,there are secret plots which could provide the substance for at least four other movies.Oddly,star Henry Fonda is nothing but a witness-except for the last sequences -and it's Dana Andrews' extremely harrowing performance which will haunt the viewers -as well as his hangmen- long after the ending.Andrews' portrayal is so moving that he almost outshadows the rest of the stellar cast,not a small feat:a western hero has rarely shown so much despair and dignity and his letter will move you to tears .It's anyway the sequence when he writes it that climaxes the movie,when most of the guys are guzzling or drinking ,with the horrible fat woman 's shrill chuckles as a sinister soundtrack.As Neil Young sings "would fade away so young/with so much left undone/remember me to my love I know I'll miss her" (Powderfinger)Do not miss this film !It's a timeless classic..
But for all the obviousness of its meaning , including a simplistically liberal message , which once made it seem a landmark in the adult Western , the picture is really intriguing , not merely because William A Wellman's tersely economic narration of his material , but because 20th Century Fox made a decission to cut budget and reducing costs by filming it utterly on a studio set .This is a decidedly uncelebratory portrayal of the badness , of the angry crowd and the wrong and merciless desire for vengeance .
Indeed , it influenced in Noir Film genre , as its affinity to ¨Noir¨ is extremely evident and not only in the dark shadowy cinematography , but in the gallery of sombre roles and grotesques that populates this provoking portrait of the frontier spirit .Though a long time of the movie being shot at an only location , it never lacks for taut , suspense , intrigue and inspired direction .
William made very good films , as Wellman directed all kind of genres as Wartime : ¨Alas¨ , ¨Battleground¨ , ¨The story of GI Joe¨ , ¨Lafayette Escadrilla¨ , Drama : ¨Nothing sacred¨, ¨Blood Alley¨ , ¨Good my lady¨ , ¨Magic Town and the Oscarized ¨A Star is born¨ , his greatest success , Adventure : ¨Beau Geste¨ , Gangster movie : ¨Public enemy ¨, and Western : ¨Buffalo Bill¨ , ¨, ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨ , ¨Across the wide Missouri¨ , ¨Westerward the woman¨ , ¨¨Yellow sky¨,and this¨The Ox-Box incident¨, among others .
However in my opinion, the "Ox-Bow Incident", of 1943, was the first real "adult western (the previous "Stagecoach", though an excellent product in the genre, still maintains the original standards).Director William Wellman obtains here a fantastic grey and sort of sordid atmosphere to display a story of men taking justice by their own hand and making an unrepairable mistake.
The final sequence at the saloon when Henry Fonda reads in a loud voice the letter to his wife left by one of the innocent men hanged is most disturbing but at the same time rewarding for us viewers who get the feeling that justice has been done: the executioners will have to live with their terrible crime in their consciences for the rest of their lives.Fonda and Andrews are very good in their parts and the supporting cast is excellent mainly with the always accurate Jane Darwell and a young Anthony Quinn."The Ox-Bow Incident" stands as a little classic among westerns, or dramas if you prefer..
It's an effective little gem with nice direction, good performances (with a standout being a young Anthony Quinn) and a telling study of human weaknesses.I had a very minor quibble regarding Henry Fonda's characterization early in the movie, and how so much time was spent on crafting it to no real advantage.
Soon after Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Harry Morgan) arrive in a western town, news arrives that cattle rustlers have robbed and murdered a local rancher.
It was especially nice to see Anthony Quinn in an early role, when he was still being in his 20's.Don't watch this movie expecting a typical Henry Fonda western with shooting and all of the other typical genre clichés.
Overall The Ox-Bow Incident seems to be far ahead of its time in the western genre, the script is superb and the on location filming is beautiful..
The events portrayed in "The Ox-Bow Incident" shows not only that, but could represent real things that have happened throughout world history.The movie portrays drifter Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and his friend Art Croft (Harry Morgan) riding into an Old West town.
Since this film was released in 1942, it may have been one of earliest times this theme was put on film, so I can't accuse them of copying an old storyline.What sets this apart and makes it a good movie was the great dialog, especially in the early moments when "Gil Carter" (Henry Fonda) and "Art Croft" (Harry Morgan) enter a bar.
Fonda was most interesting of the lead characters, along with Frank Conroy as "Major Tetley" and Dana Andrews as "Donald Martin." Jane Darwell was a hoot as one of the more bloodthirsty of the mob members.
Fonda reads a letter one of the accused men wrote but that turns out to be very preachy, not really a note someone in his position would have written to his wife but a sermon about law and justice.Overall, it's okay but generally petered out after a good start and, like many classic westerns of the 1940s and 1950s, is too talky and melodramatic.Still, it's a powerful story, well-acted, well-directed, nicely shot (the DVD looks good) and the message is one to remember.
This is one the best westerns and better films I have ever seen and features a very fine, almost understated, performance by Henry Fonda and excellent work by a host of familiar faces, most notably early work by Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn.
This is simply one of the finest westerns ever made and at only 75 minutes, it gets right to the heart of the story without a lot of lolly-gagging (nice western-talk, eh?).The heroes of the story are Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan who are two strangers that happen into town just as a posse is being formed to locate some killers who rustled some cattle.
Wellman's earnest film from Walter Van Tilburg Clark's book is more somber than moving, though it does have a good central performance by Henry Fonda, here playing a righteous man attempting to stop a small town lynch mob from acting as judge and jury with the lives of three men fingered for a murder.
I knew the basic story outline, that it was about a lynching, but figured it was going to be just another run-of-the-mill forties western, perhaps a little dourer than usual.It turns out to be a good deal more than that, an unusually paced and immaculately staged work of art, that could be set in any age, but works quite startlingly well in the overly-familiar settings of the old west.Many things stand out: for starters, more than half of the whole film takes place one dark, long, very cold night outside, accompanying the lynchmob as they go after their prey.
Don't know if anyone else has pointed that out before.In its relentless magnification of mundane bloodthirstiness, and also small moments of courage, it seems to me very much the 12 Angry Men of westerns - I'm sure a lot of people would claim High Noon for that position, but I consider The Ox-Bow Incident a much better made, if lesser known, film..
But, since Henry Fonda gets first billing, he doesn't wait around while the angry mob tracks down the killers; he and the Harrys go with them to try and talk them out of it.While he'd have to wait another ten years before winning his first Oscar, this movie marked a turning point in Anthony Quinn's career.
Director William Wellman wastes little time (75 minutes) in depicting the lawlessness of vigilante justice in the emotionally charged, socially conscious western The Ox-Bow Incident.
Wellman's occasionally heavy handed with some over the top buffoonish minor character portrayals and one major scene in which Carter briefly reunites with his now married sweetheart in the middle of the pursuit is forced and a minor distraction but overall The Ox-Bow Incident is probably the best film he ever made.The powerful dialog is delivered by a formidable cast.
"The Ox-Bow Incident" episode felt like a special Twilight Zone set in the Old West.After watching the original film last night for the first time and knowing my love for Henry Fonda I wish I would have viewed the film before the episode.
This is not a fun little western, its a deep psychological drama about justice in the wild west.Henry Fonda plays a wondering cowboy who enters a town setting out to find a murderer.
First he helps you identify perfectly with him as an outsider who wanders into town at a bad time, and then his character provides a perspective through which to watch the lynch mob as things get increasingly out of control.For such a classic, this movie has something of a low-budget look to it, especially in the settings, but if anything that only enhances its strengths and keeps the focus on the story where it belongs.
Nice cast, and with Henry Fonda there were times it was like watching 12 Angry Men. But often the movie was slow moving with many scenes that seemed to drag on.
While out- of-town cowboys Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Harry Morgan) are in the bar, word comes that a beloved rancher has been killed by cattle-rustlers and a mob gathers to seek vengeance.
William Wellman directed this memorable and unusual western that stars Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan as two drifters passing through a town that is in an uproar because a local farmer was murdered, and his cattle stolen.
A black and white classic western from 1943, The Ox-bow Incident opens with Gil(Henry Fonda) and Art(Harry Morgan) walking into a saloon where the talk of the town is the recent cattle thefts.
And it is my second-best classic western.Thematically it is somewhat similar to Fonda's another great film "12 Angry Men".
The Ox-Bow Incident was regarded by Henry Fonda as one of his best, and it is certainly a powerful film even by today's standards.
Fast-moving and really intense western that has drifters Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan caught up in a wild lynch mob who wonder upon three men (Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn among them) who they decide are the ones they are looking for.
More than a decade before Henry Fonda purchased the rights to and produced Twelve Angry Men, he starred in The Ox-Bow Incident, another film about possibly innocent men accused of murder and up for execution.