Western Retrospective – Stagecoach Review

Hi, this is John Delancey and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to episode 235 of the Cinema Geeks. I'm one of

your Cinema Geeks Optimus Solo and joining me

as usual is Dan. Hello. Hey, how's it going?

It's going well and we are back for a new beginning

of another series We kind of teased it a little

bit at the end of the last episode But just in

case people weren't tuned in to our most anticipated

films of 2026 Dan Why don't you fill them in

on what we are about to do for our next little

journey here on the cinema gigs? We are going

back to the old west We've been thinking about

doing a Western retrospective forever now. I

think for both of us There are a lot of Westerns

out there that we have yet to see. And we're

going to go ahead and get that started. And we'll

talk about searchers today. We're kind of getting

the rest of the schedule put together, but I

think we're going to try to hit some of all the

different types of Westerns that have existed

throughout, you know, some of the big ones, some

of the ones that maybe we've always wanted to

watch because I think it's been a big blind spot

for us in a lot of different ways. So I thought

it'd be a good time to kind of do that. Obviously

last year we did the Hitchcock retrospective

and Gary Grant But thought we would meet we thought

we'd go to like a genre this time around and

see how it goes from there Yeah, directors actors

genre. We'll have to come up with something completely

different for the next one I don't know what

what's gonna be but yeah Yeah, it's definitely

it's it's a blind spot for me a lot in like if

you look at lists of like that always feels weird

to say the best Westerns because I always think

of the hotel chain or whatever but But when you

think about the best Westerns out there I have

so many blind spots, which is the reason I say

it's weird is because I grew up loving westerns,

like the western genre, just not necessarily

the movies. I'm sure my family, my parents didn't

necessarily let me watch a bunch of shoot them

up like westerns, but we definitely watched a

lot of western TV shows. Like I remember the

Young Riders being a big thing that we watched

back in the day, some Dr. Quinn medicine, like

there was, And I have been exposed to some Western

films and I've always enjoyed them. So it's just

weird that it's always been kind of a thing that

I haven't gone into the past to, like, check

out all of the films that existed before I was

exposed to those. You've seen a few here and

there, but what do you think is one of the main,

like, can you pinpoint why you haven't kind of

done a deep dive into the genre as a whole? Honestly,

because, like, I always think that they're always

really long. I really have three and a half hours

to... to despair and i feel like to i do i do

like reading western westerns i love western

comics but and similarly i have you know grow

up like watching uh we watched like lone ranger

and mir rogers and stuff like that but i don't

necessarily know i think it's kind of kind of

the the length of them too and it's just one

of those things where it's like um you know uh

i don't know it's like john wane has never been

i always have this idea of like Thinking that

they're gonna be boring and uninteresting. I

don't know. Maybe that's kind of hindered my

my I think wants to go and check them out, but

I don't know It's kind of one of those things

that keep pushing off, but I'm excited to finally

dive back in I think too it can be a genre that

is somewhat intimidating because it feels I'm

sure this is true with other genres, but when

you're dealing with like an actor or a director

you're generally limited to a certain number

of films. So yes, there are actors and directors

that have done a lot, but you can generally kind

of feel like you're getting the main films. And

when you're talking about a genre, especially

like the Western, because of how many were being

made, especially in the silent film era, and

then like, if you want to take like, I don't

know, 1920s through 19... 50s, like it just feels

like there was a million Westerns. So I feel

like it's also somewhat intimidating to be like,

where do you start? Which direction do you go?

And we even did a little of that as we talked

through like how we're going to go about this

little retrospective is kind of like, what direction

do you do? Do you do chronological orders? Do

you do like the different sub -genres of the

Westerns? Like it's, there's a lot in the genre

overall. So I think that's one thing that's always

been like, I don't know where to start exactly.

Like if you want to do mobs or films, Pretty

self -explanatory, right? Like, you watch Godfather,

you watch Goodfellas, you watch Casino, you watch

Once Upon a Time. Like, there's certain ones

that you just know you go to, and there are the

really famous Westerns, but there's also just

so many probably hidden gems and other ones that

it's like, it's always been intimidating to me.

So I'm excited that we're getting into it today.

Like Dan said, we are going to be covering the...

1939 John Ford film stagecoach and Dan has come

with the facts for us to kind of set the stage

so we're going to listen to those and then we'll

get into our thoughts after we watch the film.

And just like that we are starting a new retrospective

as we head off to the old west. looking at John

Ford's 1939 classic, Stagecoach. The story follows

a group of strangers who board a stagecoach traveling

through dangerous Apache territory from Tonto

to Lawrenceburg in the Arizona Territory. The

passengers include a disgraced prostitute, an

alcoholic doctor, a pregnant officer's wife,

a southern gambler, a crop banker, and along

the way, they pick up Ringo Kidd, played by the

iconic John Wayne, an escaped outlaw seeking

revenge on the man who killed his father and

brother. Though under arrest, Ringo joins the

journey as tensions grow among the passengers,

exposing social prejudice and hypocrisy. When

the group is attacked by Apaches, they narrowly

survive thanks to dramatic Calvary rescue. In

Loisburg, the banker is arrested for theft and

Ringo confirms the outlaws he's been hunting,

killing them in the final showdown. In the end,

the sheriff allows Ringo to escape with Dallas

so they can start a new life together. Although

he appeared in many low -budget westerns, Stagecoach

was the breakout role that turned John Wayne

into the major star we know him as today. The

impact of Stagecoach is far and wide, including

Orson Welles reporting and watching Stagecoach

a dozen times while preparing to make Citizen

Kane studying its structure and visual storytelling.

This is also the movie that made Monument Valley

the backdrop of the American West. Before this,

it wasn't used all that often, but John Ford

insisted on shooting there and ever since, it's

been synonymous with the genre. But how does

it hold up all these years later? Is it a good

entry point into the genre? Anything about it

that doesn't exactly hold up in 2026? Back to

Kevin and myself to discuss. All right, Dan,

so we have this as the poster says a powerful

story of nine strange people. What is your first

reaction and impression after watching the stagecoach?

So yeah, going into this, you know, I mentioned

there's a lot of blind spots and this is one.

This is one I have not seen. I've seen other

john ford films and other ones that we will cover

so i was intrigued to go back and see like this

wasn't his first film i think this was actually

he did no silent films did a lot of westerns

but this he took a big break and this was like

his return back to the genre so i was intrigued

to see like you know considering the other westerns

that i saw like how much like Of the john ford

language was being developed a commercial was

there and i think what's really telling with

this is that it's he's very economic with the

store. storytelling ultimately this story is

very simple, you know, it's basically these people

have to get from point A to point B and It's

we are along that journey and the different challenges

and because it's rather simple you get a collection

of characters and their characters like right

away you kind of know who they are by the way,

they're dressed by the way, they sound and I

think it's one of these movies where I think

you definitely have to try to meet it where it's

at because things that seem very tropish, very

like cliche. Well, you know, this wasn't by no

means the invention of it. It certainly was not

as entrenched within that cliche. But I still

think a lot of it still works. I still think,

like I said, John Ford seems to hold your hand,

but like in a good way. He points you exactly

where he wants you. What's important, what's

interesting. Saying gives you these characters.

Like I said that seemed very typical, but then

we do See different layers of them and maybe

or they're not as as what we seem, you know the

guy that may be Supposed to be the more upstanding

citizen isn't and then the guy that's the drunk

maybe the person that saves the day things like

that and then of course you have John Wayne and

one of the biggest movie stars of all time and

I've thought you know When i think of john we

have to obviously think of you know my dad's

era and things like that he's kind of that they're

that era of a movie star and He does have it

he does have similar to when we did Cary Grant

Like he walks onto the screen and he has a presence

to him maybe in a different way than Cary Grant

But it's certainly there within this as well

And then lastly like the stunts are still pretty

impressive i'm like i feel bad for the horses

because i'm certain that i like you know i didn't

see the message no animals are harmed because

i'm pretty sure some animals aren't in this and

along with some humans but yeah i do think it's

a good movie to start with because. I think it

does give us like a good starting point of what

you expect with the genre. Now there are some

issues we can get to and some things that don't

age well, certainly. But I was definitely glad

I watched it. And you feel like I was educated

in a lot of ways regarding how this genre was

able to really establish itself. Yeah, I was

intrigued by some things and almost taken aback

by some things at the same time. So I'll kind

of get to a little of both of those things like

I think I read somewhere that films like this

one, Stagecoach, and films like what we covered

in our previous retrospective when we watched

Lifeboat, like that these types of films were

almost like a blueprint to what we would eventually

know as like the disaster genre of films where

you have a small select few people, whether it

be six, eight, nine people that are like in some

sort of remote location, like on a lifeboat,

they're in the boat, right? And here for the

majority they're on in the stagecoach. And it

kind of gives you a blueprint for like how things

happen in a disaster film, which is kind of a

connection I would have never made on my own.

So when I read that, I thought that was kind

of interesting. I am learning and I'll probably

learn throughout this whole retrospective of

how much I don't know about this genre and how

much what I thought I knew was probably not correct.

I think that's gonna be something that becomes

evident because I don't know why I just always

figured John Wayne was just Always John Wayne

like he was always like the big Western star

like the most famous Western actor of all time

and and all of this stuff but like any actor

like they had a beginning and this seems to be

a good place to start for him for sure because

It seemed like they were really struggling to

get him involved with this film because he was

not known to be a successful or money -making

actor. He had had some failures. We talked about

it a little bit when we were talking about the

Hitchcock series with Katharine Hepburn. Somehow

getting this stereotype or this connotation that

they're not going to be good for your movie was

something that I would have never thought was

a thing for John Wayne. So that was kind of interesting.

Also, you know, some of the research I did for

this talks about how this film was one of the

first sound westerns that had any amount of success

and that had kind of been a lost genre since

the silent films. I didn't know that was a thing

necessarily, finding all of those things interesting.

And I do think it works as far as like you're

talking about. You have these nine, but. I don't

know if strange is the right word, right? Like

it's nine people that you, like you said, you

can very easily identify from even a tiny bit

of what you know about Westerns where they all

fit in, right? Like you have the guy that drinks

too much. Like we all know that's a thing in

Westerns, right? Like you have the prostitute

angle. You have like all of these different people

that you come, you already know exist within

the genre and it's interesting how they chose

to pair them together and how they do this. It

also reminds me a little bit of the Tarantino

film too, which I'm completely blanking at the

moment, The Hateful Eight. It's a similar thing,

right? Like you put a bunch of people together

in kind of a ride and then obviously it goes

further than that. So I did appreciate the limited

setting and kind of how we get a character piece

almost on all of these nine folks and get to

see Like not only the stereotype that they represent

but also like you said how they subvert that

in different ways So I thought that was what

was good and going what this film had going for

it and we can talk about maybe some things that

didn't later one thing that I was originally

thrown off by and I don't know if this is Part

of what we will see with Western films as we

progress depending on what time period they're

from What I expected When we started the Hitchcock

series and the Cary Grant series when we were

looking at films from like this era. When I was

surprised in those other retrospectives. How

well those films like they didn't look old to

me like they looked like. Polished almost in

a way and not as quote unquote old as I expected.

When I watched this one, I could have sworn that

this. had to be filmed like decades before those.

Like, I don't know if it's hard to do the Western

as, you know, compared to like what we saw with

some of those other films, but you wouldn't have

been able to tell me that His Girl Friday and

the Philadelphia story and Rebecca and some of

those other films were taking place in the exact

same year or within a year of Stagecoach. Like

Stagecoach feels like more old timey to me. I

don't know exactly, but that was something that

I immediately noticed. And I don't know where

that's coming from exactly, but it was definitely

something that was at the forefront when the

film started. It didn't bother me at all. It

didn't take away from the film, but I definitely

felt like this filmed before all of these. I've

been watching so many Cary Grant films, and it

took me what felt like 17 years to get out of

his 1940s state. And and like then seeing this

and I was like this what was this from 1890?

Like was this from 1910? Like when was this?

Oh, it's 1939 Okay, like maybe it's because it's

more out in the open and you have to do these

action sequences and things like that But it

definitely felt more classic and more old old

feel than yeah, I felt with those other ones.

What about you? I mean, it's interesting. I didn't

get I guess I felt I didn't Didn't seem that

way to me or if it did it felt like It was more

so a product of the place at an earlier time.

Where did you watch it? I was just curious. Did

you watch it? I watched it streaming on, I can't

remember where it was. I was just curious because

I watched it through the Criterion channel, so

it looked really good. Cause I know it's something

like Tubi and stuff like that. So I don't know

if like, you know, Tubi tends to put up, you

know, their, their ass doesn't look great, but

I don't know. Um, it might've been Tubi too.

And, but what you're saying too makes sense.

Like they are depicting an earlier time. So maybe

some of it is almost intentional, but I thought

some of it might be because there was less, less

ability for them to do it on like a set. Yeah.

And it is more. Yeah. I mean, some stuff is done

on a, clearly on a, on a sound stage. You're

on a set I get some of this stuff is you know,

like when they're inside the building In some

things a lot of this also had to be like I'm

assuming on location in some respect. Yeah I

think a lot of it was I mean a lot of those long

shots of like them like traversing the land and

things like that, right? I never got the sense

that like it it felt you know, if anything like

it was I it did feel like it was taking place

within the time of that era and if So maybe in

my mind it was it was making it was helping the

idea because it just the way the you know The

use of the Arizona landscape and stuff like that.

You know, look you look gorgeous You know, I

think that's why I didn't bother me It just I

just felt like it just felt like it was filmed

in a time before but I get like what you're saying,

too It's definitely in this pacing wise when

it comes to like the dialogue and the story It's

you know, we looking we compared it like his

girl Friday, which is like so quick pace So like

yeah back and forth. This is certainly like it's

like a country song, right? You know, it's like,

you know compared to like something that's more

like of a jazz number or something like that

This is a bit, you know Of that area. Yeah, I

don't disagree in that sense where it's it's

a little bit more mundane in its execution as

a move from one moment to the next until the

you know until the end until the conclusion right

so getting into the nine folks that we're mostly

dealing with right like uh well we'll i'll go

ahead and list those off and then we can kind

of touch on those guys a little bit so we have

John Wayne as Ringo Kid who's kind of like the

fugitive who's potentially got a date with a

duel coming at some point is what they make it

seem like we have Claire Trevor as Dallas who

does get top billing that was one of their ways

to try to like convince them to allow John Wayne

to be in this film was to give her top billing

because she was the bigger star and she plays

the quote -unquote prostitute or the the individual

that everybody is like looking down on that obviously

John Wayne's character gets um a little bit close

to we have Lucy Mallory played by Louise Platt

who is the wife of one of the individuals in

the army that she's searching for We have Andy

Vine and who is the I don't know what you call

somebody that is the driver of a stagecoach.

Are they still the driver? I was like struggling

with that ahead of time. I was thinking about

like, how do you describe his role? He's he's

not a pilot. Is he the driver of the horses?

I don't know how that works. And then you have

the other guy's shotgun. I know that much. Yeah,

yeah. John Cadena's Hatfield is kind of like

this more mysterious like, I don't know, like

this. Rico Suave got undertones of you probably

can't trust that guy. You have Doc Boone played

by Thomas Mitchell. You have the leader of the

group, I guess you could call Curly played by

George Bancroft. You have Donald Meek who plays

Peacock or is named Peacock or yeah Peacock who

was like the alcohol salesman, I guess you could

call and then the Corrupt I guess Banker Gatewood

played by Burton Churchill. So did any of these

nine like really stand out and how do you like?

What did you think of this collection of folks

than the performances and and the characters

themselves? Well, ain't cuz like his voice just

like it just brings back childhood memory like,

you know hearing him Yeah that like oh wow, like,

you know, so that's certainly like I know him

I can't tell you what he looks like but I know

that voice so right And then John Carradine,

his face is similar. He looks like his character.

He's got the perfect face. But I thought it was

a good measuring. Thomas Mitchell was, I thought,

really good. He played the role well. And him

and Donald Meek, they had their own comedic timing

down pretty well. He kept getting his name wrong

and things like that. So I thought it was really

strong cast in the sense of like everyone really

did fit there. It was casted Well, they fit those

characters pretty set on so Those are those are

some standards for me. How about yourself? Yeah,

I mean obviously Andy Devine as buck like yeah,

I mean the first time I heard his voice I was

like, well, that's clearly Friar tuck from Robin

Hood, right? Like you immediately recognize his

name from the Disney I forgot that he also did

the rooster and corn flakes commercials way back

in the day. So that was fun just getting to see

him because all I had ever done was heard him.

So that was definitely fun. Actually, John Carradine

has some voice work as well. He did The Great

Owl and The Secret of Nim. But Thomas Mitchell

as Doc Boone is just fantastic. Did a little

bit of research on him. He was the first male

actor to ever win an Oscar Emmy and a Tony. So

and his Oscar is from this film like he wins

best supporting actor for stagecoach So I thought

that was interesting that and I haven't I either

haven't seen Gone with the Wind or I haven't

seen it in so long that I know nothing about

it, but he also was the father of The character

in Gone with the Wind Scarlett O 'Hara's father,

I believe So it was interesting and also it was

crazy about folks that were doing film work back

here Like thank goodness. We're not doing a retrospective

on any of these this guy's Playing off of each

other. I think you nailed it with both Thomas

Mitchell and Donald meek playing off of each

other was one set Which was it and then obviously

the way that John Wayne was playing off of a

couple people but like any time especially I

think John karate and his Hatfield did it a number

of times where they were trying to treat the

you know, one of the women different than the

other other one and John Wayne would constantly

like call that out and be like, you know, why

aren't you offering her a drink or, you know,

it happened in a couple of different ways. I

thought so. I thought he played off of them very

well. I don't like the banker guy. It is what

it is. Like he didn't really seem to me as like

super important. I mean, he plays his part and

I get why he's there. But like, I don't think

he necessarily stood out. Oh, but he basically

brought quite a bit to that. cast of characters

in an interesting way, kind of like what we talked

about, we already mentioned like lifeboat, but

in a different way, but similar to how we talked

about that, like you can fund like, and yes,

John Wayne's going to probably stand out the

most from a charismatic standpoint, but I feel

like they did a good job of sharing the pun intended,

I guess, because the film's called Stagecoach,

but they did a good job of sharing this and like

dividing and you know, playing off of each other

without anybody necessarily trying to like one

up and like steal the shots or steal the, you

know, the show necessarily. So I thought they

did a really good job in it. I guess it makes

sense. They're all a bunch of very accomplished

actors. I think there's only one actor in here

who George Bancroft as Curly was only in like

seven films, but everybody else seems like they

were around Hollywood for for quite some time.

So I guess it shouldn't surprise me with that.

What did you? Well story that we have here, especially

when it comes to the Ringo kid Which is always

a good name in a Western anytime you get Ringo

in there. It's good But what did you think about

his story and kind of the the crux about this

whole? Clash between him and this other family

Yeah, I mean settlement like I wasn't as invested

in I think It was it was good and sense of like

you get an idea who this Ringo kid is like you

get he seems like Filling him up as this outlaw

making you believe that he is this, you know

villain and then finding out that maybe it isn't

necessarily What you say And I do and they're

like because I'm making like well Why would anyone

ever think that John Wayne is the villain? But

as you mentioned like with this John Wayne wasn't

John Wayne yet so I do think it's hard to like

get in that mindset of Going back to like why

you would think, you know, it's it's hard to

like Picture him within the character like that

So kind of his presence almost in a way hurts

that development because you're ahead of the

story because it's like, oh, it's John Wayne

So, of course, he's the good guy. But so maybe

that's why it wasn't as like I was like, okay

Well, I know where this is going obviously, but

but Did like how it it did give that the nice

conclusion at the end because eventually obviously

It's a story basically about getting it from

point A to point B. Then we see like that the

final nail and seeing him kind of come to that

conclusion. So, but I felt the strength of the

film that was within the interaction of the other

characters. I felt like that's where we learned

more was not necessarily. Hearing about happened

previously, but just seeing how he interacted

with one another and like decisions they made

within the moment then gave us much more than

like hearing about what happened in the past.

I was also surprised as to how many people coach.

I didn't realize there was that much room. Like

once they got to like the fourth or the fifth

person, I was like, well, where are they all

sitting? John Wayne's just sitting on the floor.

So like, you know, with those, you know, the

minivans where you like. pop up in the secret

third compartment. Yeah, right. I was getting

visions of the clown cars in a circus. I was

like, where are all these guys going? I thought

another interesting thing about this film was

for the longest time, I don't know if you're

ever sure, quote unquote, whose film it is or

who's the main storyline that you're following.

In the beginning, it definitely feels like you're

following Lucy Mallory, who is the Wife and to

go find her husband like that's initially at

least I did I was like, oh that's you know that's

what's driving this and the one guy is joining

because he thinks she's cute or whatever and

like it's gonna be like how does she interact

with all these guys as she's going to this and

there's gonna be some you know skirmishes with

Native Americans and things like that and how's

it's all gonna work out and then all of a sudden

it's like no it's she's kind of put on the back

burner then it's somebody else's film and I felt

like it switched like a couple different times

of like which I think is a credit to the film

because it kind of keeps you on the edge of your

seat in a way because you're trying to figure

out for yourself like who what's the main storyline

and who am i where should i be paying attention

to and to me helps the film i don't know what

do you think yeah i that's a good point too yeah

i think it again i think probably you would eat

even better at the time because again not knowing

much of this cast i think that would probably

where you're idea would go. I mean, it's called

Stagecoach. You don't really have an idea like

when it begins, you're in a sense, Geronimo is

really the only name that really stands out.

So it gives you a lot to kind of wonder like

where exactly this is going. And then it keeps

adding additional characters and like, okay,

this is this character is just the comic relief

character. But then I do think it does a good

job of like never Showing its hand too early

and then allowing it to kind of develop throughout

Yeah, absolutely. So Dan And in the beginning

that there was a couple things that maybe didn't

age well or a couple issues that you had with

the film Well, what were some of those things

that were maybe drawbacks to stagecoach? I mean

it is it is pretty racist. I mean Can't can't

deny that right like it's like all the Indians

are the evil people that are just bent on killing

everybody You know, I and again, that was obviously

a trope of the Western. So the. Yeah, I feel

like we're not going to be able to get away from

that during this. No, no. So. I did think it

was interesting, like I thought you get a couple,

you get that great scene with when he finds out.

The one guy has his wife is actually an Indian,

you know, or, you know, and I was wondering,

like, where that would go. But there may be like,

oh, like, oh, maybe, like, you find out they're

not, you know, this is an opportunity. Like,

actually, no, they're not actually these evil

savages that they're being out to be, but doesn't

necessarily go that direction. But but yeah,

so that that element doesn't necessarily hold

up the greatest. But like you said, it's probably

going to be something we we see a lot. But I

think it's worth we're certainly pointing out.

Yeah, for sure. Anything the last I did I did

think the Once the skate stage coach ride ends

and we do get that final showdown. I know that's

what it was leading to I Don't know I was I felt

like Know that that was important for the character

But I felt like in a way like I could have done

without that I feel like we had a good ending

where when it finally came to that conclusion

felt like it was there because it's a western

so we need a shootout like that but it didn't

what came before was so good and like that like

chase sequence was so i think well done that

when you end on something that i feel like is

nearly as you know thrilling it just it feels

like it doesn't hit as hard so that was my one

like major one thing that didn't work for me

the fifth following one right now like it's not

like you just like walk to the edge of the pier

and then somebody got in a boat and left like

you're galloping on a horse like I don't know

that that threw me off a little bit but yeah

it is definitely a very quick ending when it

comes to like if it is really building up to

this showdown the whole showdown I think is five

seconds and and it's over not that any showdown

is much longer than that we'll probably have

to keep track of that as we go through but it

definitely seems like a not very important part

of the film that is somewhat framed as if it

should be, I guess. Yes, that was a little different

for sure. I'm also interested to see how this

evolves over the course of the films we watch.

They had an interesting way of getting the horses

to go in this film. That was something I'm not

used to. Like there was some crazy, crazy yelling

and hooting and hollering to get these horses

to go and and like throwing. stuff at them and

like all this other stuff and maybe it's just

because i've only been exposed to like more modern

westerns but i'm like they never have to do that

and like so yeah a lot of films they just like

kick their spur into the horse or whatever or

just say like you know a quick command and they

go but these guys were like it was like they

were trying to like get oil to come out from

the ground the way they were hollering at these

horses so i was i was thrown off by that for

sure I wouldn't like I was like, is that an ad

lib? Is he just doing that to be fun? Some of

that like same like I'm like, I don't some of

those and he kept changing the names of the horses

all the time. I'm like, is that a running joke?

The throwing thing is I'm like, I can't be that's

a little it seems me and like you have the whip.

Right. And because what most of them didn't even

seem like they were hitting. I don't even know

if that was even that effective. But I don't

know. I read somewhere too, like because I read

that, obviously, I don't know how much do you

know about John Ford? Like it sounded like he's

I mean I'm not a great deal. I you know learning

as we go through this but he said that he was

kind of a presence I would say on the set and

didn't necessarily like Wasn't the most touchy

-feely positive happy guy. It seemed like it

seemed like he was definitely like very blunt

and direct and made this guy from a couple things

I read at least on this stage as this film and

it was interesting because the the main I guess

we're gonna I'm gonna keep going with driver

of the of the horses here at one point he basically

calls him like a I don't know I'm gonna use wrong

words but like a a fat oh for something and it's

like why did I even cast it because Nobody I

drive like a six whatever the terminology is

for these these horses so I guess like the the

the the the he was under the stagecoach and explaining

what he had to do to pull that off and I think

the director afterward was like, I'm glad that's

over and we're never doing that again. It was

too dangerous, let's not try that again, that

was stupid. But yeah, there was definitely some

interesting things with that. This film got seven

Academy Award nominations and it's also got 100

% Rotten Tomatoes. was listed on AFI Westerns

of all time at number nine. So Dan, you know

every time I do this, I have to put you on the

spot. And we're about to talk about a bunch of

Westerns. So if it was number nine, do you have

any guesses as to what other films might have

been in AFI's top 10 Westerns? Can I go with

other John Ford films and say The Searchers?

I'm guessing that's probably one. That is number

one. Okay. Oh, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

It's not on there. Really? That's surprising.

Once Upon a Time in the West? Nope. Oh, it's

AFI, so it doesn't count because it's not...

that's I don't know if it's the words made arm

the man shop liberty balance no no are these

are not all right, so let me think of Wild Bunch

Wild Bunch Wild Bunch Wild Bunch Wild Bunch Wild

Bunch Wild Bunch Wild Bunch Wild Bunch There's

only one modern one that I would consider modern

from 1992. Unforgiven? Unforgiven's number four.

Then... Why am I wild punch unforgiven? I don't

know. I'm blanking. I got nothing. We'll go from

10 is Cat Ballou from 1965. I don't either. Number

nine is Stagecoach. Number eight is McCabe and

Mrs. Miller from 1971. Number seven, like you

said, is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids.

Six, The Wild Bunch. Five, 1948's Red River.

Four, Unforgiven. And then we have the top three

would be Shane, High Noon, and The Searchers.

Okay. Okay. John Wayne appears as the lead role

in three of those ten films. So some will be

ones that we cover so keep keep an eye out for

when we go to those And it's weird to the funny

thing about saying that like John Wayne isn't

really an established star And he's he hasn't

been known he's been considered a B a B movie

star Not an a star until after this film comes

out. This is John Wayne's 80th film by the way

It's great when you can make 79 films as a not

a star and then your 80th film is I guess what

makes you and then you go on to have a career

like John Wayne. Just gotta keep going. The first

seven, keep chugging the day. Other trivia bits

or anything else that stood out to you about

Stagecoach Dan? No, I don't think so. Nothing

I can come to mind. And if you're a fan of this

cast, you can also see John Wayne carried in

and Divine were all in, the man who shot Liberty

Balance. So the three of them. appear in that

film together as well. And I don't know if you

knew this, Dan, but there's been two remakes

of this film, I guess you could call it. So there's

a 1966 remake of Stagecoach, Trosby, among other

people. And there is a 1986 television version.

I'm just gonna list the actors that play in the

television version from 1986. Willie Nelson,

Chris Christopherson, Johnny Cash Waylon Jennings

June Carter cash So if you want if you want to

get real Western on it both from a musical standpoint

and a Movie standpoint, I guess that 1986 television

version of the stagecoach might be for you It

also says the holidays a character in that one

So I don't know where he fits into that but like

Willie Nelson plays Doc Holliday in this So I

don't know what part that is. They invented a

new part for the remake. So So overall you said

you thought this was a good place to start for

our look at the Western genre Yeah, I think it

was definitely a good place to start I'm interested

because like I've never like watching Western

I think that was earlier than this could be I

sort of be curious to see like what what What

was John Ford silent Western like but but I'm

also excited to see what comes next so I think

this gives us an idea of like expectations of

the genre and Where do we go? Yeah, and specifically

we're gonna jump around. We're not gonna do this

chronological or chronologically. We're gonna

be Doing this in grouping so you're gonna see

us bounce around a little bit from a year standpoint

and specifically this time going from our first

film to our second we're going to jump Almost

what 17 years into the future Going from 1939

here with stagecoach all the way up to 1956 With

searchers, which on AFI's list is the number

one Western film of all time Dan So I don't know

if we've we've we've got the bar pretty high

here. I don't have you seen this searchers before

I Have I think I actually did it for a podcast

back in the day But I mean I'd be interested

in seeing like it's been over like nine ten years

since I've seen it. So Yeah, definitely it same

director. Obviously, we're still gonna have John

Ford We're still going to have John Wayne, so

we'll see what those two are like. It's going

to be also interesting because a lot of these

other retrospectives that we've done, especially

with the Cary Grant one, right? We got to see

him evolve year by year by year and kind of see

how that all happened. It's going to be interesting

for John Wayne specifically to see that first

successful one here in 1939 and then jump 17

years into the future. Sure see it's gonna be

I don't feel like we're time -traveling and we're

gonna see him in a much different part of his

career at this one Definitely and we'll Be looking

forward to so it'll be you know Backed back to

the past So we'll move back to the future and

back to the future part too. We'll have to go

back All right, so the head does it for this

episode? So you'll be able to watch listen to

us talk more Westerns next time with the searchers

and then we'll continue through our watch Western

retrospective for a good part of at least the

first half of the year I think it seems like.

So Dan if people want to get in touch with you

or leave feedback or search out on Letterboxd

what's the best way for them to do any of that?

I'm on Comic Con to the ears on most social media

platforms. Alright you can search me out on most

social media platforms at Optimus Solo and you

can search the show out at Cinema Geeks or Cinema

Geekcast. Also visit the website that most of

our stuff is posted on at thegeekcastradio .com.

So that does it for this episode. Tune in next

time for another chance to listen to more of

The Cinema Geeks.