Stagecoach

This movie was by far better than Citizen Kane in my opinion. The tune was catchy and easily recognizable as well. I liked the diverse personalities of the characters in the movie, but I felt like there wasn't enough character development overall for each character. I saw a lot of similarities with this film and more recent ones. Although more recent films aren't usually westerns. Though the whole hero in pursuit of a woman, hero prevails over evil, and an American happy ending has definitely been used way too many times. It was probably still quite fresh when this film was created. I just see a lot of the things that turned how films are made today in Stagecoach. For example the Apache Indians chase scene, this seems like an early version of any typical chase scene in a movie, but with a stagecoach and horses instead of cars.

This scene was discussed in class quite thoroughly. How the camera violates the 180 degree rule in filming, the director wasn't trying to prove a point. According to him it was because he got a better shot from that angle and position. Once it had been pointed out, it became pretty obvious. The scene would have the stagecoach and the horses moving in opposite directions, one would think this would make it harder to follow along and make the chase scene less logical. But it didn't, no one in my class had noticed this switching of directions. Everyone in the class also seemed just fine while watching the movie, and was able to understand what was happening in the scene. I was also very impressed by the stunt men, I lost count of how many people were shot and fell off their horses. The movie looked as if it had been made later than 1939 in my opinion, it just didn't look as outdated as it was to me. Then there was the animal cruelty going on in the movie, with the horses being jumped on and falling over. It would be pretty hard to see a recent movie treating horses that way with all the animal rights laws.

In conclusion, I actually liked this film. My favorite character was probably Doc Boone, he just brought laughter with his constant alcohol abuse throughout the film. Then there were more annoying characters like Lucy Mallory that I didn't like. She didn't seem like a very good actress to me, she never really showed any emotion in the film. Even when she tried to show fear and anxiety in the stagecoach during the chase scene but instead she looked constipated or brain dead. I couldn't help but laugh when there was a long shot that was perfectly parallel with the side of the stagecoach because Lucy Mallory's face was looking straight out the window and her face just looked weird. But overall, I liked this movie.