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Grim, dark, stark, this film still has the power to shock
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Westerns that have little action, a lot of talking and are shot on studio sets, movies so static that they could be filmed plays, are by some movie-goers’ standards not proper Westerns at all. Yet sometimes a Western ‘play’ comes along that is a truly great film and The Ox-Bow Incident is one such.
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In his biography of his father, Wild Bill Wellman, Hollywood Rebel, William Wellman Jr tells how the director was approached while on vacation with his wife by out-of-work producer Harold Hurley, who owned the movie rights to the Walter Van Tilburg Clark book. The dark, grim story greatly impressed Wellman, though bizarrely Hurley wanted to make it in color with Mae West. “When the posse and tired cowboys gather in the saloon,” he said, “Mae will cheer them up with song and dance.” Wellman passed.
But the story stayed with him and when he met Hurley again later, back in Hollywood, he offered the producer $500 more than he had paid for the story, which had been $6000. Wellman hawked the project round all the studios he had worked for but got a resounding no from everyone. It was wartime. They wanted escapist fare, not a dark film about lynching with little action and no romance. Finally, Darryl Zanuck, even though he and Wellman “weren’t talking”, after one too many ‘incidents’ (Wellman had a famously stormy relationship with studio execs), also read it and was also impressed. “It won’t make a dime,” he said, “but I want my name on it.” There were conditions. There would be only a low budget, it must be shot on the Fox lot in black & white (which was in fact better) and Wellman would have to direct two sight-unseen pictures without changes afterwards. He agreed.
Of course the film has Henry Fonda in it and is therefore strong, tough and moving. His stand for justice is all the more effective because he is just an ordinary cowpoke, apt to drink and fight. Nebraska-born Fonda was fourteen years old when he observed a lynching. He watched a mob from the second floor window of his father’s print shop. “It was the most horrendous sight I’d ever seen… We locked the plant, went downstairs, and drove home in silence. My hands were wet and there were tears in my eyes. All I could think of was that young black man dangling at the end of a rope.” Fonda made several films condemning the evil of lynching and questioning capital punishment in general.
But there are fine supporting actors too. Frank Conroy, as the leader of the mob, decked out in his Confederate uniform, is a swine, as despicable for his treatment of his own sensitive son (William Eythe) as he is for his perversion of justice. But the worst of the rabble is a fat woman, brilliantly played by Jane Darwell, very effectively cast against type, who jokes at the condemned men’s expense and sits with another odious member of the lynch mob and cackles as the victims are condemned. She is frankly chilling. What makes these members of the lynch mob so especially appalling is their total lack of respect for either human life or for justice. The preacher is pathetically ineffectual (as often happened in Westerns). Fonda and his cowpuncher friend Art (Harry Morgan, excellent), along with a decent store keeper, Harry Davenport, are observers and though they stand against it, they do not intervene. The men are hanged.
Of the three victims, Dana Andrews is moving and the great Francis Ford full of pathos as the feeble-minded old man but Anthony Quinn is outstanding. It is extraordinary how Quinn could bring such power to a ‘minor’ role.
The movie observes the classical unities and is a tragedy in the true sense. It is a whole (notice how the two riders come in at the beginning and a dog crosses the street and you have a mirror image of this at the end).
While the film impressed some critics and even garnered an Academy Award nomination, it bombed at the box-office. Some viewers were respectful but few ‘entertained’. Harry Morgan was concerned about audience response at the première, but Orson Welles told him, “They don’t realize what they just saw”. Two years before, Welles himself had undergone similar reactions when Citizen Kane came out.
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Bosley Crowther in The New York Times wrote, “William Wellman has directed the picture with a realism that is as sharp and as cold as a knife. The Ox-Bow Incident is not a picture which will brighten or cheer your day. But it is one which, for sheer, stark drama, is currently hard to beat.”
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At the turn of our own century, Japanese film critic Toshi Fujiwara called it “one of the most important westerns in the history of American cinema.” Clint Eastwood has repeatedly called Ox-Bow one of his favorite films.
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14 Responses
Some movies are so good, that in their own ways, they transcend the genre that they are in. The Ox Bow Incident isn't a western to me. It's on some different level of greatness.
I'm pretty desensitized by violence nowadays. So I was never really shocked. What this movie had the power to do to me though, was hold me in complete suspense. I kept wondering with anticipation what was going to happen next?
I'm normally a little skittish when it comes to watching a movie this old, with this type of theme. I could easily have seen Henry Fonda's character being a milksop young man, fresh out of law school, preaching throughout the whole movie as it fell on deaf ears, then loudly crying and reading the letter in the bar at the end, while everyone else starts bawling. How wrong I was. The sub-human posse members pretty much stayed the same, and Henry's character came out maybe a little wiser, but probably damaged in such a way that I fear he would never be able to recover from. What a neat, rough, well written character.
Also, what impressed me, was how uniquely grotesque they were able to make most of the individual lynch mob members. They would easily have been right at home, drinking with the other cast of degenerates in that bar that the marriage took place in during that scene from "Ride the High Country." Personally, the deputy gets my vote for the one I'd have personally liked to have seen get beaten to death.
Anthony Quinn's character didn't do the other two victims any favors by being stuck with them. I kinda got the feeling that if he didn't do this crime, he was hung for something else he should have been caught for. Doesn't matter. Those fools were just plain bloodthirsty. And you are absolutely right about his performance. The amount of balls he showed at the end made you respect his character instead of just pitying him.
I shouldn't have waited until reading your blog entry to have have watched this remarkable film. It did get it's own Criterion release afterall, so I have been aware of its existence. However, since it's your well respected opinion that finally coaxed me into a giving it a chance, a big thanks for that my good man! Also, reading that it was supposedly one of Robert Mitchum's favorite movies didn't hurt either.
Also was one of Peckinpah’s favorite films.
Yup, no doubt about it, a fine, fine film.
Jeff
Jeff I am 99,99% sure that you had in your previous blog an article about William Wellman which is not listed in your index anymore. Am I wrong !?
No, I haven’t yet written about Wellman. Must get round to it.
I love this movie. So much great acting in this. Fonda is fantastic (and sort of reprise of this role in ’12 Angry Men’-wonderful too). Great,great movie.
I agree. It’s somber but really fine.
WHAT ? ? ? ?
I watched “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943, 5 STARS) for the first time last night.
GOOD NIGHT ! ! ! !
What can I add to Jeff’s great review, or to David Waddle’s excellent analysis of “The Ox-Bow Incident” in his 5-star Peckinpah bio, “If They Move…Kill ‘Em” (1994)?
Peckinpah LOVED “The Ox-Bow Incident.” It was unlike any Western he’d ever seen, and we can see how it influenced him–its stark realism; detailed settings that show how The Old West really did look; nuanced characters who are conflicted and morally complex, like in many of the classic film noirs.
“The Ox-Bow Incident” is both poetic and hard-boiled–characteristics of the best film noirs, and the best of Peckinpah’s films.
I’m just getting started with “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943)–it already has a place on my expanded list of Top 17 Westerns (to match Jeff’s Top 17).
To put a twist on the comment Orson Welles made to Harry Morgan at the end of the premiere: I DO REALIZE what I just saw ! ! ! !
I just saw a WESTERN PAR EXCELLENCE.
Another comment is brewing like black coffee. Stay tuned….
[Warning…sometimes I get long-winded like Michael Cimino. I hope I’ve written something worthwhile here. And I think I have….]
I see parallels between “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943, 5 STARS, makes my expanded list of Top 17 Westerns) and Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate” (1980, my #7 Western, and my #16 movie of all time, across all genres ! ! !).
Yes, “The Ox-Bow Incident” is short and in black and white, while “Heaven’s Gate” is three and half hours long–a slow simmer that BOILS ! ! !–and in color. Both films are bleak–I think “Heaven’s Gate” is even bleaker–but “Heaven’s Gate” has that roller-skate scene with James Averill (Kris Kristofferson), Ella Watson (Isabella Huppert), and the Eastern European immigrants–WHAT JOY ! ! ! ! THE BEST community celebration in any movie I’ve ever seen ! ! !
I see parallels that have been triggered by Jeff’s statement about four men–the preacher, Gil Carter (Henry Fonda), Gil’s buddy Art (Harry Morgan), and the storekeeper–and their response to the lynching: “Though they stand against it, they don’t intervene.”
Seven men stand against it, and I respect them for that–and I love how timid Gerald Tetley finally stands up to his despicable father. Yet Jeff makes that statement: “Though they stand against it, they don’t intervene.”
Wow. OUCH.
In “Heaven’s Gate,” Billy Irvine (John Hurt)–James Averill’s buddy at Yale, charismatic, the life of the party, quotes poetry and writes it–is now, twenty years later, a member of the Wyoming Cattle Barons’ Association, out of which Averill, now a U.S. Marshal, has been blackballed.
Frank Canton (Sam Waterston), the nasty, UTTERLY CONTEMPTIBLE leader of the cattle barons, announces a death list of 125 names of Eastern European immigrants. Billy Irvine stands up and states his opposition to it–and when Canton calls for a vote, Irvine walks out of the room.
Sadly, that’s all Billy Irvine does.
After walking out on the vote, Irvine unexpectedly encounters his old buddy James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) in the pool room upstairs. As they shoot pool, Irvine asks Averill, “Why the hell did you come here?” Averill answers, “Why do we do anything, Billy?”
To me, James Averill is one of the heroes of Cinematic History–from being a serious thinker with a heart for the oppressed, to hitting Frank Canton in the face and knocking him down, to fighting for the immigrants.
“Why do we do anything, Billy?” James Averill says to Irvine.
“Heaven’s Gate” (1980) asks us–at least it asks ME–what we’re doing with our lives. “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943) asks the same question.
Excellent ! That’s exactly my opinion but you expressed it in much better words than my English would have allowed me to do. Jeff did not like Heaven’s Gate (read his interesting text in this blog though). A lot of Americans did not like it either, the reason why it was a flop.
In my humble opinion, it is a masterpiece.
But if you are travelling in and around Buffalo and Kaycee on Wyoming, you must be careful when talking of the Johnson county war with the locals…
And yes, Averill, even if he fails and spending the rest of his life only with his memories to survive, is one of the great american heroes fighting injustice, with decency and integrity, such as Atticus Finch, Will Kane or sheriff Barrett Calder (Marlon Brando) in Arthur Penn’s The Chase ( it could have been a western), an other masterpiece.
Regarding Ox-Bow, Zanuck was concerned that the American public was not ready for a film that centered on lynching. He had predicted the film would not make a dime and he was right. Maybe the film including such inflammatory politics was not truly inspiring during the war time…
In 1936, Fritz Lang, for his first -excellent- american film, had made Fury, on the same subject, starring Spencer Tracy and it was not a big success either…
It is funny to note that Jane Darwell, far from her Ox Bow role, was Henry Fonda’s beloved mother in the Grapes of Wrath (1940)…They also played together in 2 other westerns, Jesse Jesse James (1939) and My Darling Clementine (1946).
And Jeff, finally, has covered William Wellman incredible life and career. See:
https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2024/01/the-westerns-of-william-a-wellman/
Jeff expressed his dislike of Heaven’s Gate, but never got around to actually reviewing it (unless something was lost long ago when the blog switched platforms). It strikes me as a pretty major gap for you to fill after you’re done with the Peckinpah celebrations.
Brian, we have a plan to address that gap. Please stay tuned!
Unfortunately several texts have disappeared for technical reasons such as the switch you mentioned.
We have had a long and fiery discussion with Jeff about his Heaven’s Gate essay lost or hidden in the internet limbos…
Strangely enough old texts have survived (See his Sunchaser one talking of Cimino where someone in the comments is asking for Heaven’s Gate) when more recent ones have vanished.
I remember for example that his first text about the villains had disappeared (it was after the switch as far as I remember) and since amazingly he did not keep a copy once published, he had to rewrite a new text in full.
You will notice that some subjects have 2 texts published at different dates, often quite the same sometimes more detailed nevertheless.
Thanks, Jean-Marie ! ! !
I remember you listed “Heaven’s Gate” (1980, my #16 movie of all time, all genres) among your Favorite Westerns (August/September 2024).
“Heaven’s Gate” and “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (1973) are interchangeable at #6 and #7 on my Favorite Westerns list. I’ve got “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” pencilled in as my #24 movie of all time, all genres–but whenever I publish my review of it (probably on Amazon), I might rank it higher than that.
A review “Heaven’s Gate” on Jeff Arnold’s West ? ? ? WOW, that’s exciting ! ! ! ! If I’m a betting man–(which I’m not)–I’m betting the review is going to be good.
YES, let’s all stay tuned for that one ! ! ! !