John Ford's Stagecoach (Cambridge Film Handbooks)

257 Pages·2003·4.82 MB·English

by  Barry Keith Grant

MMM
This page intentionally left blank
John Ford’s Stagecoach
StagecoachisoneoftheclassicsofHollywoodcinema.Madein1939,it
revitalizedtheWesterngenre,servedasamilestoneofJohnFord’scareer,
andmadeJohnWayneastar.Thisvolumeoffersarichoverviewofthe
filminessaysbysixleadingfilmcritics.ApproachingStagecoachfroma
varietyofcriticalperspectives,theyplacethefilmwithinthecontextsof
authorship,genre,Americanhistory,andculture.Alsoexaminedarethe
film’scommentaryonrace,class,gender,anddemocracy,aswellasthe
film’sartistry.
BarryKeithGrantisaprofessoroffilmanddirectoroftheGraduate
Program in Popular Culture at Brock University. His books include
The Film Studies Dictionary, Voyages of Discovery: The Cinema of Frederick
Wiseman,andFilmGenreReader.

THECAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESSFILMHANDBOOKSSERIES
GeneralEditor: AndrewHorton,UniversityofOklahoma
Each CAMBRIDGE FILM HANDBOOK is intended to focus on a single
film from a variety of theoretical, critical, and contextual perspectives.
This“prism”approachisdesignedtogivestudentsandgeneralreaders
valuable background and insight into the cinematic, artistic, cultural,
and sociopolitical importance of individual films by including essays
by leading film scholars and critics. Furthermore, these handbooks by
their very nature are meant to help the reader better grasp the nature
of the critical and theoretical discourse on cinema as an art form, as
a visual medium, and as a cultural product. Filmographies and select
bibliographiesareaddedtohelpthereadergofurtherinhisorherown
explorationofthefilmunderconsideration.
VOLUMESINTHESERIES
BusterKeaton’s“SherlockJr.”ed.byAndrewHorton,Universityof
Oklahoma
SpikeLee’s“DotheRightThing,”ed.byMarkReid,UniversityofFlorida
Ozu’s“TokyoStory,”ed.byDavidDesser,UniversityofIllinois,
Urbana–Champaign
“TheGodfatherTrilogy,”ed.byNickBrowne,UniversityofCalifornia,
LosAngeles
Hitchcock’s“RearWindow,”ed.byJohnBelton
Godard’s“PierrotleFou,”ed.byDavidWills,StateUniversityof
NewYork,Albany
Bun˜uel’s“TheDiscreetCharmoftheBourgeoisie,”ed.byMarshaKinder,
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
Bergman’s“Persona,”ed.byLloydMichaels,AlleghenyCollege
“BonnieandClyde,”ed.byLesterFriedman

John Ford’s
Stagecoach
Edited by
BARRY KEITH GRANT
BrockUniversity
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521793315
© Cambridge University Press 2003
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2002
- 
isbn-13 978-0-511-07159-1 eBook (EBL)
- 
isbn-10 0-511-07159-0 eBook (EBL)
- 
isbn-13 978-0-521-79331-5 hardback
- 
isbn-10 0-521-79331-9 hardback
isbn--13 978-0-521-79743-6 paperback
- 
isbn-10 0-521-79743-8 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
AcknowledgmentsandCredits pageix
ListofContributors xi
Introduction:SpokesintheWheels 1
BarryKeithGrant
1 StagecoachandHollywood’sA-Western
Renaissance 21
ThomasSchatz
2 “PoweredbyaFord”?:DudleyNichols,Authorship,
andCulturalEthosinStagecoach 48
CharlesJ.Maland
3 ThatPast,ThisPresent:
HistoricizingJohnFord,1939 82
LelandPoague
4 “ALittleBitSavage”:StagecoachandRacial
Representation 113
J.P.Telotte
5 “BeaProud,GlorifiedDreg”:Class,Gender,and
FrontierDemocracyinStagecoach 132
GaylynStudlar
6 StagecoachandtheQuestforSelfhood 158
WilliamRothman
vii
viii CONTENTS
ReviewsofStagecoach 179
WelfordBeaton,TheHollywoodSpectator(February18,
1939) 179
FrankS.Nugent,TheNewYorkTimes(March3,1939) 181
JohnMosher,TheNewYorker(March4,1939) 182
Filmography 185
SelectBibliography 233
Index 239