Stagecoach (1966)

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Ernest Haycox (story)
Dudley Nichols (1939 screenplay)

Release Date:

15 June 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

These Were The Ten Who Fought Indians, Outlaws And Each Other As They Rode To Greatness On The Stagecoach To Cheyenne!

Plot:

A group of unlikely traveling companions find themselves on the same stagecoach to Cheyenne. They include a drunken doctor...

Plot Keywords:

Stagecoach | Outlaw | Beautiful Woman | Native American

Cast

Ann-Margret	...	Dallas
Red Buttons	...	Peacock
Mike Connors	...	Hatfield (as Michael Connors)
Alex Cord	...	Ringo Kid
Bing Crosby	...	Doc Josiah Boone
Robert Cummings	...	Henry Gatewood (as Bob Cummings)
Van Heflin	...	Marshal Curly Wilcox
Slim Pickens	...	Buck, Stagecoach Driver
Stefanie Powers	...	Mrs. Lucy Mallory
Keenan Wynn	...	Luke Plummer
Brad Weston	...	Matt Plummer
Joseph Hoover	...	Lt. Blanchard
John Gabriel	...	Capt. Jim Mallory
Oliver McGowan	...	Mr. Haines
David Humphreys Miller	...	Billy Pickett

Runtime:

115 min | USA:110 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | 4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:G | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Arapaho Falls, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In a great many of his films, Bing Crosby played lighthearted comedy and musical roles as a singer or songwriter, however he demonstrated a talent as a fine dramatic actor and provides the screen with several highly acclaimed dramatic performances including this one.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During an Indian attack, when the stagecoach goes through a long puddle of water, fresh tire tracks can be seen on the left as the camera starts up to match the movement of the stage coach.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Adam Adamant Lives!: A Vintage Year for Scoundrels (#1.1)" (1966)

Soundtrack:

Stagecoach To Cheyenne

Ain't a Patch on the John Ford version

After seeing this version on AMC a few days ago, I took out my copy of the original from 1939. It's the difference between a classic western and a routine action film.

Director Gordon Douglas probably because there is an unwritten rule in Hollywood that no one is ever to shoot a film in Monument Valley but John Ford, shot this thing in Colorado. It's not badly photographed, but you really miss the sweeping vistas of the Arizona desert. The Apache become the Sioux here and instead we have Geronimo jumping the reservation it's Crazy Horse instead. One of the great moments of cinema westerns in the original Stagecoach is when the cavalry sweeps by the passing Stagecoach to engage the Apaches in the rescue. John Ford liked it so much he used the same gambit in Fort Apache. In this version you have to believe that the passengers fought them off themselves and then made it into Cheyenne on three wheels with less horses. No way, Jose.

Poor Alex Cord, a competent actor, is no John Wayne. Of course who is and Cord tries his best, but you can't forget the Duke. Michael Connors as Hatfield lacks fire in his portrayal. John Carradine created a real air of mystery about the gambler. Nothing like that here.

This is one of Bing Crosby's few non-singing roles and he got some deservedly good reviews for reprising Thomas Mitchell's Doc Boone. In fact some of his scenes with Red Buttons as Peacock the whiskey drummer are faintly reminiscent of Crosby's work with Bob Hope. Buttons is not Donald Meek and he plays the part differently. Meek was a man with a Dickensian name and he played mostly parts that fit that name perfectly. After the Indian attack, Buttons is a man with a few drinks under his belt ready to lick the world. It's different, but nicely done.

Another musical performer in this was Ann-Margret. For the life of me I can't figure out why with two people like Crosby and Ann-Margret, they didn't give her and him a song or two, a duet maybe. Especially since in the plot line here, Crosby takes a fatherly interest in Ann-Margret as well as in Alex Cord. Her role of Dallas is as a saloon girl so a musical number would not have been out of place.

The rest of the cast performs adequately. Bob Cummings's Gatewood is more fully developed a character here and a bigger rat. Van Heflin and Slim Pickens are able substitutes for George Bancroft and Andy Devine. Stefanie Powers as the pregnant cavalry officer's wife is adequate. The part itself is as thin as the original version with Louise Platt doing it.

The gunfight between the Plummers and Ringo is more fully developed here. You actually don't see it in the 1939 version. Keenan Wynn as Luke Plummer is also more fully developed than was Tom Tyler. Tyler with a minimum of dialog suggested the menace of Luke Plummer. But Keenan Wynn is one evil man here.

In fact whole pages of dialog are taken from the original. Interesting that 20 years later another version was done. But this Stagecoach is a perfect example of why classics should just be left alone.