Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Ox-Bow Incident


“The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943) directed by William Wellman and starring Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan and Dana Andrews is another masterpiece in the genre of Westerns.  It was filmed almost entirely on a soundstage by the brilliant Arthur C. Miller, who gives us a picture of the old West that is both stark and enlightened at the same time.  This is a morality play, based upon the book by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, that is difficult at best.  There are terrific performances that make this story of prejudice and mob mentality all the more real.  It will devastate you with its honesty.