Stagecoach (1966 film)
Stagecoach | |
---|---|
20th Century Fox | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3.5 million[1] |
Box office | $4 million (US/ Canada)[2] |
Stagecoach is a 1966 American
Plot
In 1880, a group of strangers in
Cast
Actor | Role[note 1] |
---|---|
Ann-Margret | Dallas, The Dancehall Hostess |
Red Buttons | Mr. Peacock, The Whiskey Salesman |
Mike Connors |
Hatfield, The Card Sharp |
Alex Cord | The Ringo Kid |
Bing Crosby | Josiah Boone, The Alcoholic Doctor |
Bob Cummings |
Henry Gatewood, The Embezzler |
Van Heflin | Curley Wilcox, The Marshall |
Slim Pickens | Buck, The Stage Driver |
Stefanie Powers | Mrs. Lucy Mallory, The Expectant Mother |
Keenan Wynn | Luke Plummer, The Killer |
with Brad Weston Matt Plummer Joseph Hoover Lieutenant Blanchard John Gabriel Captain Jim Mallory Oliver McGowan Mr. Haines |
David Humphreys Miller Billy Pickett Bruce Mars Dancing Trooper Brett Pearson Drunken Sergeant Muriel Davidson Mrs. Ellouise Gatewood |
Ned Wynn Ike Plummer Norman Rockwell Busted Flush the Poker Player Edwin Mills Sergeant Major Hal Lynch Jerry the Bartender and The Westernaires[5] US Army Cavalry |
Walker Edmiston | Cheyenne Wells Fargo agent |
Priscilla Morrill | Eloise |
Harry Carter | poker player |
Ottola Nesmith | landlady |
Kam Tong | Waldo |
- ^ As indicated on the poster — character names are not specified in on-screen cast credits
David Humphreys Miller and Norman Rockwell
Also in the cast, playing their sole credited film roles, were two artists, 15th-billed David Humphreys Miller, a 47-year-old western historian who specialized in the culture of the northern Plains Indians and created, among his works, 72 portraits of the survivors of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and 20th-billed Norman Rockwell, 71 years old, who was engaged to be on the set in order to paint the portraits of the stars and assigned the small role of a town poker player nicknamed Busted Flush.[6] The film's closing-credits sequence features the full-screen inscription, THE CAST AS PAINTED BY NORMAN ROCKWELL, followed by images of each of the ten leading players in the same order as in the opening credits. The portraits were also used in the poster for the film.[7][8]
Production
Development
Producer Martin Rackin said he became interested in making the movie after he finished a stint as head of production at Paramount. He said he felt the original was dated and modern audiences were not that familiar with it. He also believed Westerns were the "bread and butter of the industry".[9]
A friend of his was buying the rights to the film but was short of money. Rackin stepped in and succeeded in selling the film to Darryl F. Zanuck at Fox.[9]
He hired Gordon Douglas to direct. The men had worked together ten times before and Rackin called him "the most underrated director in Hollywood - he even made Harlow look interesting - a workhouse who keeps helping out when a studio is in trouble and just hasn't had the right material."[9]
Alex Cord was recommended to Rackin by Edmond O'Brien and Richard Quine.[10]
Locations
Filming started July 6, 1965.[11]
A statement in end credits reads: "The Producers express their appreciation to the owners of the
Comparison to 1939 film
In parallel with the 1939 version,
Alphabetically-fourth
Sixth-placed
At the end of the alphabetical cast, Keenan Wynn, in tenth place, is Luke Plummer, the patriarch of a family of killers, portrayed in 1939 by western star Tom Tyler, billed 11th in the end credits. Finally, 12th-billed supporting player Joseph Hoover portrays the Lieutenant, a character originated by Tim Holt, who was listed 10th in the 1939 credits.[18]
Soundtrack
- Opening credits
- sings "Stagecoach to Cheyenne"
- Words and music by
- Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance
- Uncredited
- "Stagecoach Theme (I Will Follow)"
- Music by Jerry Goldsmith
- Lyrics by Ruth Batchelor
- Orchestrated by Harry Betts
- Vocal arrangement by Bill Brown
- Performed by the Bill Brown Singers
- "Stagecoach To Cheyenne"
- by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance
- Orchestrated by Shorty Rogers
- Vocal arrangement by Bill Brown
- Performed by the Bill Brown Singers
Reception
Box Office
According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $6,300,000 in rentals to break even and made $6,950,000, meaning it made a profit.[19]
Critical
Variety summed it up as: "New version of “Stagecoach” is loaded with b.o. appeal. Ten stars repping a wide spectrum of audience interest, an absorbing script about diverse characters thrown together by fate, plus fine direction and performances are all wrapped up in a handsomely mounted Martin Rackin production...Crosby projects eloquently the jaded worldliness of a down-and-outer who still has not lost all self-respect. Much humor evolves from his running gag with Red Buttons, the preacher-dressed and mannered liquor salesman played earlier by the late Donald Meek."[20]
The New York Times review included: "The action fans may not be short-changed, but only a few of the principals achieve more than surface effects. In a decided departure from the norm, Bing Crosby, as the unshaven, sodden surgeon, is casual, natural, glib and mildly funny. Mr. Heflin is authoritative and taciturn as the marshal intent on keeping his prisoner, the Ringo Kid, from being shot down by the savage Plummers, and Mr. Cord is properly hard, sinewy and determined as that vengeful lone cowhand. [...] But “Stagecoach,” after all, is a horse opera, and the horses, the eye-catching scenery, those dependable hands, and superb sound and fury make it an enjoyable trip most of the way."[21]
Quentin Tarantino is an admirer of the film saying it "can stand proudly alongside the John Ford version" adding that he particularly enjoyed the performances of Bing Crosby, Alex Cord and Mike Connors, as well as the direction of Gordon Douglas.[22]
Film guide reviews
Assigning 2 stars (out of 5), The Motion Picture Guide (1987) posited that "[W]hy Hollywood insists on remaking classics will always be a puzzle. John Ford's 1939 version of the Haycox story was a genuine western classic and this is a genuine western omelette. The presence of Crosby, in his last acting job in movies, saves the movie from being a total mess. In 1986, a TV version of the picture was done with several country music stars in the leads, as well as Liz Ashley and Anthony Newley. It was so awful, it made this movie look good by comparison". Later in its write-up, The Guide opines that "[W]hereas the original had engaging characters and not all that much violence, this one concentrates on bloodletting, the dialog is a failed attempt to be 'adult', and the performances are generally substandard. Norman Rockwell appears briefly. He'd done the excellent portraits of the actors used with the end credit and they rewarded him with a role in the picture, his first and only. Wayne Newton sings 'Stagecoach to Cheyenne' (Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance). It's the kind of song one dislikes upon first hearing and hates upon the second".[24]
VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (2011 edition) does not have a separate entry for the 1966 version but, at the end of its write-up for the 1939 classic is the sentence, "Remade miserably with [sic] in 1966 and again—why?—as a TV movie in 1986".
Among British references,
References
- ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p254
- ^ Solomon p 230. See also "Big Rental Pictures of 1966", Variety, 4 January 1967 p 8. Please note figures are rentals not total gross.
- ^ Stagecoach at RareFilm
- ^ The Florence Times. Retrieved February 13, 2015. Syndicated Hollywood columnist for Newspaper Enterprise Association describes his visit to Stagecoach's picturesque filming location in Nederland, Colorado
- ^ "Westernaires appear in the movie "Stagecoach" (1966)" (Westernaires Alumni Association website)
- ^ "Norman Rockwell Goes Hollywood" (Norman Rockwell Museum of Vermont website)
- ^ Stagecoach poster at the Norman Rockwell Museum
- ^ Curry, Adrian. "Movie Poster of the Week: The Movie Posters of Norman Rockwell" (MUBI, 09 July 2010)
- ^ a b c Style Changes Upgrade '65 'Stagecoach' Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 5 Sep 1965: b11.
- ^ The Perils of Re-staging the 'Stagecoach' Rackin, Martin. Los Angeles Times 11 Apr 1965: M11
- ^ Keenan Wynn 'Stagecoach Killer Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 21 June 1965: C16.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (September 6, 2021). "Surviving Cold Streaks: Ann-Margret". Filmink. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
- ^ Austin, Guy in Hollywood. "Show Business / Rodeo rider turns film star… / Will this new Ringo succeed John Wayne?" (The Sun-Herald {Sydney}, June 19, 1966, page 93)
- ^ Kehr, Dave [film writer for The Times reports on the long-delayed DVD release of the 1966 version] (October 14, 2011). "The Man Who Dared to Fill John Wayne's Boots". The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Wilson, Earl. "Bing Says Sinatra Is Hard To Coop Up" (The Herald Trubune {Sarasota}, August 21, 1965, page 19)
- ^ Bastardo, Luigi. "Stagecoach (1966) DVD Review: The Version Everyone Forgot About / Twilight Time brings us a beautiful transfer for a rather underrated remake of the John Ford classic." (Cinema Sentries, November 22, 2011)
- ^ "Stagecoack" at Bing Crosby Internet Museum (April 2004)
- ^ Erickson, Glenn (October 5, 2011). "Stagecoach (1966)". DVD Savant. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ISBN 9780818404856.
- ^ Variety. May 25, 1966.
- ^ Weiler, A. H. (June 16, 1966). "5 Other Movies Have Local Premieres". The New York Times.
- ^ "QT Movie Club (with Quentin Tarantino!)" (Podcast). Pure Cinema Podcast. March 2, 2021. Event occurs at 2:36:00. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
- ISBN 1101604638
- ^ The Motion Picture Guide (Chicago, 1987), volume VII, pp. 3094–95
- ^ Taylor, Paul. Stagecoach (TimeOut)
External links
- Stagecoach at IMDb
- Stagecoach at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Stagecoach at the TCM Movie Database
- Stagecoach at AllMovie
- Stagecoach at Rotten Tomatoes
- Stagecoach at TV Guide (revised form of this 1987 write-up was originally published in The Motion Picture Guide)