Ox-Bow Incident The (1943)
Ox-Bow Incident The (1943)
Directed by William Wellman (A Star is Born (1937)) and starring Henry Fonda this Oscar nominated Best Picture was added to the National Film Registry in 1998. It was written and produced by Lamar Trotti (Wilson (1944)). The film is over before you know it clocking just more than 75 minutes in length.
One of many classic lynch mob films this one (perhaps the best ever) begins with Fonda and Harry Morgan two drifters riding into a town where its residents instantly suspect them as potential cattle rustlers who have disrupted the small community. Of course they’re not but when word reaches town that a local has been killed in just such an incident they find themselves caught up in the posse that goes out to find the perpetrators. Fonda and local Harry Davenport are practically the only voices of reason among the group (which includes Jane Darwell – The Grapes of Wrath (1940)) which pursues its own form of justice in absence of the Sheriff and after the Judge (whose housekeeper is Margaret Hamilton uncredited) refuses to take responsibility. Among the accused who are "caught" are Anthony Quinn (Lust for Life (1956)) and Dana Andrews. The film’s title refers to the place where the mock trial takes place. It’s not difficult to tell where this one is going but it’s how they get there and its ending that makes this one an essential in my book.
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