The Ox-Bow Incident

A searing and eternally relevant indictment of mob violence. The short running time ensures that not a single moment is wasted.

The Ox-Bow Incident is a western without any heroes. If you set the bar low enough, there are seven heroes, but they are no Magnificent Seven. In the louring and gloomy atmosphere of the lynch mob, the only heroism possible is to refuse to take part in it. There is no scope here for heroic rescues – only victims, culprits, and impotent observers whose objections must remain muted for fear that they might be lynched along with the suspects. Despite the presence of Fonda (a big name at the time after his appearance in The Grapes of Wrath), the film was made on a modest budget. It was filmed on studio backlots and sound stages. The range of settings is limited, and the backdrops are obviously painted, sometimes to poor effect. Consider the shots of characters leaving the saloon, for example. However the dark painted clouds on the external shots do add to the film's louring atmosphere. There is a cloud of ugliness hanging over the town caused by the presence of rustlers. The problem is worsened when they receive sketchy news suggesting that the rustlers have shot and killed a rancher called Larry Kinkaid. The facts have not been confirmed, but the townspeople immediately decide to send a posse after the rustlers. The posse is a lynch mob in all but name. A rope is shown often in the film – it is seen around Smith's neck, in the hands of others, and eventually shaped into the form of a noose. We are left in no doubt that the verdict of the mob has been decided in advance before they even set off. The presence of the rope adds to the sense of threat that helps to paralyse even the reasonable men who fear for their own safety if they speak out. Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Ox-Bow Incident is that it seems to foreshadow the environment of the 1950s when anti-Communist witch-hunts led to an environment of paranoia and suspicion, where innocent people suffered. The film anticipates later westerns such as High Noon and Johnny Guitar, where those themes would be played out in direct opposition to the injustices then being perpetrated in the name of McCarthyism. I am not sure that The Ox-Bow Incident would have been a bigger hit if it had been made in that decade. Indeed there is a possibility that it might not have been made at all. While the sombre content of The Ox-Bow Incident will probably never make it a popular movie, I cannot help thinking that it deserves a higher place in the name of great westerns. I wrote a longer appreciation of The Ox-Bow Incident on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/11/10/the-ox-bow-incident-1943/

Like a Western version of Paths of Glory in its tense portrayal of injustice. A brilliant, short Western that wastes no words or scenes. The note to the wife is obviously contrived for a Hollywood ending but it's poignant enough. A top film this one.

The Ox-Bow Incident efficiently explores the timeless dangers in group think and mob violence, while also subtly displaying a well rounded portrayal of toxic masculinity...and almost 80 years before Jane Campion's Power of the Dog made headlines for doing the same. Coming in at just 75 minutes this compact narrative is extremely economical with dialogue and action, and falls under what I've come to call the Joe Friday style of storytelling (just the facts). Don't let the length fool you though as Wellman's picture still packs a stronger punch than many far longer films, and may not have even managed to create the same effect with ancillary exposition. Henry Fonda has never disappointed me but Dana Andrews takes the MVP as the defacto spokesman for the trio of accused and his words probably created the most impactful moment of this film, which concluded with a well stuck landing.

William Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident is a powerful indictment of mob rule. It's also a masterclass in movie making for the many characters that are developed over the course of a taut 75 minutes. Wellman, Trotti's script and the actors craft these memorable characters through set-ups / situations, small gestures and brief dialogue. It's a great cast but Henry Fonda is truly outstanding for his rough-and-tumble everyman, totally natural and believable, with some physical tension and a slight chip on his shoulder, but also deep compassion and a very direct and truthful style. One of the great cowboy movies ever.

If forced to assign William Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident to a genre, it would probably fall under Western, despite being devoid of gunfights, villains dressed in black, attacks by natives, and damsels in distress. As powerful today as it probably was the day it was released in 1943, it tells the story of a group of vigilantes in search of those responsible for the theft of cattle and the murder of the owner of the herd. It's a gripping and compelling story of blind rage, injustice and the dangers of vigilantism with a final scene that is nothing short of devastating. The movie is set in 1880s Nevada but the themes can be applied to any location and any time period and will haunt the viewer long after the film has ended.

The dangers of an angry mob. So this is about a posse that is out for vengeance. Word has spread that a local farmer has been murdered over his cattle, and the group stumbles across three men who have circumstantial evidence stacked against them. The posse is strongly divided on whether or not the found men should get a fair trial or if they should get lynched on the spot. Now, I already watched this one a while back, but it was over a decade ago. I remember it being an emotional doozy, and with Henry Fonda leading, that shoe seemed to fit. I wasn't quite as emotionally affected this time around, but that's not to say that this story isn't great in its own right. Currently, I'm slowly working my way through the old television series The Rifleman. To me, The Ox-Bow Incident is akin to one of that series' better episodes. It's in black and white, there is a moral discourse, and there is a lesson to be learned when all is said and done. It is also super-short; at a mere 75 minutes, it doesn't even have a chance to outstay its welcome. Because of that, it feels almost like an extended episode of television more than anything. It's a sensitive topic at hand. For obvious reasons, I felt uncomfortable watching a gang of bloodthirsty white men hungry for a lynching. I think many will feel unsettled as I did, but I suppose that is kind of the point. It's more of the same feeling when the sole black character (played by Leigh Whipper) acknowledges how he already knows how this is all going to end well before we get there. No, I didn't feel as big of an emotional wallop this time around, but there's still plenty to recommend here. This is less of a traditional Western and more of a courtroom drama that just so happens to be set in the West, which is ironic, given that justice is completely outspoken and left by the wayside. If you have the opportunity to watch this, you should go out of your way to make the time. At 75 minutes, what have you got to lose?

Two drifters enter a small town, one looking for his fiancé-but the bartender tells them she has left the town to go to Frisco. Then another man arrives to report that Kinkaid, a popular local rancher had been shot in the head at his ranch. This stirs up the town to create a lynch mob, but a couple go to the local judge to have him try to defuse the situation. The sheriff unfortunately is away at Kinkaid's ranch, so the deputy is in charge. They all join the group, who go into the nearby mountains where they believe the outlaws are. En route, they find people traveling in a wagon-the woman the drifter was supposed to marry and the man she actually did marry (but nothing comes further of this plot point). The find the cattle with Kinkaid's brand-and three men camped nearby. They proclaim their innocence, but one of the campers is recognized as a wanted outlaw-and statements made by the others arouse the posse's suspicions. Will they go ahead and just lynch them? The movie has a slow beginning and an over-dramatic ending, but the middle is certainly good.

A searing and eternally relevant indictment of mob violence. The short running time ensures that not a single moment is wasted.

The Ox-Bow Incident was designed as a noir with the skin of a Western, but seen today it looks more like a premonition of the far-off Revisionist Western movement in film. In a genre that was all about principled men of action going up against one-dimensional villains in black-and-white conflicts, The Ox-Bow Incident shined a light on an uglier side of the rough-and-tumble existence that had been idealized in dime-store novels for decades, depicting it as an opportunity for human vice to take over even when intentions seemed to be pure. A posse forms to track down the killers of a local rancher and to find his rustled cattle, choosing to ignore the pleas of the local judge. They find a trio in a canyon with some of his cattle and other potential evidence, each of which they have an explanation for but no hard proof to demonstrate their innocence. Instead of taking the opportunity to verify their claims, the group opts for their blood, becuase "somebody's got to be punished", only to find out that they were innocent of the crime; it's a feature of American justice that feels unfortunately timely today, only now having been incorporated into the formal judicial process as well. Fonda gives a classic performance as something of a rugged antihero, and the well-rounded supporting cast may receive criticism for being too large to be adequately explored in the 76-minute runitme, but that's the point - they're a mob that feeds off each other. Darwell is great as the beloved gun-toting 'Ma'. A classic morality tale that seemed not to find much of an audience on release, when patriotic sentiment would have been on everyone's mind rather than darker, critically introspective pieces of film. (4/5)