The Ox-Bow Incident

Chief fault is that the picture over-emphasizes the single hanging incident of the novel, and there's not enough other action.

In contrast to the familiar Western device of the hero obliged to take the law into his own hands… a grim, messy cautionary tale about vigilante justice and mob rule.

It has the virtue of uncompromising truth.

Ultimately, while The Ox-Bow Incident is an astounding piece of cinema and storytelling, it is also a film that leaves you uncomfortable as the viewer finds themselves being confronted with the reality of how dangerous herd mentality can be.

The Ox-Bow Incident stands firmly alongside the great stories about the dangers of mob mentality.

The Ox-Bow Incident is a classic morality tale and makes a strong statement...

A powerful, sobering, haunting epic of human frailty and cruelty - a staggering, unequaled masterpiece of such intrinsic traits.

It rejects the orthodoxy of the time with a powerful social metaphor about human morality in the most bittersweet times, presented in a far west where the barrier between heroes and villains becomes blurred. [Full review in Spanish]

Apesar do final que soletra a mensagem do filme, um western atpico, denso e, principalmente, corajoso para sua poca.

It holds up as the best anti-lynching film ever made.