Stagecoach

Why remake a bona fide classic like John Ford's "Stagecoach?" Not only did the 1939 western set the stage for an entire genre, but it also introduced the world to John Wayne. It was more than just a slice of Americana; it was a sprawling exercise on what the American identity meant in the old west.

Gordon Douglas 1966 remake, also titled "Stagecoach," rightfully shifts the setting and characters a bit to show off just how universal Ernest Haycox's novel "Stage to Lordsburg" was, and still is. The original film and the remake are both wonderful at depicting how the American ideal of living in the Old West was just as much about getting to an emotional destination as it was about a physical one.

You probably know the story by now: A group of folks get in a stagecoach to a common destination but end up being attacked by Indians. In the original, the stagecoach was traveling to Lordsburg, New Mexico, while trying to evade attacks by Geronimo and his fleet of Apache Indians. In the remake, the stagecoach is headed for Cheyenne with Crazy Horse and his band of Sioux on their trail. Among the passengers are drunk Doc Josiah Boone (Bing Crosby), surly coach driver Buck (Slim Pickens), U.S. Marshal Curly Wilcox (Van Heflin), slick businessman Hatfield (Mike Connors) and Dallas (Ann-Margret), a prostitute with a heart of gold.

Director Gordon Douglas and Director of Photography William H. Clothier do right by not trying to make a facsimile of John Ford's film. To them, the Old West should be shot in CinemaScope and beautiful DeLuxe color. Plus, with almost 30 years of breathing room, taboos that Ford couldn't meet head-on were free for Douglas to home in on. That's why the 1966 "Stagecoach" is a much more violent picture and is a lot blunter about certain characters and who they are, primarily when the narrative focuses in on Dallas.

Norman Rockwell did the title and end credits for "Stagecoach," and, to me, that's perfectly representative of what the film is going for. Rockwell was able to paint handsome portraits of iconoclastic American traditions that almost felt like they were moving, always transforming. Douglas' remake is cut from a similar cloth. It's a very handsome and thrilling repurposing of Haycox's original material to show how the times have changed, but the people really haven't.

The audio and visual presentation of "Stagecoach" on this Twilight Time Blu-ray is top-notch, as is their wont. I was most struck by how vivid the color in the film looks, especially since it was shot in DeLuxe color, an Eastmancolor-based film process that really made colors pop off the screen. Pop like, well, how Norman Rockwell paintings still do. Special features include:

� Isolated Music Track
� Audio Commentary with Film Historians Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo
� Booklet Essay by Julie Kirgo

"Stagecoach"
Twilight Time Blu-ray
$29.95
https://www.twilighttimemovies.com/stagecoach-1966-blu-ray/