MovieChat Forums > Stagecoach (1939) Discussion > One of the best action scenes ever?

One of the best action scenes ever?


Final chase in the desert was really spectacular. Realistically shot with some crazy angles and extremely dangerous stunts. Almost like Ben-Hur chariot scene. They don't make action like that anymore.

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Agreed. One of the best in a western for sure.

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That was the genius of stuntman/stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt, who also staged and filmed (as 2nd unit director) the chariot race for Wyler's Ben Hur.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's living!!!"
Augustus McCrae

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Nah, the protagonists are never in any real danger. Many because the Indians are terrible marksmen and the cavalry arrives at the last second like they always do. The most laughable part about the whole sequence is the fact that they only manage to kill a guy who wasn't exposed to the Indians. Terrible.

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Is this thread title/OP a joke? That's one of the worst action scenes ever - it's completely ludicrous.

Why didn't they just shoot the stagecoach's horses to immobilize it?

Why do they spend most of their time chasing the stagecoach and doing nothing but getting shot like sitting ducks/total morons whilst not counter-attacking?

How the heck is the stagecoach carrying a bunch of people able consistently to stay ahead of dozens of horses carrying only a single man on each?

Realistically shot


That's an absurd statement. There is nothing realistic about it whatsoever.

They don't make action like that anymore.


One would hope not, because ludicrous scenes in a film that presents itself as serious are horrible. Their only value is in the unintentional comedy they create with their sheer stupidity.

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They were attacking the stage coach to get the horses. Why would they shoot them?

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Why didn't they just shoot the stagecoach's horses to immobilize it?


John Ford answered that question directly, it's in the trivia section here.

Asked why, in the climactic chase scene, the Indians didn't simply shoot the horses to stop the stagecoach, director John Ford replied, "Because that would have been the end of the movie."

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The stuntwork is great, and the chase is exciting.

Nevertheless, the Apaches are remarkably bad shots, especially when compared with the men in the stagecoach who must take out about 20 Apaches to the Indians' 3 injurie/kills. ;-)

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By the standards of 1939, it's exciting.

By today's standards, it's what you would expect from a terrible action film.

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It's a lot harder to shoot accurately from a galloping horse than from a stagecoach. So the Indians' relative inaccuracy seemed reasonable to me.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A. Einstein

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It is a very exciting, action packed scene. However, I was deeply disturbed by the sights of the horses falling. I love animals and horses are my favorite, so seeing that really took away from the action of the scene. For a horse to be abused like that for a movie is wrong.

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Yes, if one was to pick it apart it'd seem rather unrealistic. But this is not reality and the scene works which is all that counts.

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