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The Ox-Bow Incident Movie Review

The Ox-Bow Incident is a 1943 western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews. It’s one of the best western movies out there.

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“God better have mercy on you.

You won’t get any from me“

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Two drifters join a posse formed by townsfolk to trace the killers of a local farmer whose cattle have been stolen. Soon, they find three men with the farmer’s cattle and decide to lynch them. I am not the biggest western guy, but this is the type of western that I strongly gravitate toward. Whenever this genre focused less on Native Americans and patriotism and more on timeless themes and historical authenticity, the movies flourished and this is one example of a western that aged like fine wine.

When this film was released, it wasn’t a huge hit obviously as it came during WWII and people needed entertainment back then and not heavy movies dealing with dark themes. It did, however, receive excellent reviews and it ended up being nominated for Best Picture, though nothing else, which was the last time in the history of the Academy Awards that this happened.

Nowadays, the movie is still very well regarded and for many great reasons. Thematically speaking, it’s incredible. It for once depicted just how horribly unjust and brutal “laws” during this period in American history were, in particular focusing on the dangers of posses and lynching. The mob mentality as it was depicted here was both horrifying and highly important to witness as this type of thing still exists and it needs to be combated at every turn.

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The Ox-Bow Incident has such a tight, sophisticated screenplay that actually stops to deal with these themes instead of rushing it with action sequences. Some may fault the movie for not having that many set pieces and not a lot of entertainment value, but I loved that about it as it’s a thinking man’s western feature that clearly sets itself apart from many others of this period.

The characterization is solid, though not great due to the runtime limitations. The film is only 75 minutes long, but it achieved so much during this time frame that I ultimately did not mind it, but the characters overall could have been a tad stronger. Still, the acting is fantastic. Henry Fonda killed it in one of his better roles while Dana Andrews impressed in an important, very memorable turn. Among others, Frank Conroy and Harry Morgan were also very good.

The movie was ahead of its time in its depictions of minorities, at least those of Spanish-speaking variety. The whole movie preaches kindness and just trial while it clearly stands against mob thinking and rash decision-making. The dialogue is phenomenal with many instantly memorable lines. The film employed a lot of minimalism in its overall execution, which I loved. Yes, it was borderline stagey in certain sections due to the lack of ambition in terms of scope, but the film was still elevated by beautiful black-and-white cinematography, some great landscape imagery and a striking score. It also featured excellent directing from the underrated William A. Wellman.

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