The Ox-Bow Incident 1942

     This film is based on a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark and the setting is 1885.  Two drifters are passing through a Western town.  News comes in that a local farmer has been murdered and his cattle stolen.  The townspeople and the drifters form a posse to catch the perpetrators.  They find three men that are in possession of the cattle.  The men in the posse are determined to see justice done on the spot.
     The men in the town needed to wait to form a posse and they also needed to verify their information.  Instead, what comes out in the men is cruelty, blood-lust, *ruffianism, *pusillanimity and sordid pride.  A tragic violation of justice and the swallowing of a bitter draught.  The supposed rustlers declare their innocence but the men can’t bring themselves to listen or wait to enact their vengeance.  It doesn’t matter what kind of story the accused men present to the audience, their minds were made up before they left town on their journey.
 
*Ruffianism, violent lawless behavior.  *Pusillanimity, lack of courage or determination, timidity.  4* (I really liked this movie)
   
75 min, Drama directed by William A. Wellman with Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy, Marc Lawrence, Paul Hurst, Victor Kilian, Chris-Pin Martin, Willard Robertson.

Note:  Imdb 8* out of 10* with 19,470 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 90% critic 91% audience, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 172 reviews, Letterboxd 4* out fo 5*, radiotimes.com 5* Allen Eyles, 2020-movie-reviews 3* out of 4*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Alabama Hills, Lone Pine; Chartsworth; Backlot, 20th Century Fox Studios; Stage 14, 20th Century Fox Studios, 10201 Pico Blvd, Century City, Los Angeles, California.  Henry Fonda was unhappy with the quality of the films he had to do while under contract to 20th Century-Fox.  The Grapes of Wrath 1940 and this film were the only two films he was actually enthusiastic about starring in.  Henry Fonda witnessed at the age of 14 the lynching of Will Brown in Omaha, Nebraska on September 28, 1919.  The western street is the same one used in The Gunfighter 1950.  Because of the competition of Laurel & Hardy comedies released at the same time, this film was a box-office flop.  Immediately after filming was completed, Fonda enlisted in the U.S. Navy and he served until 1946.