Harry Morgan and Henry Fonda are caught up in frontier justice in William Wellman’s searing OX-BOW INCIDENT
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (William A. Wellman, 1943)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Friday, February 17, 1:00, and Saturday, February 18, 2:00, 6:00, 9:20
Series continues through March 1
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
In 1885 Nevada, members of a small town hear that one of their own has been murdered and his cattle stolen. Led by Major Tetley (Frank Conroy), his son, Gerald (William Eythe), and Jeff Farnley (Marc Lawrence), an angry posse sets out to find the killer thieves. They are joined by a pair of drifters, Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Henry/Harry Morgan), who don’t like what they’re seeing. The posse soon comes upon the trio of Donald Martin (Dana Andrews), Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn), and Alva Hardwicke (Francis Ford), determining that they did the dirty deeds and must pay for their actions, leading to a heated debate over whether they should bring the three men in or hang them right there. Based on the 1940 novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, William Wellman’s harrowing classic is one of the greatest films ever made about frontier justice and mob vengeance. The scene in which the bold Martínez takes a bullet out of his body by all by himself is one of the most powerful moments you’re ever likely to see on-screen. In many ways, Fonda and Morgan play characters who are stand-ins for the audience, forcing viewers to examine what they would have done if ever put in similar circumstances. The Ox-Bow Incident is screening as part of Film Forum’s Wellman festival on February 17 at 1:00 by itself and three times on February 18 as part of a double feature with 1948’s Yellow Sky, a Western starring Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark.