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The Ox-Bow Incident
A tense, hard-hitting drama about the ignorance of mob justice, as relevant to the treatment of black people in the twentieth century South as to the nineteenth century western frontier. Fonda is superb as Carter, chief dissenting witness to the event, and both Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn are compelling as two of the condemned men. Nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, this is a top western from one of Hollywood's most seasoned directors. Don't miss it.

Admirable Drama in Xenophobic Small Town Western...
The Ox-Bow Incident displays a very real situation with ordinary people making rash decisions based on feelings, prejudice, and group dynamics. The story takes place in Nevada where the inhabitants of a small village take the law into their own hands in the year of 1885. There were thousands of small towns such as this one spread out throughout the west of the Mississippi. Each town had their own elected sheriff that upheld the law, and often with a bias toward the townsfolk. Strangers did not often come through small towns and these strangers often experienced some level of xenophobia, which is even noticeable in the beginning of Ox-Bow Incident when one of the strangers points out that they have to be careful as they are strangers.

Xenophobia plays a big part of the film, which often stemmed from hearsay and stories told by friends in small towns throughout the west. Some of these stories can be read in old newspapers that exaggerated tales in order to increase sales. This has also been exploited in many Westerns. Then you have those who lived by the status of protecting themselves against others, and in that perspective strangers were commonly seen as threats. Despite the prevalence of xenophobia many of the towns such as the one in Ox-bow Incident, they would have insisted that their town were the nicest and most pleasant of them all. If this was the case, then why would there be stories of lynching and vigilantism in the decades after the Western expansion, stories such as the Ox-Bow Incident.

The film opens with two strangers riding into the quiet small town of the story's focus, as they tie their horses outside the town's saloon. One of the strangers gives a friendly gesture to one of the townsfolk, probably to ease possible tension within the town. These two men, Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and his friend, are visiting Gil's girlfriend, Rose Mapen, but it happens that she has left most likely due to the married women who saw her as a threat. Upset Gil ends up in a fight with a cowboy, Jeff Farnley (Marc Lawrence), who suggests that he has stolen some cattle since he is a stranger after all. Instead of getting in trouble, Gil teaches the man a lesson by beating him up and making him look foolish. Shortly after, a young boy rushes into the saloon and yells that Kinkaid has been killed and his cattle are missing.

The emotions are flowing and a vice-Sheriff improperly deputies the townsfolk who set out to find the killer. Gil and his friend have no choice than to go with, or they might be perceived as the guilty party, which might be enough for a rowdy mob. It turns into a journey of legal madness where lawlessness prevails in the hands of those in emotional turmoil while xenophobia reaches its pinnacle. But instead of displaying an ordinary tale of vengeance, the Ox-Bow Incident depicts a moral story of justice and humanity in darkness. The culminating ending delivers a potent lesson when the posse returns to the saloon where it all once began. The director William A. Wellman truly created a brilliant cinematic experience through this Western tale, which opposes the greatness of the Western and instead displays the wickedness of lawlessness.

Masterly anti-Western
The list of movies addressing the issue of lynching as its major theme is small but impressive. Fritz Lang's great " Fury " leaps to mind as does the Mervyn LeRoy drama " They Wont Forget" but for my money it is this calssic that bears away the crown in this field .Its powerful portrait of mob violence rises to the level of Greek tragedy in its air of inevitability and catharsis, and in its brilliant examination of the psyche of its principal characters
The movie is based on events which took place in Nevada in 1885 . Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan play two drifting cowboys who ride into the town of Bridger's Wells and promptly head for the saloon .They hear of a popular local rancher being shot by rustlers ;a posse is set up lead by the blustering and pompous ex-Confederate army officer " Tetley "( Frank Conroy)who dons his old uniform for the venture .and insists that his sensitive son (William Eythe) goes along ,because it will " make a man of him ".Fonda and Morgan reluctantly accompany the mob .The main reason they do so is to avoid being accused of the crime thenselves .
The mob come upon 3 men -horse traders -by their capmpfire .These men -Dana Andrews , Anthony Quinn and Francis Tesa) -are accused of the crime even though no evidence exists of their guilt .They are strung up on the spot ,Andrews pleading to be allowed to write a last letter to his wife ,a request that is granted .
The posse return in high good humour only to be shown as not vigilantes but murderers .The finale when Fonda reads Andrews' letter aloud is sentimental but moving .
I have called this an anti-Western and I stand by that description for the movie is critical of what most Westerns deem a virtue -the pioneer spirit .These are men and women embittered and crippled emotionally who resort to mob rule to cover up their own cowardice and personal inadequacies .This is most obvious in the figure of the homesteader played by Jane Darwell .This type of character is usually shown in a positive light by the conventional Western-hard working ,salt of thre earth types .Here the woman is shrewish and shrill ,an empty sounding brass of a woman utterly devoid of compassion or moral feeling .Then there is the bartender (Paul Hurst) who accompanies the posse-a slimy rabble rouser and the embittered vengeance seeking man played by Marc Lawrence .All claim lyching is part of the " Code of the West" and cannot see that it is its very opposite
The Colonel is a fraud and a bully ,his son an emotional weakling
It is also an anti-Western in its turning away from the wide open spaces of popular genre myth-the movie was largely shot on the studio lot with some obvious painted backcloths .These help the movie rather than hinder it ,giving a sense of claustrophobia which adds to the power .It is West where meanness and suspicion have replaced optimism and heroics .
The movie has been criticised as solemn and dull ,James Agee saying it suffered from "rigor artis" and was too static.I disgree but otheres will echo Agee's sentiments ,especially if they insisit on lots of action in the genre
Brilliantly acted all round with Quinnn scoring heavily in a small role as a man with a criminal past but being killed forsomething he did not do .Subtle direction from William Wellman and outstanding photography from Arthur Miller .This movie even looks authentic with the clothes appearing well worn and dusty
Downbeat and grim but a powerful morality play that makes grim but powerful viewing

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