Friday, February 26, 2010

#10: The Ox-Bow Incident

Starring: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, that nostril guy from State Fair
Dir: William Wellman (1943)

Bad: I have a hard time with Westerns, I really do. This one was mercifully short. I guess I wasn't in the mood for what it offered: I didn't like the THESE CHARACTERS ARE SYMPATHETIC and THESE CHARACTERS ARE UNSYMPATHETIC heavy-handedness, or how predictable the ending was, or how awkward it was to see Dana Andrews emoting, or how the movie decided to teach me a lesson. I didn't feel like being taught a lesson, I felt like tangling my fingers in Dana's hair (or Anthony's eyelashes. Mmmm).
Good: Dana & Dana's hair, Anthony & Anthony's eyelashes... Also, Henry Fonda was better by the end than he promised at first. I liked the quiet scenes between him and Harry Morgan. There were a lot of surprisingly artsy shots and those were kind of fun to see.

Summary: I really enjoyed certain scenes here and there, but overall I think it did itself a disservice by being so social commentary-y (although at the time it must have been more progressive than it looks today) (I understand that it was based on a book but I don't feel like looking that up). Hmm. It just was not the type of movie I usually like to see, so I had to put up with some stuff to get through it.
Favorite scene by far was Henry Fonda drinking on horseback and making those weird faces. So good.

Stars: 2.5 of 5

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