Gil Carter and Art Croft ride into a small Nevada town plagued by cattle thieves. Initially suspected of being the rustlers themselves, Carter and Croft eventually join a posse out to get the criminals, who also may be involved in a recent shooting. When the posse closes in on a group that could be the fugitives, they must decide on a course of action, with numerous lives hanging in the balance.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Gil Carter: Henry Fonda
• Donald Martin: Dana Andrews
• Rose Mapen/Rose Swanson: Mary Beth Hughes
• Juan Martínez/Francisco Morez: Anthony Quinn
• Jenny Grier: Jane Darwell
• Judge Daniel Tyler: Matt Briggs
• Maj. Tetley: Frank Conroy
• Jeff Farnley: Marc Lawrence
• Gerald Tetley: William Eythe
• Monty Smith: Paul Hurst
• Darby: Victor Kilian
• Art Croft: Harry Morgan
• Gabe Hart (uncredited): Rondo Hatton
• Arthur Davies: Harry Davenport
• Poncho: Chris-Pin Martin
• Sheriff Risley: Willard Robertson
• Joyce: Ted North
• Posse Member (uncredited): C.E. Anderson
• Posse Member (uncredited): Tex Cooper
• Posse Member (uncredited): Larry Dods
• Posse Member (uncredited): Tex Driscoll
• Posse Member (uncredited): Don House
• Posse Member (uncredited): Frank McGrath
• Posse Member (uncredited): Ben Watson
• Bartlett (uncredited): Stanley Andrews
• Red (uncredited): Hank Bell
• Green (uncredited): William Benedict
• Winder (uncredited): Paul E. Burns
• Jimmy Cairnes (uncredited): George Chandler
• Mark (uncredited): Forrest Dillon
• Alva ‘Dad’ Hardwicke (uncredited): Francis Ford
• Mrs. Larch (uncredited): Margaret Hamilton
• Moore (uncredited): George Lloyd
• Deputy (uncredited): Tom London
• Mr. Swanson (uncredited): George Meeker
• Larry Kinkaid (uncredited): Frank Orth
• Alec Small (uncredited): George Plues
• Deputy Butch Mapes (uncredited): Dick Rich
• Miss Swanson (uncredited): Almira Sessions
• Sparks (uncredited): Leigh Whipper

Film Crew:

• Art Direction: James Basevi
• Art Direction: Richard Day
• Set Decoration: Thomas Little
• Sound Designer: Roger Heman Sr.
• Director: William A. Wellman
• Novel: Walter Van Tilburg Clark
• Producer: Lamar Trotti
• Original Music Composer: Cyril J. Mockridge
• Director of Photography: Arthur C. Miller
• Editor: Allen McNeil
• Costume Design: Earl Luick
• Sound Designer: Alfred Bruzlin
• Assistant Director: Ad Schaumer
• Costume Design: Sam Benson
• Executive Producer: William Goetz
• Second Unit: James Tinling
• Orchestrator: Conrad Salinger
• Orchestrator: Herbert W. Spencer
• Makeup Artist: Guy Pearce
• Additional Editing: Lyman Hallowell
• Set Decoration: Frank E. Hughes

Movie Reviews:

• John Chard: There can’t be any such thing as civilisation unless people have a conscience.

  The Ox-Bow Incident is directed by William A. Wellman and adapted to screenplay by Lomar Trotti from the novel of the same name written by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. It stars Henry Fonda, Henry Morgan, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe and Jane Darwell. Music is scored by Cyril J. Mockridge and cinematography by Arthur C. Miller.

  Gil Carter & Art Croft ride into the town of Bridger’s Wells, they hit the local saloon to imbibe after a log hard cattle drive. Whilst there a man runs in and announces that a popular man from the town has been shot by rustlers. The sheriff is out of town and a lynch mob quickly forms to bring what they see as swift justice to the culprits, Gil & Art join the posse so as to make sure they themselves don’t get blamed for the shooting. The posse finds three weary workers and convince the majority that these guys are guilty and that instant hanging is the only way to do things. There are, however, one or two dissenting voices……

  What a fabulous movie this is, a powerful indictment of how the lynch mob mentality can grip and lead to pain for many. William Wellman directs superbly, with a big ensemble in such a small area (Ox-Bow), he manages to get the right blend of emotive reactions from the leading players. Henry Fonda as Gill Carter is perfectly sedate and compassionate, even though he is far from being a flawless character, Dana Andrews as Donald Martin is heart achingly real, while others like Frank Conroy as Major Tetley are suitably full of ignorant bluster. It’s quite an experience to see Wellman pull them all together with so much style. The photography from Miller is excellent, shadowy low tone black and white that is in keeping with the downbeat nature of the film, it infuses the picture with a gritty hard bitten noirish look. While Mockridge scores it suitably as sombre.

  Ultimately it’s the story that triumphs the most, claustrophobic in nature, it is simple yet tragic as it spins out to tell us how a group of seemingly sane individuals turned out to be a mass of incoherent reasoning. When a letter is read out during the finale, it is devastating in its effect, we see men broken, heads bowed in shame, others heavy in heart, their lives never to be the same. The emotional whack is hard hitting, and rightly so. For this is unashamedly a message movie, and a worthy one at that, so much so its reputation has grown over the years, where both the film and novel have made it into some educational curriculum’s. It’s very much a landmark Western, by choosing to forgo action for dark characterisations, it opened up the Western genre to being more than just shoot-outs and trail blazing. Had it been made seven or eight years later I think it would have garnered higher critical praise.

  In spite of being one of Fonda’s favourite movies that he made, the film didn’t make money. The public were not quite ready for such sombre beats (Orson Welles, tellingly I feel, loved it), the critics of the time were irked by Wellman’s decision to film the key trial and lynching sequences on the stage. Yet the closeness this gives the narrative serves it well, thrusting the many characters close together so they, and us, can see the whites of everyone’s eyes, this is about focusing on the faces of those about to commit a capital crime. The close confines also gives off a pervasive sense of doom, where pessimism seeps through, there is no short changing here, the makers are dealing in bleakness and the right choices are made to produce one of the finest and most upsetting exponents of mob mentality played out on film. 9/10

• CinemaSerf: When “Larry Kincaid” is shot, the townsfolk rise up and decide to pursue the killers. Led by Confederate officer “Tetley” (Frank Conroy) they alight on three folks in the wilderness moving some cattle. It seems that these three had recently been with “Kincaid” and so a kangaroo court is duly assembled with a view to lynching them. William Wellman now develops one of the most tautly presented half hours of cinema I’ve ever seen. The posse have no evidence, but will they be persuaded by the protestations of innocence from “Martin” (Dana Andrews) and his companions, including Anthony Quinn’s “Martinez”? The tension is palpable as old man “Davies” (Harry Davenport) tries to be the voice of reason and “Art” (Harry Morgan) and “Carter” (Henry Fonda) wrestle, too, with their consciences. It’s a shocking indictment of mob justice, and the dialogue and overall look of the film really build well as what seems inevitable edges nearer and nearer. The ending has a twist that provides food for thought for all concerned (including the audience) and has something of the “Forgive them father…” about it, too. Fonda takes top billing, but Conroy’s performance is probably the most enthralling – brutality in a finely tailored uniform.