Despite being his first truly great movie, Stagecoach is still the film with John Wayne’s best scene. Over the course of his long and storied career in Hollywood, John Wayne headlined dozens of movies, mostly Westerns but also war films, dramas, and adventure movies. Having accumulated a whopping total of 169 movie appearances, John Wayne has no shortage of memorable movie scenes credited to him.
Great John Wayne quotes, fist fights, and shootouts are found throughout the actor’s filmography. This is unsurprising, given that several of his movies – such as The Searchers, Rio Brave, and Stagecoach – are counted as some of the best Westerns of all time. Most of these, interestingly enough, were made when the actor was past his prime. Stagecoach, on the other hand, was released in 1939, when the actor was 32 years old. But though it hails from one of the earliest chapters of his career, it was never topped in one key area, which was Wayne’s introductory scene.
Why The Ringo Kid’s Entrance In Stagecoach Is The Best Scene Of John Wayne’s Career
The Ringo Kid Stole The Show
In the black-and-white Western, John Wayne played the lead role of the Ringo Kid, a gunslinger who rides on the titular stagecoach on the long road to New Mexico. However, the film doesn’t begin by following Wayne’s character. Rather, it focuses on the journey of the characters traveling on the stagecoach ahead of his arrival. This leads to a scene-stealing moment where the Ringo Kid makes his grand entrance. The scene sees the stagecoach stop in front of a lone Wayne, who skillfully spins his rifle before the camera zooms in on his face.
From this point on, it’s clear that John Wayne has taken over the movie. His commanding presence, combined with various directing techniques, such as the use of the zoom, allows Stagecoach to convey that the Ringo Kid is the true star of the movie. It’s made even more powerful when looking at it in retrospect; in a way, the Ringo Kid’s introduction in Stagecoach is a reflection of what this movie meant for Wayne. Similar to how the Ringo Kid seized control of the story when he stopped the stagecoach, Wayne became the face of the genre when he made the film.
John Wayne’s Career Would’ve Been Very Different Without Stagecoach
Stagecoach Ended A Long-Running Phase In Wayne’s Career
While John Wayne was an experienced Western movie actor long before playing Ringo Kid in Stagecoach, he was hardly a household name at the name. Before Stagecoach, Wayne had been the lead actor in a number of Westerns, but all were low-budget and contributed very little to his stardom. His career stayed on this trajectory for quite a while, with Wayne making a handful of these forgettable Westerns every year for almost a decade. Considering that this had been going on since 1930, it’s unclear where it would have ended had it not been for Stagecoach.