The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

Directed by William A. Wellman. Starring Henry Fonda, Frank Conroy, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, Harry Davenport, Francis Ford, William Eythe, Anthony Quinn, Marc Lawrence, Jane Darwell, Mary Beth Hughes, Dick Rich, Paul Hurst, George Meeker.

Classic miscarriage-of-justice subject wrapped up in the story of a lynch mob forming in a small Nevada town after a rancher is murdered and his cattle are stolen. Fonda (himself suspected of being a cattle rustler) and partner Morgan reluctantly join the posse, which strings up three men camped out near a herd of cattle in the vicinity of the ranch, leading to a clash of wills among those in the mob who want to see the strangers tried before a court of law and those who want to execute them on the spot. Vividly photographed by Arthur C. Miller amid severe shadows, seesawing between wider crowd shots and anxious close-ups (there’s no doubt it was filmed mostly on sound stages, but the lonely backdrops create a stark, hopeless quality that emphasizes despair at the end of a rope). The denouement is a bit bumpy as the filmmakers overstate their points a bit, but an otherwise superlative melodrama. Some critics found this Western to be too bleak at the time of its release, but its sobering effect remains undiminished today. The last film to date to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award but nothing else.

88/100