''Stagecoach to Fury'' is a 1956 American
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
film directed by
William F. Claxton and starring
Forrest Tucker
Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...
and
Mari Blanchard
Mari Blanchard (born Mary E. Blanchard, April 13, 1923 – May 10, 1970) was an American film and television actress, known foremost for her roles as a B movie femme fatale in American productions of the 1950s and early 1960s.
Early life and c ...
. It was the first film from
Robert L. Lippert's Regal films; the
B picture
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
unit of
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
set up to provide
second feature
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
s shot in
CinemaScope.
The film, with exteriors shot around
was nominated for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for
black-and-white cinematography for the
29th Academy Awards
For the 29th Academy Awards, the Best International Feature Film was introduced as a competitive category, instead of only a Special Achievement Award. The first winner in this new category was Federico Fellini's ''La Strada'' with Anthony Qu ...
.
Others in the film include
Wallace Ford
Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-fac ...
as Judge Lester Farrell,
Ellen Corby as Sarah Farrell,
Wright King
Wright Thornburgh King (January 11, 1923 – November 25, 2018) was an American stage, film and television actor whose career lasted for over forty years.1930 US Federal Census for Wright T. King, retrieved froAncestry.com/ref>1940 US Federal Cen ...
as Ralph Slader,
Paul Fix as Tim O'Connors, and
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., as Lorenzo Gracia.
Plot
A
stagecoach with a mixed group of passenger en route to the town of Fury makes a stop at a
layover. Upon arrival the passengers are held up by Lorenzo Garcia and his gang of
bandidos
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is an outlaw motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. Formed in San Leon, Texas in 1966, the Bandidos MC is estimated to have between 2,000 and 2,500 members and 303 chapters, l ...
capture and disarm the passengers, shooting one when he stops to raise his fallen trousers when he puts his hands up. The two staff of the coaching stop are missing presumed murdered. Garcia questions former Army captain Frank Townsend, now
riding shotgun
"Riding shotgun" was a phrase used to describe the bodyguard who rides alongside a stagecoach driver, typically armed with a break-action shotgun, called a coach gun, to ward off bandits or hostile Native Americans. In modern use, it refer ...
on the stagecoach on the location of the Federal Government gold shipment they expected to be carried by the stagecoach. After Garcia shoots and wounds Tim O'Connor the driver to encourage information, Townsend reveals that the stagecoach was to remain at the layover until a wagon containing the gold shipment would arrive and transfer the cargo to the stage.
Garcia holds the prisoners as his band awaits the gold shipment. Among the surviving passengers are young
gunslinger
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers (), or in the 19th and early 20th centuries gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in gunfights and shootouts. Today, the t ...
Ralph Slader, who the bandidos are eager to have a gunfight with, a cowardly judge escaping from the vengeance of criminals, a scheming woman who has arranged to rob and murder her husband and Townsend's fiancée. Though Garcia explains the passengers will remain safe if they follow his orders, Townsend feels that Garcia would not want any witnesses to his robbery to be left alive.
Cast
Production
Parts of the film were shot in the Gap in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
.
Quotes
"Justice sometimes moves in strange company. Its judgement is not always empty. Though its sting be cruel."
See also
*
List of American films of 1956
A list of American films released in 1956
''Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-B
C-D
E-I
J-M
N-R
S-Z
See also
* 1956 in the United States
Sources Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
19 ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{William F. Claxton
1956 films
1956 Western (genre) films
CinemaScope films
American Western (genre) films
American black-and-white films
Films shot in Utah
Films scored by Paul Dunlap
20th Century Fox films
Films directed by William F. Claxton
1950s English-language films
1950s American films