| |  | Director: William A. Wellman
Actors: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
This item is no longer available
Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 94070
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Original Recording Reissued, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 80 Minutes
UPC: 024543055907
EAN: 0024543055907
ASIN: B00008MTW4
Theatrical Release Date: May 21, 1943
Release Date: August 4, 2003
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| Customer Reviews:
 Remarkably contemporary May 9, 2005
LGwriter (Astoria, N.Y. United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Made in 1943, this short 75-minute Western is a rock solid piece of filmmaking that is remarkably fresh today, thanks to the very intelligent, sparse dialogue and the powerful theme. Killing based on mob justice--without benefit of jury trial--has been a staple, unfortunately, of American history, as recently as the 20th century (see the excellent HBO film Vendetta for an example of this), and The Ox-Bow Incident, based on a real 19th century incident, is another.
Henry Fonda is brilliant as the understated male lead whose sense of decency is belied by his gruff cynical exterior. The cynicism he expresses is so pungent, without at all being overblown, that this in itself just about makes the film worth seeing. Henry Morgan as his partner adds the right amount and degree of companionship presence, and the other actors do a fine job as well with the sharp dialogue that wastes no words.
When three men are falsely accused of rustling cattle and, in particular, killing the man from whom the cattle was stolen, the posse who so accuses them wastes no time in going after them. One of the three, a Mexican played by Anthony Quinn, is much smarter than the initially lets on. Interestingly enough, Quinn, despite his name, was in fact born in Mexico so his character is a real life correlate with his own cultural heritage.
Knowing that "ethnic cleansing" and terrorism are very much a part of our modern world, The Ox-Bow Incident's denouement speech by Fonda's character--reading a letter written by one of the three accused men--is a powerful indictment of one of the basest traits of human nature. This is a grim, powerful film with no ounce of fat on it and that will last for decades to come.
Very highly recommended.
Mob Mentality February 26, 2000
James L. (Toronto, Canada)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Ox-Bow Incident is the best film that I have seen to look at the dynamics and mentality of a mob. In this story, three innocent men are captured and accused of the death of a rancher. Although Henry Fonda, a drifter, tries to change the mind of the mob, everyone wants "justice". The lives of three men hang in the balance. Fonda, as usual, is excellent in his role of the man trying to convince the others, similar in a way to his role in 12 Angry Men. Dana Andrews, as one of the accused men, gives a heartfelt, unusually emotional performance. The movie is short (75 minutes), which means the action moves at a good pace, and the black and white photography adds to the starkness of the whole situation. This is a western that takes a sharp look at how mobs function, and it presents a lot of unfortunate truths.
Perhaps the greatest film dramatization of the evil of anarchy October 24, 2005
Ash Ryan (Salt Lake City, Utah)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This brilliant film masterfully illustrates the horrors of anarchy as mob rule overtunes objective law in one small wild west town, even making interesting psychological observations about tyrannical power-lusters through the character of the colonel. Henry Fonda stars as the voice of reason, but be forewarned: this one doesn't have a happy ending, as tragedy is necessary to dramatize the theme.
The only flaw is the go-nowhere sub-plot involving Fonda's love interest, but that takes so little time that it's a minor flaw and can be overlooked.
12 Angry Men, also starring Fonda, makes a good companion piece, as it shows the importance to liberty of objective law from a positive perspective. It's amazing how much drama and tension they manage to put into a film that's essentially just twelve men sitting in a small room talking for an hour and a half (and this one doesn't make the mistake of trying to put in an irrelevent romance).
The special features on the Ox-Bow Incident DVD are also good (especially for an older film such as this), particularly the original trailer, which features Fonda talking about what the film means to him. If only more trailers today were like this one.
An essential part of any film lover's library, and well worth the money.
A Fabulous Study of Mob Mentality January 14, 2004
brewster22 (Evanston, IL United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Before "12 Angry Men" there was "The Ox-Bow Incident," a bleaker and never less than fascinating exploration of the nature of mob violence. Unlike "12 Angry Men," this film has no clear-cut heroes. It takes place in a more primitive, wilder time and location, and the principal question at the crux of this movie's conflict is whether or not three suspected cattle thiefs should be punished without due legal process. A small group is in favor of letting the frontier town sheriff handle the situation, while a much larger group smells only blood (and in some cases are motivated by personal vengeance) and convince themselves of the suspects' guilt without listening to any of the evidence. It's quite a frightening movie in its own way, and it has a stark look at odds with the average studio film being churned out at the time (1943).Henry Fonda is quite good, as usual, in the closest thing the movie has to a main character, but it seems pointless to single him out in what is obviously such an ensemble effort, and in a movie that only lasts a mere 75 minutes or so and has such a large cast, each actor manages to color his/her character with delightful details, sometimes with no more than a single line of dialogue or one reaction shot. "The Ox-Bow Incident" is a fantastic film. I don't think it's well-remembered now, but I'm thrilled to see it on DVD and hope that it will be rediscovered. Grade: A
 Transcending the Western genre May 17, 2005
Brian Hulett (Oinklahoma)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Sometimes Amazon's "Editorial Reviews" absolutely burn me up. Do these people even watch these films? The "one cowboy who tried to turn the mob aside" apparently refers to Fonda's character, who actually observes and doesn't get very involved, speaking aside to his friend and therefore serving as our narrator; there are actually other characters more directly involved with the events pictured here who try to stop the lynching, and in any event, NONE of these "ultimately prove" the innocence of the accused. Finally, Fonda made this film years after "The Grapes of Wrath," with "The Ox-Bow Incident" coming just before he entered the service in WWII; "My Darling Clementine" was his first release after the war. Sheesh.
But what you really want to know, those of you who haven't yet seen this film, is whether this classic holds up to its reputation and is fit for viewing today. The answers are yes and yes, absolutely. It's a simple little story but well told, based on true events that portray a miscarriage of justice in the American West. The story could just as easily have taken place in any time or place where people are tried in the court of public opinion and then take matters into their own hands. It happens in the cities of the world today, after all.
An America at war wasn't interested in seeing this downbeat film at that time, and I doubt if 20th Century Fox has yet retrieved its investment for having given the project the go-ahead. It eventually earned its reputation as public moods shifted, and is well worth a viewing. A cautionary tale for those (the majority?) of us who tend to shoot our mouths off regarding the actions of others when we know little about them. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and there were plenty of fools at the Ox Bow...but not enough angels.
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