Featured Audience Ratings

• Jim H

  
  A lynch mob accuses three men of murder, but evidence mounts that they may be innocent. This is one of those few films in which the most interesting character is in a supporting role. Why does Tetley so vehemently pursue the mob's version of justice? I read an article in… More
  A lynch mob accuses three men of murder, but evidence mounts that they may be innocent. This is one of those few films in which the most interesting character is in a supporting role. Why does Tetley so vehemently pursue the mob's version of justice? I read an article in <i>Philosophy and the Western</i> that argued that he is unreasonably committed to following a code of behavior, which elides critical thinking. After seeing the film, I'm inclined to agree. After all, this film is about groupthink and stupidity. It argues that people are often more inclined toward sensationalism and fear than reason, and one of the aspects that makes this film timeless is how readily one can see these tropes playing out in the modern political scene. A young Henry Fonda seems to have a tough job: his character comes off as a hothead at the beginning and stable and level-headed during the second and third acts. Likewise, there are many characters in the mob who are reduced to stereotypes, and considering how important they become to the film's conclusion, I would have liked to have known their motivations. Finally, the Tetley Snr./Tetley Jnr. plot came out of nowhere. Overall, not without its flaws, <i>The Ox-Bow Incident</i> is a Western classic for good reason.

• Devon B

  
  Henry Fonda, with his roles in The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men and The Ox Bow Incident, has a tendency to take on roles of the morally just, or at least the role of the "everyman". He always provides the audience with the movie's moral point-of-view. In The Ox-Bow… More
  Henry Fonda, with his roles in The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men and The Ox Bow Incident, has a tendency to take on roles of the morally just, or at least the role of the "everyman". He always provides the audience with the movie's moral point-of-view. In The Ox-Bow Incident, he, like we, is just an observer. And yet, it's implied that he (like we) is perhaps guilty of standing by and observing when he should have been acting. To be fair, Fonda does all that's morally expected of him, all that would exempt him from guilt of the crime that is committed, but he never ventures into the realm of heroics (when watching a man drown, it's more heroic to throw yourself into harm's way rather than toss a life preserver and hope the victim saves himself). The setting is the old west, where two strangers (Fonda and Harry Morgan) venture into town just as trouble begins to stir. A rancher has been murdered, and a posse is quickly rounded up to find the killer and enact frontier justice. Some ride out with the posse only to ty and get the suspects back to town for a fair trial, while others go only to see a lynching, the two stranger ride along so as not to implicate themselves in the crime. When three suspects are found with circumstantial evidence, there seems little hope they'll see the sunrise, despite the best efforts of the town's few honest men. Leading the charge to vengeance is the retired "Major" Tetley, a former confederate soldier who seems to thrive on authority and the respect his uniform and rank bring him. He's determined to make a man out of his effeminate son Gerald, whom he accuses of being "womanly". This leads to the implication (however subtle) that the Major believes his son is homosexual (whether the character is intended to be or not, remains to be seen), much to his unending shame. His motivation for seeing the accused men hang seems less justice and more "toughening up" his son. The three suspects in question could not appear to be more innocent. One is a family man and cattle rancher, righteously indignant at mentality of the mob which stands before him, another is a feeble-minded old man, brought along out of the kindness of his compatriots, while the third is a highly intellectual mexican gambler (Anthony Quinn) who feigns incomphrehension when questioned (if anything, his guilt is pre-determined by the mob's racist opinions). The question isn't of guilt or innocence, but what one does in the face of injustice. As a morality play, it's one of the best, in that it implicates the viewer just by the act of viewing. It's a great challenge to let the movie go afterwards.

• Conner R

  
  Great movie, my only complaint is that it ended. Henry Fonda gave a great performance as did most of the cast. It's a great story about the justice system of the west and how horrible it can be. It's extremely morbid in nature for its time. I was really surprised at how bold… More
  Great movie, my only complaint is that it ended. Henry Fonda gave a great performance as did most of the cast. It's a great story about the justice system of the west and how horrible it can be. It's extremely morbid in nature for its time. I was really surprised at how bold the film was.

• Randy T

  
  A sentimental but powerful film with more memorable moments and classic one liners than you can shake a stick at. Undoubtedly ranks among the greatest westerns to ever come out of Hollywood.

• Stephen M

  
  When news filters into town that one of their own has been murdered and his livestock rustled, a posse of farmers with a yen for a lynching rides into the mountains in pursuit, apprehending three strangers with a lot of circumstantial evidence to their discredit... I was expecting… More
  When news filters into town that one of their own has been murdered and his livestock rustled, a posse of farmers with a yen for a lynching rides into the mountains in pursuit, apprehending three strangers with a lot of circumstantial evidence to their discredit... I was expecting this to be a great western, just not quite the one that it turned out to be. Seeing Henry Fonda at the top of the cast list and knowing a little of the plot, I thought it would be, basically, 60 minutes of liberal handwringing followed by an eleventh hour reprieve: <I>Twelve Angry Hangmen</I>, if you will. Not so. The fairly light-hearted opening misleads us into thinking that the story is going to revolve around Fonda's character. However, once the posse rides out, he slips back into the ensemble and is extremely low-key. Fonda is not even the mob's chief dissenter, which also surprised me. Watching the movie today, Dana Andrews' subsequent successful career as a leading man adds significantly to the power of the film, reinforcing the false impression that a last minute intervention will surely come. Though it's very obviously studio-bound, Wellman turns this to his advantage, inevitably losing realism, but substituting an impeccably controlled atmosphere and meticulous camerawork. Just a couple of criticisms: 1) In retrospect, the circumstantial evidence against the three suspects is necessarily coincidental in the extreme. 2) Though the stagecoach chase is exciting, once it becomes apparent that this has nothing to do with the cattle rustling, all that stuff with Fonda, his old flame and her new husband is utterly superfluous; i.e. for a short film, it is not without padding.

• Stella D

  
  hangin's any man's business that's around

• Tim S

  
  Great movie that was way ahead of it's time. I loved the way that violence was portrayed as not only affecting the people who committed it, but also those who stood by and watched it. The letter read aloud by Henry Fonda at the end is devastating and brilliant. There are a couple… More
  Great movie that was way ahead of it's time. I loved the way that violence was portrayed as not only affecting the people who committed it, but also those who stood by and watched it. The letter read aloud by Henry Fonda at the end is devastating and brilliant. There are a couple of cheesy parts, but the overall film is so powerful and the performances so good that you look past it. It's interesting to see this subject matter done in this manner (it's like a prequel for Unforgiven) at this time in the country. Henry Fonda is the ultimate anti-hero and relishes the role (as he did in The Grapes of Wrath) that you feel like you are watching the events through his eyes. Not agreeing with it, but at the same time a party to it. Really cool and well made film that shows you how it should be done. My only problem is that it's too short.

• Ken S

  
  Right up there with Fury as one of the best films about the mob mentality ever made.

• Luke B

  
  A truly inspiring and exceptional piece of work. Even more surprising since I only heard about it a couple of days ago. It is truly a forgotten classic and deserves to be mentioned alongside the greatest westerns and the greatest films. Similar in tone to 12 Angry Men, we see an angry… More
  A truly inspiring and exceptional piece of work. Even more surprising since I only heard about it a couple of days ago. It is truly a forgotten classic and deserves to be mentioned alongside the greatest westerns and the greatest films. Similar in tone to 12 Angry Men, we see an angry group track down three men they believe murdered a friend. It's dark and infuriating but beautifully written. The brilliance of Fonda's role is that he is the main character, but not one of the main players in the "incident". He is neither the leader of the posse, nor the man most against it, nor the deputy etc. He is just a man and from his point of view we get a long look inside every character. It's amazing stuff with an ending that lives up to and in many ways surpasses all that came before it.

• Michael G

  
  Such a powerful movie that just happens to be a western. The Ox-Bow Incident is a tale of mob mentality and how no good ever comes of it. It's kind of a precursor to Mystic River. William Wellman's direction is fantastic, especially during the farcical trial. Henry Fonda is… More
  Such a powerful movie that just happens to be a western. The Ox-Bow Incident is a tale of mob mentality and how no good ever comes of it. It's kind of a precursor to Mystic River. William Wellman's direction is fantastic, especially during the farcical trial. Henry Fonda is fantastic as the everyman sucked into the mob and eventually gets fed up. The real standouts are Anthony Quinn and a heartbreaking performance from Dana Andrews. This is definitely one I'm kicking myself for not seeing sooner.

• Daniel P

  
  This film depicts exactly what is wrong with America, over sixty years ago and with a story set sixty years before that: the majority rules... even if the majority is nothing more than a bunch of power-hungry hotheads with no evidence to back their decisions. Never mind that no… More
  This film depicts exactly what is wrong with America, over sixty years ago and with a story set sixty years before that: the majority rules... even if the majority is nothing more than a bunch of power-hungry hotheads with no evidence to back their decisions. Never mind that no one's committed a crime, we want "justice". The film makes it clear with one gunshot - depicting the violent act off-stage, like Sophocles or Hitchcock - that this cycle must end. This film adapts the archetype of Oedipus Rex to the Western, and the movie comes out as a formulaically perfect tragedy. It's hard to talk about it without spoiling it, but the sub-plot dealing with father and son adds an interesting counter-balance to the mere "blind quest for justice" motif that this film plays with. In a slow starter that really picks up steam about a third of the way in, we get another legendary performance from Henry Fonda - who, with just his physical appearance, makes me wish that Jack Nicholson would try his first serious Western since the 60s! - and a strong showing from Dana Andrews, even if his role is a pretty straight-forward task. Short and direct, and nominated for best picture in 1944 (up against eight others, including the winner, some odd-ball thing called Casablanca... you heard of it?), this is a fantastic film, and no doubt one of the best Westerns ever made.

• Cindy I

  
  A very good but anger-provoking film. Shows the disastrous consequences of mob rule on decision making.

• Matthew Y

  
  Often miss-categorized as a Western, other than its period setting there's little the film has in association to that genre, The Ox-Bow Incident is a dramatic morality tale about lynch mob taking the law into their own hands and the consequences that befall their actions. A… More
  Often miss-categorized as a Western, other than its period setting there's little the film has in association to that genre, The Ox-Bow Incident is a dramatic morality tale about lynch mob taking the law into their own hands and the consequences that befall their actions. A passion project for Henry Fonda and director William Wellman the film was highly regarded in its day but has reached classic status over the years. With a great and fleshed out cast, a cautionary tale that is still passionate and relevant today and a run-time of only 70+ minutes there's no excuses to miss out on one of the better films in cinemas history.

• George M

  
  Wonderful (albeit simple) study of the dynamics of group psychology. Some nice performances too. The finale is unfortunately a bit pedantic and dissolves a lot of the power of rest of the film. Some more backstory to the characters would have been nice too.

• Mike T

  
  To simplify this film by calling it a Western is an injustice. This is one of the more daring American films of the 1940s - it explores the very real dangers of mob mentality without ever taking an easy route. Working on sets rather than shooting on location, William A. Wellman uses… More
  To simplify this film by calling it a Western is an injustice. This is one of the more daring American films of the 1940s - it explores the very real dangers of mob mentality without ever taking an easy route. Working on sets rather than shooting on location, William A. Wellman uses the potential setback to his advantage. The enclosed spaces steer the audience away from associating the film with its genre standards (vast, glorious Western landscapes). The picture has a singular focus, and it is executed in a stimulating fashion. Henry Fonda, excellent as always, headlines a unanimously convincing cast in what is ultimately a very unsettling portrait of human potential.

• Jonny C

  
  Good Western. The Ox-Bow Incident is cross between Mystic River and Unforgiven, with a bit of 12 Angry Men thrown in. The movie shows the disastrous consequences that mob rule had on decision making in the old West. The entire cast are great, with Dana Andrews heartbreaking… More
  Good Western. The Ox-Bow Incident is cross between Mystic River and Unforgiven, with a bit of 12 Angry Men thrown in. The movie shows the disastrous consequences that mob rule had on decision making in the old West. The entire cast are great, with Dana Andrews heartbreaking performance as one of the victims, being the highlight.

• Ivan D

  
  Westerns at that point of time(the early 40's) gave audiences great horse-riding and action-packed entertainment, but does not offer much of psychological and moral insights, but "The Ox-Bow Incident" gave the one-dimensional western genre a new powerful depth. The film… More
  Westerns at that point of time(the early 40's) gave audiences great horse-riding and action-packed entertainment, but does not offer much of psychological and moral insights, but "The Ox-Bow Incident" gave the one-dimensional western genre a new powerful depth. The film is only 75 minutes long, considered very short for a full-length feature, but it is all the time it needs to explain a simple plot revolving on the lynch law and an unlawful execution, and let the genuine moral power of the material shine forth. It's also another proof that if your life is in the mercy of a handful of close-minded people, it's better to always have Henry Fonda on your side. Major Tetley(Frank Conroy), throughout the film, is in utter disdain to his son's cowardice, well it looks like it, but it's just simple humanity, and every person ought to have it.

• Anthony V

  
  One of those movies that should be viewed by everyone.

Read all 18 featured audience ratings