Not Rated| 1h 15min | Drama, Western | 1942
Director William A. Wellman (“Yellow Sky,” “Battleground”) based this thought-provoking Western, “The Ox-Box Incident,” on a book about mob justice (of the same name) authored by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Coming in at a mere 75 minutes, this tautly-paced film was adapted for the screen by the brilliant scriptwriter Lamar Trotti. It’s a scathing indictment of mob rule and is perhaps the most powerful anti-lynching movie ever made.
The story takes place in the small town of Bridger’s Wells, Nevada, in 1885. Two rough and tumble drifters, Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Harry Morgan), ride into town and commence to drink a bottle of whiskey at the local saloon. After Gil gets plastered and starts a fight with local cowboy Jeff Farnley (Marc Lawrence), the two drifters learn that another local man, rancher Larry Kinkaid, has been killed and had all of his cattle stolen….