The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) on Netflix
Gil Carter and Art Croft reach Bridger's Wells, Nevada, where word comes that rancher Larry Kinkaid has been murdered and his cattle stolen. A posse forms, and the two join the hunt.
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- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1885, the cowboys Gil Carter and Art Croft ride into Bridger's Wells, Nevada, and step into Darby's Saloon. Word arrives that a rancher, Larry Kinkaid, has been killed and his cattle taken. The townspeople form a posse to chase the killers, and Gil and Art join it, along with riders from other ranches. Arthur Davies, afraid of a lynching, comes along hoping to stop one. Major Tetley takes charge, wearing an old Civil War uniform, and his son Gerald rides with him. News then reaches the group that three men have entered Bridger's Pass with cattle carrying Kinkaid's brand.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Ox-Bow Incident is the last film whose only Academy Award nomination was for Best Picture, with no nominations in any other Oscar category; that same situation had happened 16 times between 1927 and 1943.
- The lead role of Gil Carter went to Henry Fonda only after Gary Cooper turned it down; Fonda, unhappy with most of his films under contract at 20th Century Fox, was enthusiastic about just two from that period, this one and The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
- Production shut down for a week or ten days because the War Production Board capped spending on new construction materials at $5,000 per film; during the break, already used sets were torn down so the wood could build the mountain pass set.
- Studio publicity claimed the Ox-Bow Valley setting was the largest set Fox had ever constructed, covering 26,703 square feet.
- Once the film was finished, Fox kept it on the shelf for months because executives did not know how to market a film with such a sobering theme.
