I appeared to be under the impression that this film was on the IMDb.com top 250 list, but it wasn't when I checked again today. Maybe Avatar kicked it off.
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) is a nice short, get-to-the-point movie. It has a basic storyline: A man in shot by his own farm and his cattle has been stolen. The townsmen go crazy and they form what is turning into a lynch mob. A couple of men try to stop them but the majority is buying their ropes for hanging already. All the men decide to follow the murderers, some to kill them, and some to make sure that justice is served. They catch up with a group of men suspected to be the murderers, seeing as they have the man's cows.
The story unfolds and it turns into a tale of morality. The short screen time and the leading actors, Henry Fonda, remind me of another great movie, kind of like it, Twelve Angry Men. The main character by himself doesn't actually play much of a role, besides disagreeing with the mob and being an observant outsider.
Apparently this film has one of the biggest stage set, as they basically recreated a whole countryside on a stage.
We see the classic marks of a western, cowboys and cattle ranchers, shotguns and cigarettes. It's a perfect Marlboro commercial in the works.
Henry Fonda, again, is a brilliant actor and is not known well enough by the younger generations. He is comparable to the likes of Gregory Peck as being able to play the fatherly-wise characters, and takes many likeable roles, usually where he helps the other characters learn something about their own inadequacies.
Go! Watch!
I would give this film a good 8/10
