Stagecoach: first sound western (full movie in video above)

Stagecoach, directed by the famous Western director John Ford, was notable for being his first sound western. That is to say, all of John Ford’s other films were silent. The film is about an assortment of fellows boarded on a stagecoach from Arizona Territory to New Mexico Territory. Among the cast is John Wayne, who plays a fugitive. Ford, although a friend of John Wayne’s, had refused to use him in any of his Westerns until Stagecoach, and in this role he would even go so far as to risk the financing of the film by standing by his pick of John Wayne. Walter Wanger, one of his potential producers, stated that he would not finance the film unless Gary Cooper replaced John Wayne. However, the end result included Wayne and the rest is history.