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The Ox-Bow Incident Overview:

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Lamar Trotti.

The Ox-Bow Incident was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1998.

Academy Awards 1943 --- Ceremony Number 16 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Picture20th Century-FoxNominated

The Ox-Bow Incident BlogHub Articles:

Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews in "The Ox-Bow Incident"

Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews in "The Ox-Bow Incident" The Ox-Box Incident (1943) is an American western film directed by Wiliam A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, and an extraordinary supporting cast that includes Anthony Quinn, Harry Morgan, Mary Beth Hughes, and Jane Darwell. The... Read full article


Review: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

We know the score. Two drifters ride into town. They sidle up to the bar for some shots, looking for something to do in a lazy Nevada dust-hole. Their faces are equally familiar to anyone who has ever seen even a few of the old oaters. Feisty Henry Fonda as Gil Carter and his more even-keeled pal Ar... Read full article


The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

The Ox-Bow Incident Directed by William A. Wellman Written by Lamar Trotti from the novel by Walter Van Tilberg Clark 1943/USA Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Repeat viewing/Netflix Rental Number 168 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Gil Carter: Hangin’ is any man’s busin... Read full article


The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, Anthony Quinn, and many more, the film begins with two drifters (Fonda and Morgan) who enter a small western town. Soon it gets around that a man is dead and some of his cattle were also stolen. Hurriedly, a posse is put together and they ride off to... Read full article


The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, Anthony Quinn, and many more, the film begins with two drifters (Fonda and Morgan) who enter a small western town. Soon it gets around that a man is dead and some of his cattle were also stolen. Hurriedly, a posse is put together and they ride off to... Read full article


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The Ox-Bow Incident Quotes:

Gerald Tetley: I saw your face. It was the face of a depraved, murderous beast. Only two things ever meant anything to you: power and cruelty. You can't feel pity. You can't even feel guilt. You knew they were innocent, but you were crazy to see them hanged. And to make me watch it. I could've stopped you with a gun, just as any other animal can be stopped. But I couldn't do it because I'm a coward. Aren't you glad you made me go? Weren't you proud of me? How does it feel to have begot a weakling, Major? Does it make you afraid there may be some weakness in you, too? That other men might discover and whisper about? Open the door! I want to see your face. I want to know how you feel now!

Gil Carter: [Gil and Art discuss their uneasiness about certain members of the posse] Besides, I like to pick my own bosses.
Art Croft: Whether we picked 'em or not, we sure got 'em.
Gil Carter: That's what I don't like. That Smith, and Bartlett, shootin' off their mouths... Farnley... and that renegade Tetley, struttin' around in his uniform pretending he's so much. He never even *saw* the South until after the war, and then only long enough to marry that kid's mother and get run outta' the place by her folks.
Art Croft: I figured there was somethin' fishy about him, dressin' up like that.
Gil Carter: For sure. Whydya' suppose he'd be livin' in this neck 'o the woods if he didn't have something to hide?

Gil Carter: [First lines: Gil Carter and Art Croft have just ridden into town] Deader than a Payute's grave!

Gil Carter: Say, what is there to do in this town anyway?
Darby: Well, unless you want to get in line and woo Drew's daughter...
Art Croft: We don't.
Darby: The only other unmarried woman I know is 82, blind and a Payute. That leaves you five choices: eat, sleep, drink, play poker or fight. Or you can shoot some pool. I got a new table in the back room.

Art Croft: [talking about Gil Carter] Whenever he gets low in spirits or confused in his mind, he doesn't feel right until he's had a fight. It doesn't matter whether he wins or not. He feels fine again afterwards.
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The Ox-Bow Incident Facts
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 18, 1944 with William Eythe reprising his film role.

Henry Fonda, who had a deferment, enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately upon completing filming for this movie.

The role played by Henry Fonda was originally offered to Gary Cooper, who turned it down.

The rights to Walter Van Tilburg Clark's book were originally acquired in 1941 by Harold Hurley, a former Paramount producer who tried unsuccessfully to make a distribution deal with United Artists. Modern sources note that director William A. Wellman bought the rights from Hurley and then interested Twentieth Century-Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck in producing the story. Zanuck agreed on the condition that Wellman direct two other films for the studio, Thunder Birds [Soldiers of the Air] and Buffalo Bill.

The early versions of the script included the suicide of "Gerald Tetley" and that the film was to end with the reappearance of "Rose Mapen" and her husband in the saloon rather than with "Gil" and "Art" leaving to take the letter to "Martin's" wife. The contents of Martin's letter are not revealed in the book, but director William A. Wellman thought that it was important to make them explicit and had Lamar Trotti compose the letter.

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