The Ox-Bow Incident is a simple film that depicts the complexities of justice. It is a western, but one that questions the classical western notion that the black hats always receive their comeuppance. It is a Henry Fonda picture where Fonda's character is a few shades grayer than Juror #8. All of this is to say that The Ox-Bow Incident is one of the finest films in the western genre.
The simplicity of its premise and the short running time (less than 90 minutes) belie the depth of its message. A group in a small western town find out that a local has been killed. They ride out, find circumstantial evidence incriminating three men, and hang the accused. The posse return, learning that the three people were actually innocent and two men (Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan) ride off to inform the wife of one of the hanged men. Minus a few debates and an unnecessary side story involving a former lover of Fonda's character, this is the entire film. And yet, the film needs nothing more. Director William Wellman and screenwriter Lamar Trotti (who also wrote a few pictures for John Ford) makes the audience consider the contents of the film while keeping the film lean (abandoning the frivolity of a town dance or cowboy tricks that populate Ford westerns). They leave the audience without the typical resolution and make it clear that we aren't here to bask in nostalgia for a bygone age, but rather to consider the morality of the Old West.
Henry Fonda's place in the cast adds to that notion. The persona that I associate most with Fonda is that of a defender of the weak. I see him as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, Abraham Lincoln in Young Mr. Lincoln, or Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men. But in The Ox-Bow Incident, even he is partially swayed by the circumstantial evidence and unwilling to risk his own safety for others. Gil's plea is a far cry from the other characters' vociferous defense.
While the filmmakers, I suspect, had to include the ex-love interest and other elements to downplay the darkness and add to the running time, The Ox-Bow Incident remains a terse counterpoint to the classical Hollywood western.
Crew & Cast
Directed by William Wellman (A Star is Born, The Public Enemy, Beau Geste)
Written by Lamar Trotti (Young Mr. Lincoln, Drums Along the Mohawk)
from the Novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Cast
Henry Fonda - Gil Carter
Harry Morgan - Art Croft
Leigh Whipper - Sparks
Dana Andrews - Donald Martin
Anthony Quinn - Juan Martinez
Jane Darwell - Jenny Grier
Harry Davenport - Arthur Davies
Paul Hurst - Monty Smith