I never liked this western. The brutality, for me, was shocking. Especially for the early 60's. The part when the psychopath, played by Martin Landau, takes the female doctor (a truly emancipated and positive character) and repeatedly beats and rapes her is one of the most ugly moments I've ever heard in movies. Thankfully it happens in a tent and you never see it, but you definitely hear it. Ugh and Yuck. Spare yourself.
Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock
1962
Action / Adventure / Drama / Western
Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock
1962
Action / Adventure / Drama / Western
Plot summary
Five passengers in a stagecoach are abandoned by their driver in the desert. Trying to survive, they struggle with illness, thirst, hunger, and the threats posed both by one another and the local Indigenous peoples.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
October 21, 2020 at 08:35 AM
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Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock (1962)
I thought it quite good!
In contrast to what was said in the four other reviews, I found this film quite entertaining. Sure, the cast, apart from Martin Landau, was low key, but the acting was reasonable.
I was surprised at some of the violence, but then STDR was made in the early 60s, when more grittiness was being introduced into Westerns.
But I agree with others about the terrible ballads.
Flat In Every Way
Six travelers are on a stagecoach. When the driver discovers one of them has smallpox, he abandons all of them in the middle of the desert.
Well, I didn't see that coming, nor, since I am at home during Coronavirus lockdown as I write this, is this a movie I can write about with my usual arch snarkiness. It's Earl Bellamy directing one of his 18 theatrical movies amidst an estimated 1600 hours of TV time. As you might expect, it's efficiently directed, but the wide vistas of the California desert are reduced to an unsatisfying black-and-white flatness, more suited to a television screen.
Also, despite some real talent among the actors, including Warren Stevens and Martin Landau, are there any characters for them to sink their teeth into. It's just half a dozen strangers in the middle of a desert, trying to walk their way out, while worrying about Apaches. Not very interesting.