The Ox-Bow Incident

William Wellman’s psychological Western noir, The Ox-Bow Incident, builds a slow-boil tension to a foreseeable tragedy and a devastating denouement with unmistakable Christian motifs. Drifter Gil Carter (Henry Fonda in one of his most perfectly suited roles) and his sidekick Art Croft (Harry Morgan) arrive in a small town where a man has just been robbed and murdered so they join the posse that ventures out to find the killer, admonished by the judge (Matt Briggs) to bring them back alive for trial. When they finally track down the gang of three sleeping suspects, which comprises the sensitive young father Donald Martin (Dana Andrews), the mysterious Mexican Juan Martinez (Anthony Quinn), and the old-timer Alva Hardwicke (Francis Ford), the posse’s desire for instant justice overwhelms any provision of due process. Frank Conroy brilliantly plays the bloodthirsty, resentful Major Tetley, who leads the posse to its shameful act. In a tale about man’s capacity for vengeance and evil, Andrews’s tender performance stands out even and especially through his final words to his wife in the form of a letter beautifully read aloud by Fonda’s pitch-perfect voice.