Film Review: STAGECOACH TO FURY (1956)

 "Why the Hell isn't THIS on DVD/Blu yet?" -- Number 108

STAGECOACH TO FURY (1956 20th Century Fox/RegalFilms) Starring Forrest Tucker, Mari Blanchard, Rodolfo Hoyos, Wallace Ford, Paul Fix, Margia Dean, Wright King, Ellen Corby, Ian MacDonald, Leslye Banning, Rico Alaniz.  Written by Earle Lyon and Eric Norden.  Directed by William Claxton.

A disparate assortment of passengers on the titular stage are intercepted at a stopover by banditos expecting a gold shipment on the coach.  Leader Hoyos kills one commuter (for keeping his pants from falling!) and wounds driver Fix, motivating his shotgun rider (and army Captain) Tucker to give up the actual bullion's location--destination unchanged.  As Hoyos and company hold the travelers hostage, Tucker methodically waits for the right moment to strike back and flashbacks clue us in on what brought Blanchard, King and Ford to the town of Fury.

The very first of about fifty Regal Films to be produced in the late 1950s, STAGECOACH TO FURY spends a lot of time indoors on soundstages but offers a few novelties on the familiar situation of a disparate group held hostage by criminals.  In this case, the viewer gets backstories for Fix's passengers indicating to us that the situation is grimmer than we thought; the "help" that Tucker is hoping for from within simply isn't courageous or inclined towards team effort.  The lone exception to the latter is rewarded with a second chance while the true mercenaries get their just desserts.  Whether it is retribution for their earlier misdeeds, current selfishness, or both is open to interpretation.  Suffice to say they might have flunked a pop quiz from above.

Tucker's hero?  Surprisingly no flashback for him, and no romance with top billed femme fatale Blanchard either-- Tuck's engaged to good girl Banning.  It doesn't stop him from standing up for Mari's honor when no one else will (which itself should clue the Captain in to the backup he's getting),  Blanchard's virtue is much more dubious than Tuck realizes, and when the chips are down it's Banning who stands up to her.

"The eyes, they are the windows to the soul.  And these are such dirty windows."

Hoyos makes an intriguing antagonist; perceptive of Tuck's status but virtually clairvoyant when it comes to Blanchard and gunslinging King, with both meeting consequences at the hands of the banditos.  This horrifies their fellow travelers, but to the viewers privy to each's true circumstances, deserve seems to have everything to do with it for each.  Not that our thieves are any kind of avengers--they prove in the opening scene that the innocent aren't any safer than the guilty in their presence.

Hoyos' chain is only as sturdy as its weakest link, and that fatal flaw down the totem pole is found by the Captain, who is left completely in charge when Fix is wounded.  While a predictable imperfection in the plans, it seems to be a spot check that the otherwise well prepared Hoyos would not miss (he has English speaking underlings).  The lengthy hostage situation at the way station relegates the gorgeous Kanab, Utah scenery to the initial five minutes and the final fifteen, but even this limited outdoor exposure was enough to bring STAGECOACH TO FURY an Oscar nomination for best black and white cinematography.

Both of Tuck's RegalScopes with Claxton and the writers turned a healthy profit ($147,000 and $135,000 respectively) in 1956-57, but while THE QUIET GUN ended up gaining a healthy following and reevaluation over the years (culminating in a handsome Blu-Ray in 2015 from Olive Films), STAGECOACH TO FURY has largely vanished in the past few decades.  While FURY isn't nearly as good as the taut, terrific GUN, it doesn't deserve its dismissal as a "flat outlaw holdup oater" in Maltin's Guide (which curiously never even listed GUN in the 1980's/1990's) either.  

The star crossed Blanchard (after surviving polio as a child, she died after a seven year cancer battle at 47) was as underappreciated as the film; she would return to Regal Films to headline SHE DEVIL six months later.  While that and other Regals have made it to home video, STAGECOACH TO FURY remains unjustly on the sidelines--unreleased even during the VHS era.  However, thanks to Look to the West, you can now find it on YouTube:

Check out STAGECOACH TO FURY below, and take a peek at Look to the West's other films, he has quite a few other Regals up!