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The Ox-Box Incident – 1942 Wellman
- Criticized by many as essentially a stage-bound play but with horses but it has as strong screenplay and excellent performances from Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews
- One of Fonda’s favorite of his movies
- Anti-lynching social film—political and moral
- Filmed on a sound stage

- Jane Darwell isn’t given much to do here but she’s good in her few scenes
- Although he evens out over the course of the film it’s great to see Fonda as a hot head with a temper for a while sort of against type for him
- The Mr. Davies character (Harry Davenport) who is against the hanging is, is too on the nose with the film’s messaging and thesis. “We don’t want to act like a lawless mob”
- Formally sound- reoccurring shot of rows of horses
- It’s only a 3 segment interlude but the Fonda lost love side story was great
- The frame is absolutely peppered with bodies
- Dana Andrews is damn good here
- It’s a vignette essentially—75 minutes but there’s nuance and complex characters
- The ending does turn into a sermon the with posthumously letter read aloud but few can read a letter like Fonda
- HR- top 10 of the year quality

Drake2020-11-02T21:30:52+00:00
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What are some of the best per-minute performances, like Andrews in The Ox-Bow Incident and Hauer in Blade Runner?
@RujK- Fun question. I always think of Welles in The Third Man. This isn’t exactly the same thing- but this “single scene performances” list is a solid place to start for ideas.
https://www.ranker.com/list/best-single-scene-performances/mike-mcgranaghan
@Drake- Welles is incredible, for me he and Hauer are practically tied for the best per-minute performance.
Thank you for the list- Molina certainly does wonders with his 5 minutes in Boogie Nights.