The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Two drifters are passing through a Western town, when news comes in that a local farmer has been murdered and his cattle stolen. The townspeople, joined by the drifters, form a posse to catch the perpetrators. They find three men in possession of the cattle, and are determined to see justice done on the spot.
LYNCH LAW RULES THE MOB!
Sheriff: God better have mercy on you. You won't get any from me.
Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA
Backlot, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA
Chatsworth, California, USA
Stage 14, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA
(Studio)
Director William A. Wellman loved the novel "The Ox-Bow Incident" and had long wanted to make it into a film, but the rights-holders insisted that he cast Mae West in any adaptation, which Wellman thought was ridiculous. Finally, Wellman bought the rights himself, and proceeded to make the film "his" way.
Henry Fonda was generally unhappy with the quality of the films he had to do while under contract to 20th Century-Fox. This was one of only two films from that period that he was actually enthusiastic about starring in. The other was The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
The western street in this film is the same one used in The Gunfighter (1950).
Henry Fonda always regarded this as one of his favorite films.
This was the last movie ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture which received no other Academy Award nominations.
Continuity
During opening sequences when Fonda is at the bar, the whiskey he is drinking changes from clear to dark.
At the very end of the movie when Art and Gil get on their horses, you can see that Art steps up on something with his right foot, before he puts his other foot into the stirrup. In the next shot there is nothing for him to have stepped on.
Gil Carter (Fonda) pulls his gun out twice when the mob first arrives at the Ox-Bow.
When the posse arrives at the Ox-Bow, after splitting into the three groups, Gil Carter (Fonda) pulls out his revolver and cocks it, then looks over at Gerald Tetley. Just a few seconds later, as Carter's group moves in, Carter again draws his revolver and cocks it.
When Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn) is caught by the posse, he is told to raise his hands and he does so. In the next shot, however, his hands are on his knees again.
Factual errors
Just before the end, when one of the characters commits suicide, locked in his office, after the shot is heard, the door opens by itself.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Though the Mexican (Anthony Quinn) uses incorrect Spanish in responding "No sabe," his demeanor and his boast that he speaks 10 languages suggest he does this deliberately to show derision toward the posse.
Revealing mistakes
Juan Martinez throws a knife that lands right next to Farnley's foot. If you look closely you can see a thin wire attached to the end of the knife, indicating that first the scene was filmed with the knife being jerked backwards by the wire, then the film was played in reverse, to give the desired illusion of the knife landing at Farnley's feet.
Plot holes
When the two cowboys ride out of town at the end (the same scene as at the beginning when they arrive), you see two huge trees in the back that have grown within a day.
Character error
Despite being of Mexican descent, Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn) repetitively replies "No sabe" to questions. The correct conjugation of "I don't know" in Spanish is "No sé."