The Ox-Bow Incident

This western by William Wellman is one of the finest movies ever made about mob rule and the breakdown of society when a few tyrannical men negate the rule of law. The low budget backgrounds do not interfere with a powerful message that still resonates today. Dana Andrews and a young Anthony Quinn give very good performances, as does Henry Fonda as the voice of reason, a part that he would play again in “Twelve Angry Men.”

The movie was not a box office success when released, but did receive an Oscar nomination for best picture. Walter Van Tilburg Clark based it on the novel of the same name. Clark wrote the book in the late 1930s as an allegory on Nazi Germany.