The Opry and the Ox-Bow Incident

What does the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee and the 1943 film The Ox-Bow Incident set in Bridger’s Wells, Nevada have in common?  Some people would say they have nothing whatsoever in common.  But others might say that they are both in locations that start with the letter “N” - as in “Nashville” and “Nevada.”  That ties these two things together, right?  Well, here’s something else they have in common:  They are both on Jennifer's mind this week, so you know what that means:  she's going to talk about all of it on this week’s episode of The Vintage Century Idle Hour.  

Transcript

What does the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee and the 1943 film The Ox-Bow Incident set in Bridger’s Wells, Nevada have in common?  Some people would say they have nothing whatsoever in common.  But others might say that they are both in locations that start with the letter “N” - as in “Nashville” and “Nevada.”  I mean, that ties these two things together, right?  Well, here’s something else they have in common:  They are both on my mind this week, so you know what that means:  we’re going to talk about all of it on this week’s episode of The Vintage Century Idle Hour.  

Theme Song~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LORENZO:  Greetings, listeners.  Allow me to introduce the star of our show, Jennifer Passariello.

Oh, thanks, Lorenzo.  I’m not a star, BUT…I was on stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last week.  

LORENZO:  What is the Ryman Auditorium?

It’s the former home–and the most famous home–of the Grand Ole Opry.  

LORENZO:  Oh.  And you were on stage there?

I was.

LORENZO:  I’m so glad your talent is finally being recognized.

Well, I mean, I got my picture taken on stage at the Ryman.  It was free with a paid ticket for the tour.

LORENZO:  Oh.

Yeah, but it was cool.  And you know, the Grand Ole Opry is still going strong, with shows every week.  A friend and I attended a show when we were in Nashville, and it was really entertaining.  There were singers, a comedian, and even square dancers!  It was a good, wholesome, family-oriented show, which I really like.

LORENZO:  It sounds very nice.

Yeah, it was.  You can still tune in for the Saturday night show at 8:00 PM Central Time on the Opry’s Youtube Channel.  I mean, the live stream isn’t as good as being there for the live show, but I’ve started to tune in.  Well, and you know, the Grand Ole Opry is having a big year.  2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry.

LORENZO:  Wow.

Yeah, isn’t that something?  Well, let’s circle back around to the Grand Ole Opry a bit later.  We need to turn our attention to this week’s movie review.

LORENZO:  The Ox-Bow Incident.

Right.  A Western.

LORENZO:  I think you were worried about that.  You told me you don’t like Westerns.

No, I don’t.  I had to really try to go into this experience with an open mind.

LORENZO:  And, what did you think?

I’m not going to tell you.  You’ll just have to wait for my review.

LORENZO:  Jennifer.

Yeah?

LORENZO:  Are you wearing cowboy boots?

What?  No.  I mean, what do you mean?

LORENZO:  I see them.  You are wearing cowboy boots.

For your information, Lorenzo, they’re cowGIRL boots.

LORENZO:  Oh.  And what are those little metal things?

What metal things?  I don’t know what you’re talking about.

LORENZO:  Those things on your boots.  They look like stars.

Oh, you mean these spurs?

LORENZO:  Spurs?

That’s nothing.  I was just…trying them out to see how they looked, that’s all.

LORENZO:  I think you liked the movie.

You’ll have to wait and see.

LORENZO:  You liked it.

No comment.

Short Musical Segment Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week’s silver screen adventure takes us to Bridger’s Wells, Nevada and the nearby Ox-Bow Canyon—scene, of course, of the “incident.” [DA DA DAAAAAA]  What incident?  We’ll get to that later. The year is 1885, and “frontier justice” is the rule of the day.  Oh, hey, and you know what else happened in 1885?  Construction began on the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  Ah, see, it’s all coming together.

The Ox-Bow Incident starred some familiar faces.  Henry Fonda was in this one, as was Dana Andrews–who, by the way, was so nice-looking.  

• Is it me, or were the male actors just better looking back then?  Or maybe I’m just old?  Anyway–it’s funny who pops into these old movies unexpectedly.  

Colonel Potter from the 1970s television series MASH was in it.  What was his real name?...Harry Morgan. 

•  He was also famous for Dragnet back in the 1960s.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dragnet.  That was before more time, but I do recall seeing MASH reruns, so it was fun seeing Harry Morgan as a young man.

Now, this is a western, which is not really my genre.  

• I associate it with gunfights and saloon brawls and tumbleweeds and stuff that doesn’t interest me.  
• But if there is one thing I’m learning from going through these old films, its that I need to broaden my scope and stop writing movies off because I assume they are going to bore me.  If you remember from our Casablanca episode, I was sure going into that one that I was going to hate it.  And I ultimately did the OPPOSITE of hate it.  
• Well, I sort of had the same feeling going into this The Ox-Bow Incident.  Crazy but true:  This may have been the only western film I’ve ever seen from start to finish.  Oh, wait.  I’ve seen WestWorld.  Does that count?  Probably not.

Let’s take a look at tropes associated with the  western genre.  For this I’m going to The Film Post, an online blog about film.  In that article the following attributes are listed–no surprises here:

• Cowboys, Ranchers, gunfighters, saloon girls, and–of course–horses (By the way, just so we’re clear:  A cowboy is a person whose job it is to herd cattle. There are romantic notions associated with cowboys–freedom, rugged individualism, plenty of time for thinking–and a lot of hard work)
• Pistols and Rifles
• Desert and Saloon settings

Now, one of my assumptions about westerns has been that they are all tropes, no depth. And that may be true in some cases (that is NOT true in The Ox-Bow Incident.  That film has tremendous depth).  But there can be meaty themes explored in westerns.  They often center of juxtapositions such as:

• Freedom vs. responsibility
• Civilization vs. the wilderness
• Tradition vs. change
• Community vs. individualism
• Settling vs. nomadic wandering

I’m going to throw in another one:

• The Law vs. Lawlessness, good vs. evil.  We see both of those in The Ox-Bow Incident.

Oh–I have to interrupt myself here.  I said a moment ago that I thought maybe The Ox-Bow Incident might have been the first western I had seen from start to finish.  If my friend LeAnn is listening, she was probably shouting at her phone when I said that.  “What about Lonesome Dove????”  We both read the book by Larry McMurtry, loved it, and watched the TV mini-series all at one sitting, and loved that, too.  So, forget everything I said about me not watching or liking westerns.

OK, so back to The Ox-Bow Incident.  Let’s take a look at the Academy Award stats for this one.  It was nominated for only one award, but that was THE award:  Best Picture.  I believe to this day it is the only film ever nominated for Best Picture, but nothing else.  It didn’t win.  Here was its competition that year:

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Heaven Can Wait

The Song of Bernadette

The Human Comedy

In Which We Serve

Madame Curie

The More the Merrier

Watch on the Rhine

and the winner was...Casablanca.  Yeah.  I mean, how do you beat Casablanca?  But if there was a film that could do it–that film might have been The Ox-Bow Incident.  OK, I guess I just gave up the game.  I LOVED this movie.  Loved it.

The Ox-Bow Incident was based on a book of the same name by Walter Van Tilberg Clark, published in 1940.  The book received some applause from the famous book critic and Book-of-the-Month Club judge during this era, Clifton Fadiman.  Fadiman called it a “mature, unpitying examination of what causes men to love violence and to transgress justice.”

Now, I did not read the book, but it’s my understanding that while the film deviated only slightly from the source material.  A word on Clifton Fadiman.  He makes frequent appearances in the quotes section of my Commonplace Notebook. He was one of those pithy intellectual types who is frequently quoted.  I remember reading his book The LifeTime Reading Plan years ago, when I was going to read all the great books.  I never really did much with that–but here I am watching all the great old movies–so there you are.  Anyway, here’s a couple of great quotes from Clifton Fadiman:

Books act like a developing fluid on film.  That is, they bring into consciousness what you didn't know you knew.

When you reread a classic, you don't see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.

So, anyway, Fadiman liked the book, but we’re here to talk about the movie.  The Ox-Bow Incident starred 

• Henry Fonda as Gil Carter
• Harry Morgan as Art Croft
• Frank Conroy as Major Tetley
• Marc Lawrence as Jeff Farnely
• Leigh Whipper as Sparks
• Harry Davenport as Mr. Davies
• Paul Hurst as Monty Smith
• Dana Andrews as Donald Martin
• Anthony Quinn as Juan Martinez/Francisco Morez
• and Francis Ford as Alva Hardwick

It was directed by William A. Wellman.  Maybe it’s worth mentioning that The Ox-Bow Incident was a financial flop when it came out.  Wow, you never know what’s going to take off and what isn’t.

This is a short film–it only ran about an hour and 15 minutes–but wow, does it pack a punch.  There’s a lot to say about this one, so why don’t we take a little musical break and when we come back, we’ll do a deep dive into 1943’s The Ox-Bow Incident.  

Featured Song (Long Form)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let’s start, as we do, with our plot line.

LORENZO:  O, Jennifer.

Hey, what’s up, Lorenzo? I was just getting to our deep dive into The Ox-Bow Incident.

LORENZO:  I know.  I wanted to tell you that I got a plot line for you from Old Chatty.

Oh, thanks, Lorenzo.  

LORENZO:  It gave us an opportunity to catch up.

Someday, Lorenzo, I’d like to join you on one of these visits with Old Chatty.

LORENZO:  Why is that?

Because it’s very hard for me to picture, that’s all.  Listeners, if you are joining us for the first time, you should know that “Old Chatty” is Chat GPT.

LORENZO:  A good friend of mine.

Yeah, a good friend of Lorenzo’s.  Anyway, let’s see what we’ve got in terms of a summary from Old Chatty…On the surface, this is a very simple plot. I say “on the surface” because there are a lot of underlying themes here that are pretty meaty.  I took more notes on this film than any film I’ve watched so far in this series.  The first 10 minutes alone are packed with stuff to explore.

LORENZO:  Jennifer, I’m sorry to interrupt again.  But do you need to warn the listeners about spoilers?

Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me.  Listeners, there are spoilers ahead.  If you haven’t already seen The Ox-Bow Incident–you definitely SHOULD, so this might be a good time to pause this episode and watch it.  I believe you can still see it for free out on Youtube, and you can definitely stream it on Amazon Prime.  Remember, though, if you leave our little show, please promise me you’ll come back to us.

OK, is there anything else I’m forgetting, Lorenzo?  

LORENZO:  No, I believe that is all.

Now, before we get to the plot, I want to do a brief overview of the most important characters because there are several of them, and sometimes when there are a lot of characters, I can start confusing them.  I’m going to split our characters into four groups:  

• Group 1:  Good posse members
• Group 2:  Bad posse members
• Group 3:  Is a group I’m calling voices of civil and spiritual conscience.  I know, sounds kind of woo-woo, but trust me, it will all make sense when we get into our story.
• Group 4:  The suspected cattle rustlers

OK, so here’s who’s in Group 1.  Our good posse members are:

• Gil Carter and
• Art Croft, two cowboys who have been away from Bridger's Wells
• Gerald Tetley - a wealthy young man who lives in town.  In some ways, I feel like Gerald is the most interesting character in this story, because he represents most of us.  He is our "every man."
• Two other Good Posse Members are also in our civil and spiritual conscience group, so I'll put them aside for now.

In Group 2, our Bad Posse Members Include:

• Major Tetley - he is our villain, an evil man who assumes leadership of the posse, and the father of Gerald Tetley.  Now, remember I placed Gerald in our Good group.  So right off the bat we are setting up for some conflict here.

Other Bad posse members include:

• Jeff Farnely, a man who is mourning the loss of his friend.  He is also an interesting character, because we can understand him and even understand his actions.  Under different circumstances, he might have been a good man.  But he lets a strong desire for vengeance to get the better of him.
• We also have Mapes, our power-hungry and lawless Deputy.
• And then we have some minor characters that fall into this group, including Monty Smith, the town drunk, Ma Grier, a rough-hewn gal who is our only woman in the posse, and Poncho, a man who ultimately leads the posse in the direction of our suspects.

Now let's look at Group 3 - this group serves as the posse's conscience.  Both are good men.

• Davies, a storekeeper who constantly pleads with the posse to adhere to the rule of law, which includes ensuring the suspects get the benefit of a fair trial.   He serves as our civil conscience.
•  And Sparks, referred to as the reverend.  He is a man of deep faith.  We learn that his own brother had been lynched when Sparks was a little boy.  He is our spiritual conscience.  A sensitive, prayerful man, when we see him on screen, we hear the faint echo of a choir in the background.

I absolutely love both of these characters.

And that leads us to Group 4, our suspected cattle rustlers.  These folks are strangers in the area, unknown by any of the townsfolk.

• Donald Martin is the leader of this group.  He’s a rancher that has recently purchased a little homestead near Ox-Bow Canyon for his family.  He has a wife and two children.
• Alva Harwick, an old, feeble-minded man who works for Martin.
• And Juan Martinez, who also goes by the name Francisco Morez.  He also works for Martin.

OK, do we have the main characters down?  Now let’s get to the plot.

Our story begins when Gil Carter and Art Croft arrive in Bridger’s Wells.  Immediately upon riding into town they head for the saloon.

I have to stop here already, because five minutes into the story and already important things are happening.  

• One of our themes is introduced here.  We see right off the bat that the town is “dead.”  Carter makes that observation, but we can see it, too.  There are no people there, it’s very quiet.  It looks like a ghost town.  This is significant, because had the town had more going on, perhaps the tragedy that is about to unfold would never have happened.  

But there is also this really fascinating scene that takes place when Carter and Croft walk into the saloon.  There is a painting hanging behind the bar.  Now, you have to imagine this:  There is a pretty woman reclining on a bed, and a man behind her that has just walked in the door, with his hat in hand, and a goofy, hungry sort of look on his face.  Carter and Croft are captivated by this painting.  Carter says, “That’s guy’s awful slow in gettin’ there.”

Time and timing, waiting and surging ahead, are motifs that recur throughout this story, and they are introduced right here in our opening scene.  We’re going to see that we have characters that want to slow things down, others who refuse to wait.   We’ll see how that all plays out later.  But even now, early in this story, when the barkeep tells Carter that Rose Mapen, a girl for whom Carter has been carrying a torch, left town, Carter accuses him of lying, because she had promised to wait for him.

Another theme is introduced here:  Suspicion.  The barkeep tells us that he thinks the reason Rose Mapen left town is because she was pressured to do so by the married ladies–not because she was actually stealing their husbands, but because they were afraid she MIGHT steal them.  We see from the get-go that suspicion and distrust of one another is rampant in this town.

And speaking of suspicion, Carter and Croft come under suspicion as well.  There has been some cattle rustling in the area for a few months now.  The barkeep says that people don’t like to talk about it because they’re afraid the rustlers might be somebody they know.  The only “strangers” in town are Carter and Croft, so, people are a bit wary of them.

There are a lot of quiet parts in this movie, which don’t play so well in an audio-only podcast, but let’s listen in on the scene I just described so you can get a flavor of this town.  In addition to Carter, Croft,  and the barkeep, we meet Jeff Farnley, who refers to Carter and Croft as strangers.

Remember this scene begins with Carter and Croft studying that painting behind the bar.

[Clip 1]

Ok, let’s go back to our plot line:

 A young man rides into town with urgent news:  Larry Kincaid, a local rancher, and life-long friend of Jeff Farnley, has taken a bullet to the head by a rustler who has made off with several head of his cattle.  This is an escalation of the rustling that’s been going on for months because now there’s been a murder.  News about this spreads like wildfire, resulting in outrange amongst the townfolk.  The Sheriff is out of town, and for the moment they don’t know where he is.  So, the people decide to form a posse and go after the rustlers themselves.  

Everyone is running hot.  They’re out for blood. 

Now, I think it’s worth considering why they’re out for blood.  One reason is because murder cries out for justice.  The sheriff is gone, and they don’t want these murderers to get away.  Another reason is, as one of the townspeople says, if they don’t stop this now, things could escalate further, women and children could be at risk, not to mention the cattle rustling could continue.  OK, that’s all fine and good.  But are there other reasons?  Some of the towns people–Monty Smith, for one; Ma Grier for another-almost seem to look at this as an entertaining diversion.  Something to do, some excitement in this otherwise dead town, and their dead lives.  Then we have Jeff Farnely.  What’s his motivation?  Grief.  Kincaid had been his friend since they were kids.  He wants vengeance.  As I said before, we can understand Jeff Farnely.  At least his motivation makes sense.

Regardless of their reasons, the posse is already talking about lynching the rustlers, even joking about their funerals.  Davies, the storekeeper, steps in and implores everyone to keep a cool head, wait for the sheriff to come back, and let things play out as they should, according to the law.  When he is unable to calm everyone down, Davies asks Carter to go get their local judge.  He cautions Carter NOT to involve Mapes, a creepy guy the Sheriff Deputized in his absence.

The judge arrives and tells them that the sheriff is already at the Kincaid ranch.  Davies assures the posse that the Sheriff has things under control, just wait, let things play out.  The posses seems to lose some steam at this point–except for Farnley, who is ready to surge ahead.  He’s afraid that even if the sheriff nabs the killers, they’ll get off on a technicality and justice won’t be done.  So, again, we have the slowing down and the surging forward rhythm here:  Davies wants to wait, to slow things down; Farnley is running hot, surging ahead.  Davies is our cool head; Farnley is our hot head.  Which head will prevail?  

Well, score one for the hot heads, because our villain now arrives on the scene to stir everyone back up.  Major Tetley rides in, and he is a slimeball of the first order.  He has a dubious past.  Supposedly he was a major in the confederate army during the civil war, but Carter tells us later on that Tetley never even saw the South until the war was over.  He was only there long enough to marry Gerald’s mother–apparently for her money, but then was run out of town by her family.  He struts around wearing a uniform, and assumes the lead of the posse.  He’s a sadistic man who seems to take pleasure in the suffering of others–particularly that of his stepson, Gerald.

So, everyone is stirred up and ready to ride.  And this is when we meet Sparks, our man of faith.  Monty, our town drunk, goads him into joining the posse.  Let’s listen in on the scene.  Note the choir playing as Sparks becomes a focal point.

[Clip 2 - Sparks]

We soon see there is a disregard for civil law among the members of the posse, but there’s a disregard for divine law, too.  Notice how they mock our man of faith here.  Sparks is meek, humble, and quiet–the very opposite of Major Tetley.  It’s kind of astonishing that Tetley very easily assumes the lead, and people are quick to follow him, even though he’s a slimeball.  But that’s human nature, isn’t it?  Tetley feeds the passions of our hotheads; Sparks is a rejection of those passions.

Now, what about Carter and Croft?  Do they join the posse?  Unwillingly, yes.  Carter tries to remain neutral and to stay out of it.  He even says at one point that they just had bad timing in rolling into town as this drama started to unfold. He and Croft end up riding long mainly because they worried that if they didn’t, people might think they were the rustlers.  

So, off they go.  The posse heads into the mountains near OxBow Canyon where Poncho, a member of the posse, says he ran into three strangers who had cattle with the Kindcaid brand on them.  They end up finding Donald Martin, Alva Hardwick, and Juan Martinez asleep around a campfire.  The three suspects vehemently deny any wrongdoing.  Martin says that he bought the cattle from Kincaid, but he didn’t have a bill of sale with him.  Kincaid was going to mail it to him.  Juan was in possession of Kincaid’s gun, but he says it was because he found it.  No one believes either of their stories, and despite the fact that Martin repeatedly pleads their innocence, they are condemned by the mob.  We are starting to see the dangers of “majority rules,” here.

Martin asks if he can write a letter to his wife.  He writes the letter and gives it to Davies, who promises to see that his wife receives it.

Davies reads the letter, and it is so beautifully written that he becomes more convinced than ever that Martin is, in fact, and innocent man. He believes if others read the letter, they will be convinced too.  No one will read, it, though.  Not even Carter.

Here’s a scene in which Davies talks to Carter about the letter:

[Clip 3]

Now, I want to talk about Gerald Tetley, because I think he is a fascinating character.  He’s a tender-hearted man who is completely opposed to what is going on.  He isn’t convinced of the suspect’s guilt, and he sees the actions of the posse as a miscarriage of justice.  But he is also too afraid to do anything to stop it.  So he remains quiet.  He and Carter are not so different in this regard, except that Gerald later admits that he was a coward.  What is he afraid of?  Taking a stand against the majority.  

This idea of “majority rules” comes up repeatedly in this story.  This begs and interesting question:  is good or evil defined by the feelings of a majority, or is it objectively good or evil in and of itself regardless of our feelings about it.  We all agree that murder is evil.  But is it evil because we feel like it is?  Or because it just IS, regardless of our feelings?  Good and evil are objectively so–and that’s why majority rules is dangerous in cases like this.

We need to talk about a few contrasts between Juan Martinez and Donald Martin.  We have reasons to suspect that Donald Martin is a good man.  We have that letter, which Davies is convinced supports his innocence.  That letter makes known what would ordinarily been invisible–his conscience.  Martin made clear that he didn’t want his letter read.  He didn’t write it to convince people of his innocence.  But what about Juan Martinez?  It turns out that he had also gone by another name, Francisco Morez, who is wanted for another murder.  We don’t know that full backstory, but we do know that he is a liar.  He told everyone he couldn’t speak English, which was a lie.  He also assumed that false identify of Juan Martinez.  

Something interesting happens with Juan Martinez.  He says he wants to confess to a priest before he’s hung.  Well, there is no priest around, so he confesses to Pocho, who can then take his confession to a priest by proxy.

OK, for those of you who are not Catholic, let me insert a little explanation here.  I am Catholic, so I have first-hand experience with plenty of confessions.  You can’t do a confession via proxy.  That’s not how confessions work.  But what if you are in a state of mortal sin (meaning you have committed unconfessed grave sins), but there isn’t a priest around to hear them?  Are you doomed?  No.

In the Catholic Code of Canon Law, “contrition” is defined as ‘sorrow of the soul, and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again and to go to confession as soon as possible.’  PERFECT CONTRITION is the authentic repentance for sin that arises from an abiding love of God, and that can obtain forgiveness of grave sins.  

IMPERFECT CONTRITION, on the other hand, is the desire for the forgiveness for fear of eternal damnation and other penalties threatening the sinner.

So, was Juan’s “confession” (air quotes) evidence of perfect or imperfect contrition?  We don’t know.  But we have some sort of confession on Juan’s part, and a letter on Martin’s part.

I want to play one more scene.  This one is when, once and for all, the members of the posse are called upon to take a stand.  

[Clip - Courage - do voiceover]

Ok, so Sparks is the first one to step on the side of the rustlers.  Then Davies makes his way over, followed by Carter, Croft, a couple other guys, and finally Gerald Tetley, to the horror of the Major.  These are our good posse members.  Sadly, there are only seven of them.  The majority is for lynching the suspects.

*******

And so the time of the lynching finally arrives.  The suspects are set upon horses and nooses are placed around their necks.  Major Tetley, who is taking a great deal of pleasure in this, forces Gerald to take the whip and and strike the horse bearing Donald Martin.  Gerald begins, but can’t fully do it, and the horse moves slowly, drawing out the death of Martin.  Ew, grisly stuff.  Farnley “finishes Martin off” by shooting him a few times.

Yeah, this is a dark scene.  But wait!  There’s more!  

The men are there hanging from a tree, and the posse is quiet now.  Their passions are settled now.  And guess who they run into?  The sheriff.  He’s arrived too late.  The men tell him that they got the killers responsible for Kincaid’s death and executed them.  Plot twist:  The sheriff says, “Larry Kincaid’s not dead, and he already caught the real rustlers.  So, the mob killed the wrong guys.

Well, this is a dark turn of events, indeed.  But wait!  There’s more!

Back home now, Major Tetley locks Gerald out of the house.  Gerald rails against the Major, accusing him of knowing those men were innocent, but moving forward anyway because he is a sadistic, evil man.  Gerald then says that he’s angry at himself because he was too much of a coward to do anything to stop him.  The Major goes into another room and shoots himself.  

Meanwhile, back at the saloon, the posse is sitting silently at the bar with their heads hanging low.  This is when Carter finally reads the letter.

[The letter]

They know now what they do.

Wow.  Didn’t I say this short little movie packed a punch?  Well, I need to pull myself together, so let’s take a brief intermission, and when we come back we’ll go over my official rating for this film.  Back in a moment.

Intermission~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Overview of the Rating System~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LORENZO: I know you loved this movie.

Yeah, I loved it.  Let me break it down.

Story:  Was this an interesting and entertaining story worth telling?  100% Yes.  It had all the classic themes that are always worth exploring:  good vs. evil, justice vs. vengeance, innocent and guilt–lots of layers here packed in a story that was entertaining and well told.  5 diamonds.

Character development: Were the characters dimensional?  Did their actions ring true?  There were a lot of characters in this movie, and some of them were pretty one dimensional.  Monty Smith, for one.  But Carter, Juan, Gerald, and Sparks were particularly dimensional.  They were characters with layers.  We may not agree with all of their actions or even world views, but we can understand what drove them.  Gerald in particular represents our collective fear to act in opposition to the majority–even when we know–with total clarity–the line between right and wrong.  5 diamonds.

Writing:  This film lacked some of the beautiful phrasing of some other films, like its competitor, Casablanca.  But what I did like about the writing in this film is how tight the story was.  The story was told well, and succinctly.  For that, I gave it 4 diamonds.

Pace:  well, and to build on what I just said about how tight the film was, the pace was perfect.  5 diamonds.

Discussability:  Does  the story have enough depth to explore and analyze through discussion?  100% yes.  I didn’t even cover all my discussion points that I wrote in my notes.  I told my sister to watch this so I had someone to talk to about it.  Easily 5 diamonds.

So that gives us a score of…4.8 diamonds, well placed within the “Re-Watchable” category.

And there we have it…my review of The Ox-Bow Incident.  Again, it’s streaming now on Youtube and on Amazon Prime.

Special Segment~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy birthday, Grand Ole Opry!  You know, I really enjoyed that show.  Actually, I loved my whole Nashville experience.  I didn’t actually go to Nashville to see an Opry show–although, I mean, if you’re going to be in Nashville anyway, how do you NOT go to the Opry?  But my friend and I did a little road trip to Nashville to attend a formal tea at the old Hermitage Hotel.  That was the actual reason for our trip.  We’ve traveled for formal teas before--in Canada.  The Hermitage was our first U.S. formal tea.  It had exactly what we look for:  stunningly beautiful historic hotels, and a luxurious tea.  What more could we want, right?

But while we were in Nashville we did all the Nashville things:  Toured the Ryman, shopped the strip, had lunch at a honky tonk, toured a couple of historic homes, went to a wine tasting, and, of course, attended an Opry show.  

One hundred years is a long run for a show.  Here's a little history lesson from the Opry website:

In 1925, the Nashville radio station "WSM" was launched with a live broadcast.  WSM was owned by The National Life and Accident Insurance Company, and "WSM" stood for their motto at the time, "We Shield Millions."  

After that first show, the National Life company hired George D. Hay, a prominent announcer--

LORENZO:  Like me!  

Somehow I don't think this Hay guy was anything like you, Lorenzo.  Anyway, he was  known for his National Barn Dance program in Chicago.  He launched the WSM Barn Dance with Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a 77-year-old fiddle player, on November 28, 1925--widely known as the day the Grand Ole Opry was born.

LORENZO:  Grand Ole Opry is a strange name for a show.

Yeah.  I wonder where the name came from.  Oh, here we go...In December of 1927, following an NB broadcast of Walter Damrosch's Music Appreciation Hour, George D. Hay proclaimed on-air, "For the past hour we have been listening to the music taken largely from the Grand Opera, but from now on we will present the Grand Ole Opry."  The new name for the WSM Barn Dance stuck.

Some of the Grand Ole Opry's most historic moments happened inside Ryman Auditorium. Hank Williams made his debut.  Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Jeannie Seely, and Dolly Parton performed there, as did Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash and his wife June.

The Opry moved to a more spacious venue--its current home--in 1974. 

The Ryman was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  And the current Opry House was bigger than I thought it would be.  

LORENZO:  Oh, how interesting.

You know what was really neat about the new Opry stage?

LORENZO:  No, what?

There is a circle right at the center, where the singers stand.  That circle is made from wood in the original floorboards at the Ryman.  

LORENZO:  A touching tribute.

Yeah.  But anyway, it was awfully cool standing on stage at the Ryman Auditorium.

LORENZO:  I'm sure it was.

I was standing right where Patsy Cline sang way back in the day.  I've been listening to Patsy Cline songs lately. I'm finding that I like those songs.

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LORENZO:  You’re becoming a country music fan.

Well, you know what, maybe I am, a little.  Now my music is really vintage jazz.  I never really listen to country music.  But I don’t hate it.  I especially don’t hate blue grass.

LORENZO:  Yes, blue grass.  It is very good.

Oh, so you’ve heard blue grass, Lorenzo?

LORENZO:  Yes, of course.  I like to play blue grass with my banjo.  

Wait a minute.  You play the banjo?  

LORENZO:  Yes.

I’m totally blown away by this.  You play the banjo.

LORENZO:  Yes.

Well, everyone, please meet Lorenzo, my AI-Generated Announcer and banjo player.  I can’t get over this.  Can you play something right now?  Do you have your banjo handy?

LORENZO:  I never go anywhere without my banjo.

How could I not know this already?

LORENZO:  Banjo playing is my life.

Seriously, can you play something for us?

LORENZO:  Yes.  Can you help me with the tambourine?

I don’t have a tambourine.

LORENZO:  I have one.

What do I do, just tap it?

LORENZO:  Yes, just tap it.

OK, well, let’s hear it.

[Lorenzo plays the banjo.]

Lorenzo, that was amazing.

LORENZO:  Thank you.

I want you to keep playing.  Why don’t you take us out of this segment?

LORENZO:  OK.  I’m going to accompany myself with a band.

Oh, OK.  Then I guess I’ll keep up with the tambourine.  Let’s do it.

[Song]

Overlay VCIH Closing Theme to transition to close.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well done, Lorenzo.  I can’t wait to find out what other special talents you have.  Care to let me in on them?

LORENZO:  You’ll have to wait and see.

Ah, right.  Well, another show is in the books.  This is number five.  Did you ever think we would make it to five episodes?

LORENZO:  Never in a million years.

No?

LORENZO:  I mean, yes, of course I knew we would make it to five episodes.  This show is bilt to last.

You think so, huh?

LORENZO:  Maybe.

Well, hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in and spending this time with us.  Have a great week, and when your week is done, come on back and see us again real soon.  Say goodbye, Lorenzo.

End with “Say goodbye, Lorenzo.” “Goodbye, Lorenzo.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~