The Ox-Bow Incident starts out like a typical Western film, with macho horseback riders quarrelling over a dispute in a dusty desert town. What follows is a subversion of the usual story that turns justice into a mockery of itself, a trial turned into a lynching. In a tense hour long segment reminiscent of 12 Angry Men, several men are accused of stealing from a locally respected figure and shooting him, and must convince the mob of their innocence before they are summarily hanged. The clashing characters and their ideals reflect the harsh conditions of the west where violence and justice coincide as one, sometimes to the point of lynching in the name of necessity. It's a very tense hour, fuelled by the stakes and utter convictions of the participants, though it does get dragged down by a lack of variety.
Review of The Ox-Bow Incident
