Stagecoach (includes American Masters: John Ford / John Wayne)

Nine disparate travelers are thrust together on a Stagecoach destined for Apache territory...and movie immortality. As the Ringo Kid, director John Ford casts a lanky veteran of 70 B-movies, serials and shorts named John Wayne. Each rifle shot and closeup rang out the news: a new star is born. Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell (his Academy Award-winning performance) and others made memorable impressions. Stunt legend Yakima Canutt provided hair-raising thrills. And 17 American folk songs formed the basis of an Oscar-winning* score. This adventure ushered in a 30-year era of great Westerns, many featuring its top practitioners: Ford and Wayne.

This two-disc set includes feature-length "American Masters: John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker & the Legend" retrospective profile:

John Ford is considered by many the greatest American director, the winner of six Academy Awards, more than any director before or since. John Wayne is the actor whom he transformed from a B-western cowboy into a larger-than-life national icon. Their friendship and professional collaboration spanned 50 years, changed each other's lives, changed the movies and, in the process, changed how America saw itself. Their remarkable body of work - including Stagecoach, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, The Searchers, The Horse Soldiers, The Alamo and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - is heroic and nostalgic, reflecting all the elements and all the paradoxes in 20th century America: generosity of spirit, abuse of power, a sense of loyalty and a new, restless nationalism.