The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Ambition earns the room.”
The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.
Back to trending 
The Ox-Bow Incident
Western · 1943
A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.
Movie details
The Ox-Bow Incident
“Lynch law rules the mob!”
1943 Western 1h 16m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
8.0 / 10
26.3K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
90 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
7.7 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Ox-Bow Incident?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
My Darling Clementine
Western · 1946
Three brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find one of their brothers dead and their cattle stolen. They decide to take revenge on the culprits.
Open Range
Western · 2003
A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.
The Naked Spur
Western · 1953
A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.
The Tall T
Western · 1957
An independent former ranch foreman and an heiress are kidnapped by a trio of ruthless outlaws.
The Far Country
Western · 1954
During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Canadian town.
Day of the Outlaw
Western · 1959
Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
Rio Bravo
Western · 1959
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
Warlock
Western · 1959
A band of murderous cowboys has imposed a reign of terror on the town of Warlock. With the sheriff humiliatingly run out of town, the residents hire the services of Clay Blaisedell as de facto town marshal. He arrives along with his friend, Tom Morgan, and sets about restoring law and order on his own terms whilst also overseeing the establishment of a gambling house and saloon.
Ride Lonesome
Western · 1959
On the way to pick up the bounty on a wanted murderer, a bounty hunter stops at a staging post where he is forced to continue his journey with two outlaws who want the murderer for their own reasons and a recently-widowed woman, with the murderer's brother and his men in hot pursuit.
Chisum
Western · 1970
Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
William A. Wellman
Written by
Lamar Trotti
Henry Fonda
Gil Carter
Dana Andrews
Donald Martin
Mary Beth Hughes
Rose Mapen/Rose Swanson
Anthony Quinn
Juan Martínez/Francisco Morez
William Eythe
Gerald Tetley
Harry Morgan
Art Croft
Jane Darwell
Ma Grier
Court is in session
Put The Ox-Bow Incident on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Importance has entered the chat.”
The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.