The Ox-Bow Incident

A film with a message. I'd seen this one compared to 12 Angry Men before and after watching is, it's clear why people like to link the two together. The Ox-Bow Incident is a film where every element is geared at just one single thing: getting that message across as loud and clear as possible.

Two wanderers just happen to be in a saloon when news arrives that a nearby rancher has been killed, his cattle stolen. The townsfolk are angry, and it doesn't take long before they form a posse. The two wanderers join in, but it's clear that the need for revenge is bigger than the need for justice.

Just like 12 Angry Men, this film felt extremely forced, overly tailored to the message it needed to convey. Performances are static, the plot is far too obvious, and the dialogues are pretty cringe-worthy. The only positive here is that the film is short, though it still felt twice as long to me. Not my kind of cinema.