"Stagecoach" is a film in which two great careers were renewed. Although he had appeared before in many films, as an extra, a stuntman and then an actor in B films, this was John Wayne's first starring role in a film by John Ford. For Ford, it was a return after some years to a genre about which his ideas had grown--the genre in which he would make many of his greatest films. With Ford's clout as a director and Wayne's clout as a star, they would make iconic films and establish themselves as one of the legendary partnerships in cinema.
They came together at a propitious moment in Ford's career. He was 45. He had directed his first silent films (ten of them!) in 1917. He had tasted great success, and won an Academy Award for directing "The Informer" in 1936.
But now came his years of triumph. No director of the sound era made more great films more quickly than Ford did when he followed "Stagecoach" with "Young Mr. Lincoln" and "Drums Along the Mohawk," all three in 1939, and then made "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Long Voyage Home" in 1940 and "Tobacco Road" and "How Green Was My Valley" in 1941, collecting in that period three nominations and two Oscars for directing
Pero ahora llegaron los años de su triunfo. Ningún director de la era del sonido hizo más grandes películas con mayor rapidez que Ford cuando siguió "Stagecoach" con with "Young Mr. Lincoln" y "Drums Along the Mohawk", todas en 1939. Y luego hizo "The Grapes of Wrath" y "The Long Voyage Home" en 1940 y "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Long Voyage Home" en 1940, recogiendo en ese período de tres nominaciones y dos premios Oscar.