It's all relative anyway....

The battle between good and evil has been raging since the beginning of time and will continue to rage until the end. Sometimes the difference between good and evil is as clear as black and white. More frequently, shades of gray blur the edges. In the film "Stagecoach," a battle between good and evil is clearly waged. The only difficult part to interpret is what side people are really on.

In this film, the "bad guys" are pretty obvious. The first response one would probably provide is the Indians. Their only real presence during the film occurs when they are attacking the stagecoach. In typical fashion for when this film was released (1939), the Indians are depicted as savages. They attack the innocent occupants of the stagecoach without provocation or reason. Whether or not you care to look at the moral implications of depicting the Indians in a certain way, the fact remains: they are the bad guys in this film. But how bad are they? Seeing that the Indians only take part in a small portion of a film, it is natural to look for another villain. Luckily, one need not look far. Gatewood can absolutely be viewed as a bad guy. Although the film doesn't do a very thorough job of explaining his position, he has stolen quite a bit of money from the bank. Aside from that, he is a complete jerk in general. He is uppity, crabby, rude, and nobody really likes him. While he isn't hurting any main character in the film, he most definitely is not a good guy. Depending on what is considered "bad," even Lucy Mallory and Hatfield can be considered bad guys. They really only care for themselves and are horrified by the fact that they are in the company of "lesser" members of society. While this isn't exactly "evil" per se, it is certainly not "good."

Even the good guys in this film are a little difficult to pick out. The most obvious good guy is Ringo (John Wayne). Even though he is an outlaw and a murderer, he is the hero of the story. He sticks to his guns (ha) when it comes to treating people with the dignity and respect they deserve. Ringo even falls in love with Dallas, a woman declared rather untouchable by the rest of society. The plot is set up so that Ringo is forced to avenge the death of his father and brother (who were killed by Luke Plumber). Normally, murder automatically makes somebody a bad guy. In this case, however, Ringo doesn't seem to have any other choice and the murders he commits are done in the name of justice. As such, he still retains his rightful place as hero. Ringo even does his part to physically rallies with the "forces of good" to defeat the bad guys (the Indians). During the chase scene, Ringo is perched on top of the stagecoach, shooting Indians off of their horses right and left. And when Buck is shot and some of the reins are dropped, Ringo executes the risky maneuver of jumping from horse to horse to retrieve them. So although Ringo is shunned by society because of his reputation, it is clear that he is the true "good guy" out of all of them. Although we must remember, good and evil is just relative.