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* AdaptationDisplacement: Most people don't know this was based on a book.
* AwardSnub: A minor one, but notable. This was the ''only'' Western Creator/JohnFord directed that earned him an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for Best Director. He lost out to Creator/VictorFleming on ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''.
* GenreTurningPoint: The film marked the true start of the modern Western. It marked the star-making role of the greatest Western star, Creator/JohnWayne, location shooting of Monument Valley (the first time Ford shot there), realistic action sequences and also the use of the Western genre to make social commentary with civilization positioned as a corrupting influence on the natural and rugged frontier with greedy bankers standing in for acceptable targets during the Depression.
* HilariousInHindsight: Gatewood complains that America should have a businessman president. It got three, UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush George W. Bush]] and Creator/DonaldTrump. Considering that Hoover had already been president by the time the film was made, it's possible that the reference was almost certainly deliberate on Ford's part towards Hoover.
* OnceOriginalNowOverdone: While it's still highly-regarded by critics and most Western fans, the basic plot and Western tropes ''Stagecoach'' helped codify have been imitated, subverted, parodied or otherwise used in so many subsequent films (not all of them Westerns) that it doesn't seem as fresh or innovative as it originally did.
* OutOfTheGhetto: This was the first western to attract the seriousness, critical attention and commercial appeal. It was nominated for Best Picture but for a long time, it was the yardstick by which all westerns were measured against, including Creator/JohnFord's later Westerns.
* {{Sequelitis}}: More like Remake-itis, but the 1966 remake was considered to be a severe disappointment in comparison to the original. Despite an improved script (the Gatewood subplot is particularly satisfyingly tied in to the Ringo plot, with Creator/KeenanWynn's delightfully nasty Luke Plummer being fatally hired by the defaulting banker) and a remarkably strong showing by Music/BingCrosby as Doc Boone, the film is killed dead by Alex Cord's leaden performance as the Ringo Kid.
* SignatureScene: The eight-minute long ChaseFight as the stagecoach and its passengers makes its way across a salt flat with Apaches attacking from all sides.
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