Review of The Ox-Bow Incident

"Hangin' is any man's business that's around." Henry Fonda's father took him to the site of a lynching that occurred the previous morning and told young Henry that statement, and that line was used in the movie at Henry Fonda's insistence. It's hard to watch movies like this because it exposes the soul of every man. At a tight 75 minutes, the plot and dialogue move along at a good pace. Beautiful performances by Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn along with the reaction shots of the mob after the final realization of their lynching leave an indelible mark on the watcher. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and in 1998 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".