Remaking a classic film has its pitfalls. With 1939’s Stagecoach, director John Ford elevated the movie Western from B status to a first-class production that dealt with adult situations. This 1966 remake seems almost unnecessary, since it duplicates the plot and characters without adding much other than color and widescreen.
A stagecoach headed to Cheyenne is transporting an assortment of characters. The driver is Buck (Slim Pickens). Marshal Curly Wilcox (Van Heflin) is riding shotgun in exchange for the lift to Cheyenne. Like the marshal, the passengers all have their individual reasons for being on that coach. Dallas (Ann-Margret) is a dance hall floozy run out of town because two men killed each other fighting over her. Doc Boone (Bing Crosby) is a physician with a taste for liquor who has outstayed his welcome in town. Peacock (Red Buttons) is a traveling whiskey salesman. Lucy Mallory (Stefanie Powers) wants to join her husband, Captain Mallory, stationed in Cheyenne. Hatfield (Michael Connors) is a professional gambler who served in the Confederate army under Lucy’s father and offers her his protection. Henry Gatewood (Bob Cummings) has stolen $10,000 from his father-in-law’s bank and is on the run. On the trail, the stagecoach encounters the Ringo Kid (Alex Cord), who broke out of jail and demands to be taken to Cheyenne to settle a score with the Plummer family, who killed his father and brother.