OX-BOW INCIDENT a memorable Western

Clocking in at a compact 75 minutes, the legendary Ox-Bow Incident still packs a wallop as a "thinking man's Western." Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan (decades away from his TV fame on "Dragnet" and "M*A*S*H") play Gil Carter and Art Croft, two loner cowboys who drift into a one-horse Nevada town and do everything they can to prevent a bloodthirsty lynching.

Taken in hindsight, the movie almost seems to be a Western version of Fonda's later 12 Angry Men. In both cases, Fonda plays a low-key man who quietly tries to bring order to a group of men who want their own form of justice at any cost. And like that movie, Ox-Bow often spells out its liberal message a bit too literally.

But there's no denying the power of the performances. Dana Andrews, as the leader of the trio wrongly accused of murder and cattle rustling, is surprisingly effective in a role far removed from his more worldly personas in Laura and Ball of Fire. Anthony Quinn, as Andrews's Mexican partner, brings quiet dignity to what could have been a very stereotypical role. (Unfortunately, the movie has its share of racial stereotypes, including the hymn-singing Negro and the "He went theese way" Mexican--rather surprising for an otherwise clear-eyed movie.)

If the movie's dramatic message doesn't hook you, playing the "Spot the Celebrity" game will. The movie includes supporting players as Wizard of Oz witch Margaret Hamilton; Jane Darwell, who played Fonda's mother in The Grapes of Wrath and here plays his adversary; and as a bartender, Victor Kilian, who already seemed quite old three decades before his role as a senile grandfather on TV's "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman."

For those who prefer their Westerns a little more thoughtful than your average shoot-'em-up, The Ox-Bow Incident supplies the goods.