MovieChat Forums > Stagecoach (1939) Discussion > most memorable 'unmemorable' character

most memorable 'unmemorable' character

posted 15 years ago by jebelesstoss
7 replies | jump to latest

... is Mr. Peacock. It's hilarious how obviously persistent Ford was in depicting this supporting character - he is in almost every scene utterly dismissable, but yet something in those scenes makes him one of the most memorable "unmemorable" characters in my opinion. Just remember how everybody confuse him with Haycock and whatnot... His peak in this movie is when he gets wounded by an Apache arrow - the very first sign of their attack.

I love mr. Peacock for being so completely useless the entire movie - he has almost no lines that have any importance at all, and he is, from the start of the movie, bound to be forgot. Yet, he is one of the Stagecoach passangers and this 5th wheel feeling that he gives makes the plot all the more dynamic in my book.

In my country, it's called "playing the stone" - actors who are noticable by doing absolutely nothing at all and still stick in viewers' eyes.

Just my opinion.

[–] misspaddylee 15 years ago

There are times I watch the goings on in Stagecoach through the character of Mr. Peacock. Donald Meek is impeccable - always "in the moment". If the other characters would pay attention they would see a sensible, compassionate and brave companion, but they are too caught up in their own drama to recognize his value. His stillness is a magnet for me. I love the other extreme in Andy Devine's character of Buck. There are nuggets of sense in his loquaciousness, but noisy as he is, he is also ignored.

"Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency."

[–] theFoss 15 years ago

I disagree that Peacock was totally dismissable. In many films, filmmakers like combinations of threes in framing shots or characters (Three Godfathers, High Sierra and many other examples of romantic TRI-angles)...

In this film, the passengers are three sets of three outlooks...Banker, upperclass wife, and Gentleman of the "cultured" old South, represent a flawed upper class (greed, arrogance, bigotry), Outlaw, Whore, and Alcoholic represent the actually morally superior lower classes (noble, unselfish, self-sacrificing), The group is rounded out by a "Greek Chorus" of Neutral characters that argue for tolerance...Sheriff, Driver, and yes, Peacock, with the line "Let's have some christian charity for oneanother".

So Meek's part is vital for both symmetry, and as a neutral character that accepts all WITHOUT knowing thier whole back-story.

[–] Wakanohana 15 years ago

Many years ago I took a course entitled "History in Film" (or something like that). We watched snippets of dozens of films, were assigned many complete films like "Birth of a Nation", and talked about films in class.

In class I brought up Mr. Peacock's repeatedly correcting anyone who said he came from Kansas City, Missouri; Peacock insisted he was from KANSAS, not Missouri. He did not want to be mistaken for or in any way associated with the border trash from Missouri.

So the Civil War was still fresh in everyone's minds -- Doc Boone served in the Union Army, Hatfield in the Confederate Army, and the civilians took sides too.

[–] marktayloruk (2558) 3 years ago

The.Gentleman was at least a soldier and man of honour and courage.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6468) 5 years ago

He was useful after the baby was born, probably the only other parent there.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (18179) 5 months ago

He's the audience surrogate. Just a regular guy who trying make it through the movie in one piece.