This powerful classic vividly depicts the terror and tyranny of mob rule in the story of three suspected murderers lynched by an impatient townspeople despite the protests of more level-headed onlookers. Based on Walter Van Tilburg Clark's novel, The Ox-Bow Incident predates the "adult" or psychological western by several years, but it follows squarely in the tradition of such outspoken thirties social dramas as Fritz Lang's Fury and Mervyn LeRoy's They Won't Forget. In linking the picture of vindictive justice with America's treasured frontier past, and uniting the problem-play with the action western, the film holds a special place in American cinema and culture. Physically very simple (there are but two major settings), its movement derives from a literate script and colorful performances by a fine cast, headed by Henry Fonda as the rueful lyncher through whose eyes the story is told.