Director William Wellman has skillfully guided the characters and driven home the point that hanging is unwarranted. Fonda measures up to star rating ... He helps hold together the loose ends of the rather patent plot." David Lardner of The New Yorker called it a "rather good piece of work". Harrison's Reports printed a negative review, calling it a "depressing, unpleasant, at times horrible, melodrama ... Whoever is responsible for selecting such sordid material for the screen should be awarded a 'booby' prize." More recently, La Furia Umanas Toshi Fujiwara said the film is "one of the most important westerns in the history of American cinema". Clint Eastwood has stated this is his favorite film. However, Darryl F. Zanuck, head of Twentieth Century-Fox 1935–1956, recalled the film as 'a flop. In spite of its significance and its dramatic value, our records showed that it had failed to pay its way. In fact, its pulling power was less than that of a Laurel and Hardy comedy we made about the same time.' It earned $750,000 in the United States. Awards and honors The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards, losing to Casablanca. As of 2022, it is the last film to be nominated for Best Picture and nothing else. An outdoor mural at Twentieth Century Fox Studios, Century City, depicts the filming of The Ox-Bow Incident. See also Trial movies References Notes External links Pictures from the movie + trailer The Ox-Bow Incident on Screen Guild Theater: September 18, 1944 1943 films 1943 Western (genre) films 1940s historical films 20th Century Fox films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films American historical films American vigilante films Films about capital punishment Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by William A. Wellman Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Films set in 1885 Films set in Nevada Films shot in California Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti Lynching in the United States Revisionist Western (genre) films United States National Film Registry films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films