FAQ

Yes. The Ox-Bow Incident is a 1940 western, written by American writer Walter Van Tilburg Clark [1909-1971]. The Ox-Bow Incident was Clark's first novel.

The biggest difference between book and movie is that Art Croft (Harry Morgan) is the main character in the book, whereas the movie focuses on his friend Gil Carter (Henry Fonda).

The book ends where the movie does. We never find out what happened to the members of the lynch mob.

Those who have seen The Ox-bow Incident have likened it to several other movies that feature lynchings or almost lynchings. Furie (1936) and The Sound of Fury (1950) are both based on a true story about brutal lynchings. They Won't Forget (1937) is based on real life case of the trial and lynching of Leo Frank. In Pendez-les haut et court (1968), a man who survives a lynching goes on to become a US Marshal intent on seeing that justice is done for others. Movies that feature almost-lynchings include Intruder in the Dust (1949), Stars in My Crown (1950), and Du silence et des ombres (1962). Other movies that deal with mob justice include Douze hommes en colère (1957) and Mystic River (2003).