Stagecoach is a landmark in American cinema and a defining moment for the Western genre. Directed by John Ford and featuring John Wayne in his breakout role, the film helped elevate the Western from pulp entertainment to serious art—using Monument Valley’s dramatic desert landscape as a powerful storytelling force.

This screening is presented in direct conversation with the exhibition Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents, which traces how artistic representations of desert and coastal landscapes have shaped regional identity, artistic production, and popular expectations of the American West.