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During the climactic chase sequence in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) there occurs a moment which is crucial in the film's status as a Western. It speaks of the genre's relationship to frontier mythology and of the myth's significance in shaping the cultural attitudes of both the nineteenth-century and mid-twentieth-century United States. With ambushing Apaches closing in on the stagecoach and with its beleaguered occupants running low on ammunition, Southern ‘gentleman’, Hatfield (John Carradine), is seen pointing his pistol at Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), a white woman and recent mother who is praying for rescue. Before Hatfield can shoot his last bullet into Mallory's brain he is, himself, mortally wounded by an Apache rifle shot. A close-up shows the pistol falling from his grip, while the oblivious Mallory continues praying. Almost immediately following this near-death experience, and as if in divine answer to her prayers, the US Cavalry arrive to drive off the attacking Apache and rescue those aboard the stagecoach.