In 1943, the novel was adapted into an Academy Award–nominated movie of the same name, directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan.

[1] The Ox-Bow Incident takes place in 1885, and it begins with two cowboys, Art Croft and Gil Carter, riding into the town of Bridger's Wells.

They go into Canby's Saloon and find the atmosphere is tense, partly due to recent incidents of cattle rustling.

Local men Osgood and Davies send for Judge Tyler to try to defuse the situation, but the rancher Tetley arrives and incites them to further action.

When the command is given, Gerald balks and the horse simply walks out from under Martin, leaving him to slowly strangle until he is shot.

After the lynching, the riders head back toward town, where they meet Sheriff Risley, Judge Tyler, Drew, and – much to their surprise – the supposedly murdered Lawrence Kinkaid.

Clifton Fadiman wrote an introduction to the Readers Club edition in which he called it a "mature, unpitying examination of what causes men to love violence and to transgress justice," and "the best novel of its year".

[2] The novel was adapted in 1943 into a movie of the same name, directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan.