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Rating:  -
PUT SIMPLY -- THIS IS A FILM ABOUT A SECRET PARADOX THAT ONLY THE AUDIENCE WILL KNOW ABOUT FULLY
"NOTHING IS TO GOOD FOR THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE" are about the last spoken words of the film, 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance', and concisely quantify the paradox that gives meaning to the entire film from beginning to end.
JOHN FORD SHOWS US AN AWESOME STORY THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE OLD WEST
The melancholy nocturnal atmosphere of the film says it all -- the glory days of the OLD WEST were over, but many of the participants in the game of life didn't know it yet. Like the dinosaurs, characters such as Liberty Valance and Tom Doniphon were living on borrowed time. Their whole way of life was about to be completely overrun while they and others like them were literally buried alive as the west became more civilized and user-friendly -- to the new users. Settlers from the back east with families brought with them an avalanche of new churches, retail merchants, the railroad, schools, roads and all of the trappings of turn-of-the-century civilized living. This rather rapidly cuased the need for infrastructure, "law and order" and ultimately statehood. On the subject of statehood, the old west took its stand in this film -- and lost!
In taking this stand we have a triangle. Not the love triange between Doniphon, Stoddard and Hallie, but rather the power struggle triangle between Doniphon, Valance and Stoddard. Stoddard [James Stewart] was alone in the fight, but represented the interests of the majority of the people. They were a silent frightened majority who had yet to overpower the small vocal minority that was characterized and embodied in the person of Liberty Valance, [Lee Marvin] and funded by the hidden power of "The Cattlemen".
Speaking logically, Doniphon [JOHN WAYNE] had every personal reason to side with the Cattlemen.
-----> To begin with, Doniphon's rough and ready macho western lifestyle was just as doomed as their's if Statehood arrived. Like the cattlemen, Doniphon believed that men should fight their own battles, and the hand gun was his and their weapon of choice. If law and order arrived, the great equalizer that was found in the hired gun would be erased by lawman, judges, prisons and executions.
Although Doniphon employed no hired guns, he and his top hand, Pompey, could easily stand up to a greater number of hired guns giving Doniphon the luxury of having a rich man's power with only a poor man's wallet.
-----> Secondly, Ransom Stoddard [Jimmy Stewart] was increasingly becoming a rival for Doniphon's "girl", Hallie, as the story progressed. If Stoddard failed, he [Stoddard] would be dead or heading back east -- probably alone, away from Hallie, who apparently saw in Stoddard something Tom Doniphon didn't possess, and Doniphon certainly knew it. What was that? Only Hallie could say.
That Doniphon does, in the end, back Stoddard in a very personal way says something about both Stoddard and Doniphon, both of whom had very decent characters, though Doniphon was reluctant to admit this even to himself.
THE MAJOR PLAYERS - THE PRODUCTION CREW & THE MAJOR AWARDS - ->
-----> THE PLAYERS
John Wayne - Tom Doniphon
James Stewart - Ransom Stoddard
Vera Miles - Hallie Stoddard
Lee Marvin - Liberty Valance
Edmond O'Brien - Dutton Peabody
Andy Devine - Link Appleyard
Ken Murray - Doc Willoughby
John Carradine - Maj. Cassius Starbuckle
Jeanette Nolan - Nora Ericson
John Qualen - Peter Ericson
Woody Strode - Pompey
Denver Pyle - Amos Carruthers
Strother Martin - Floyd
Lee Van Cleef - Reese
O.Z. Whitehead - Ben Carruthers
-----> THE PRODUCTION CREW OF NOTE
John Ford - Director / Producer
Willis Goldbeck - Producer / Screenwriter
James Warner Bellah - Screenwriter
Dorothy M. Johnson - Short Story Author
-----> THE MAJOR AWARDS - how was it that this film was virtually ignored at the Academy Awards!
*Best Black and White Costume Design - NOMINATED - Edith Head 1962 Academy
THE DVD & THE SPECIAL FEATURES - -
Very clean transfer in widescreen format. The only Special Feature is the original theatrical trailer.
OVERALL ---
It doesn't get much better than this on film.
Rating: -
I agree with my fellow reviewer and Amazon friend, gobirds2, that this is a darker, more pessimistic, and therefore atypical Ford movie. In this film, the wicked prosper as much as the virtuous, and it is much less certain that good will triumph over evil and that law and order will prevail in the end. In fact, it only prevails because Wayne himself resorts to some good, old-fashioned "western style justice," saving Stewart's life and ridding the town of the troublesome and evil Valance. The cast is as stellar as it gets, and I recall one more time Stewart and Wayne worked together. In Wayne's last movie, The Shootist, Wayne visits the doctor, played by Stewart, and finds he has a fatal cancer and only has a short time to live, thus precipitating the exciting finale of that film, when Wayne decides to go for broke against the arrogant younger gunslinger, played by Hugh O'Brien.
Rating: -
America's Greatest Director John Ford had at age 67 had one more great Western to add to his canon, Cheyenne Autumn, which followed two years later was well intended, but just average.This story is the story of a myth, but one that is allowed to live on because, " This is the West,...and when the myth becomes the legend, print the legend ", or so says Shinbone newspaper editor Carleton Young ( Ford's favorite WASP ) to Senator Ransom Stoddard, played by Jimmy Stewart, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ".The Senator is back in Shinebone to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon ( John Wayne). Stoddard is famous, Doniphon unknown, and here is where the story takes off with Stewart telling Young and Paul Birch the real story of Liberty Valance.
The town of Shinbone is menaced by Valance ( Lee Marvin - excellent) and his gang, Strother Martin, and Lee van Cleef.The town is protected by Sheriff Andy Devine, which is as close to no protection as possible.Valance, in the pay of the big cattlemen wants to be a delegate to the territory's convention as it seeks Statehood. Well most of you who are reading this review know the rest of the story, so I won't dwell on that.
The great cast includes the wonderful Vera Miles, as Hallie, who both Stewart and Wayne vie for, with Stewary winning, Devine, John Qualen, Jeannette Nolan, Edmund O' Brien, Ken Murray, Woody Strode John Carradine (intionally over the top ) Denver Pyle, (and by a bit of odd casting) Ford semi - regular O.Z. Whitehead ( The Grapes of Wrath, The Last Hurrah ) plays Pyle's son,even thought Mr. Whitehead ( who is very funny ), in real life is about 15 years younger, are all supurb. One of the greatest Westerns ever made.
Rating: -
This is a well told story about the changing times of the Old West. Statehood and civilization stand poised on the edge of a small western town(Shinbone) anxiously awaiting a push to get started. An unlikely savior comes to town in the guise of an Eastern tenderfoot lawyer named Ransom Stoddard(Jimmy Stewart). After his baptism by fire at the hands of Liberty Valance(Lee Marvin), while trying to defend a female passenger during a stage holdup, he is befriended by the rugged individualist Tom Doniphon(John Wayne). Stoddard brings ideals, law and order into a town that has pretensions for..but not much else. The town of Shinbone is full of good people and all the right things to make it completely civilized. What is needed is a spark or event to move them in the right direction. That spark or event is a showdown shootout with Liberty Valance and an unwitting Ransom Stoddard. The results, of the shootout, catapult the territory and Stoddard on to their destiny.
John Ford shot this film in black and white creating an unfinished, dark atmospheric aura to the settings. It is the kind of movie that hits home in many different areas. Not just a western in the traditional sense, it creates some interesting thoughts on myth busting and hero worshipping. Ford's position here, and perhaps throughout his directing career, was to 'Print the legend'. The movie open ends a fascinating psychological argument, one that is beyond the scope of this review, regarding the way people believe in legends and the force created from those beliefs.
This is another of Ford's works that rightfully deserves its' place in movie history and is well worth owning. By the way if you buy this movie looking for the Gene Pitney/Burt Bacharach song 'The Man who shot Liberty Valance', it's on Pitney's greatest hits or on "24 Hours from Tulsa" and not in the film.
Rating:  -
Liberty Valance is often cited as one of the top westerns of all time. The opening shot portrays the theme of the film--a locomotive chugging busily through wild country symbolizing the coming of civilization to the West. John Ford directs this classic black-and-white movie even though most filming by 1962 was done in color. Apparently Ford chose to film Liberty Valance in black-and-white to emphasize the classic theme.
John Wayne was one of Ford's favorite and most frequently used stars. In this film he is in his prime--starting to wrinkle a little but only slightly paunchy. Wayne plays his usual role, the bluff, alpha male who is great at shooting and fighting, and not so good at talking. His attitude to everyone is patronizing. His standard response when a woman disagrees with him is to tell her how cute she is when she is angry and then cheerfully ignore her complaints.
Jimmy Stewart is his co-star and although he is supposed to be playing a young lawyer, he is slightly wrinkled too. Stewart is cast true to his type, playing the tenderfoot who is victimized by the town bully. The contrast of Stewart's character's idealism and Wayne's cynical acceptance of status quo is the crux of the film, as Stewart successfully galvanizes the town to stand up against oppression by big ranchers and cruel gunslingers.
Liberty Valance is an appealing film--it combines romance, heroism and self-sacrifice in classic Western style. The acting by the stars and supporting cast is excellent. The psychological themes lack subtlety as seems characteristic of the Ford/Wayne collaboration in film. Nevertheless, a good film that is a must-see for any Western fan!
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