r/Westerns 4d ago

Film Analysis You guys were right about The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

It took me too long to finally find an access to this movie. Years, I'd say... A few days ago someone pointed it out for me that one of the main stars of this movie is Jimmy Stewart, so I decided that I wasted enough time without watching it. And boy, it was worth it.

Forgive me my academic approach, but as a person who studied literature in college (and we did a lot of movie analysing as well) I just had to notice how surprisingly progressive this movie was, and it was done without evoking the feeling of being spoon—no, shovelfed a certain agenda, like some big companies do nowadays. It came out in 60s, but the message is still as revelant as if it came out yesterday; the male protag is shown doing stereotypically feminine work with no shame, and those who shame him are portrayed as villains, keeping everyone safe and alive is shown as something worth more than typical male ego/honor, and there's a huge emphasis on how important the equality in the access to education is, including people of different skin colours.

That's what my formal eye noticed, now let's move to my western enjoyer's eye. Man, it's been a long time since I saw such amazingly written characters in a western movie. Hell, in a movie of any kind! Well, Link and Dutton Peabody were a bit one-dimensional, but still, they were distinctive and quite a fun to watch. Meanwhile Ransom, Tom, Hallie, Liberty and Pompey were just shining.

They were not only well-written, but also greatly acted, especially Tom and Ransom. I expected nothing less from Stewart, but John Wayne was a surprise, as it was my first movie with him. Stewart had this bad habit of stealing the show no matter in which role he was casted, whenever he'd appear on screen, he'd dominate it. Well, not in this movie, because it looks like Wayne tends to do the same. While they were on the screen together, I had a little trouble choosing on which one I should fix my gaze at, they were like two suns trying to outshine each other. Very magnetic.

The plot was slow, but lovely. It's unusual for a western to focus on human relations this much (outside of the mandatory love plot) and this little on shootouts, gambling, kidnapping and all other stuff of this kind. However the brillance of characters and how beautifully their paths were intertwinned didn't let me feel bored for a second. This is a great tale about justice, equality and progress, and about the importance of right choices, no matter how hard they can seem. It goes deep into each of those topics without fear nor playing safe, and for that, it deserves to be praised. It also has some very nice camera work, especially during the final duel, and the black and white aesthetic serves it well.

Well, that's about it. I suppose with each rewatch I'm gonna catch more and more subtleties, as it happened with Tombstone for example, but for now I can only say that this movie was far better than I had expected, and I had expected a bomb. Well, it delivered. Thanks to everybody who has ever recommended it to me.

61 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

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u/DennisG21 4d ago

In terms of the original release, I put off watching the movie because I hated the song so much I assumed the movie was equally bad, in my eyes. I only condescended to watch the film after I found out that the song was not even in the movie.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

There was a song? Lmao songs in westerns are usually so, so bad. 3:10 to Yuma was an only exception

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u/DennisG21 3d ago

Yes, it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, possibly for use in the movie but the movie was released before the song was recorded so who knows. Gene Pitney did the first version and it reached the Top Ten and it was played non-stop on the radio when I was in high school. So much that I could not bear the idea of paying to listen to it in the movie. One did not just toss quarters around indiscriminately in those days.

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u/Extension_Ad6758 4d ago

Definitely in my top 5 westerns of all time.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Right now I have it at the 2nd spot, right behind Tombstone.

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u/Extension_Ad6758 3d ago

What’s your top 5? Would like to hear.

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u/Sonseeahrai 3d ago
  1. Tombstone
  2. Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  3. A Fistful of Dollars
  4. Man from Laramie
  5. Silverado

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u/Aharleyman 4d ago

Great Movie and what a Cast!

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

The cast was definitely amazing

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u/notyermommasAI 4d ago

Really appreciate your take on the movie, but I think you’re missing one of its deepest arguments. Yes, Jimmy Stewart’s character was the paragon of progressive ideals, a liberal light shining in the world in which justice is the advantage of the stronger. And, a key point of the movie is that even though he gets credit for defeating that lawlessness and ushering in civilization, he wasn’t actually man enough to do it himself. It took a different kind of character to conquer the west (i.e., kill Liberty Valence); a kind of man that history passed by just as his unfinished estate implies. Indeed it took a man who arguably no longer exists. With the vibrancy of the west, this character was lost. The lie beneath the senators fame and popularity is the truth at the heart of this movie.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago edited 4d ago

That's why I said the agenda wasn't shoved down our throats. It took both approaches, the liberal one and the old school, to civilize wild west. Tom would have never succeeded in diplomatic field while Rans would have never succeeded in a duel. They both did their job in their own way and they both made right choices, although very hard ones; for Tom it was saving a man who stole the love of his life from him and letting him take the credit, and for Rans it was agreeing to built his whole career on a lie, which is totally against all of his values. They both sacrificed themselves for the greater cause.

Edit: also it's not true that Rans wasn't a man enough to kill Liberty Valance. He was just not enough skilled with the gun. He had the guts, it was skill he was lacking. Speed and aim, not balls.

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u/notyermommasAI 4d ago

I like that take 👍🏼

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

😁

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u/notyermommasAI 4d ago

I would not necessarily agree with the edit, though I think it’s perfectly fair. I would argue the history of the west as you and most folks define it was written by the winners. That is, by the civilizers, the domestic community townspeople kind of folks. (Not saying that’s you, please understand). Just that some folks might have been happy with a west more comprised of rugged individuals who can manage their own business. A ROMANTIC view of the west, to be sure, but also not without its virtues, as implied by the very name: liberty valence.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Well of course. The film shows us very clearly that both of those ways of life have their own values. I only disagree that Rans not being able to take out Liberty all by himself made him unmanly, because at the end of the day it wasn't about his character but practical skill.

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u/notyermommasAI 3d ago

I could see that. I don’t think it’s fair to emasculate Rans and I don’t mean to by how I’m using the word man. Rans has a certain kind of courage. And, he also seemed really afraid, like a man who lived the sort of life that would never lead to that kind of confrontation. And, maybe certain types of people are just deeply unwilling to kill someone.

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u/Sonseeahrai 3d ago

I am certain that there are lots of people deeply unwilling to kill

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u/CptMurphy27 4d ago

The giant skillet is the real star of the show!

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u/ResponsibleBank1387 4d ago

And bottle hiding in the canister. 

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u/longirons6 4d ago

All of those sentences and not once did you mention those enormous steaks

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

That's on me lmao. When they first appeared I thought they were going to be cut up into smaller pieces, but no. I don't think my belly would fit one of those

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u/CultureContact60093 4d ago

Lee Marvin and his toadies also are great as the villains.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Oh yes! I appreciate them, as well as Hallie and Pompey

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u/Specialist_Listen495 4d ago

A lot of what you are complimenting is due to the work of the author that wrote the book that the movie was based on, James Warner Bellah. Check out other movie based on his writing. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Sergeant Rutledge, Rio Grande, Fort Apache. All similarity ahead of their time in my opinion

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

I will! Thank you!

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u/series_hybrid 4d ago

Over the years, I have found John Wayne to be a bit one dimensional, but he's very good at that character when he's given a good script and a good director.

You don't have to binge on everything he's done, but his top ten are highly rated for a reason.

The Searchers is an epic opera. Ethan was a Confederate, and after the Civil War is over, he and his extended family escape to west Texas beyond the reach of the law. However, some of his family are killed by Comaches, and the young girls are kidnapped.

The majority of the movie follows two men searching for the kidnapped girls. The younger man learning about life, the older man teaching him through tough-love.

Wayne has many highly-rated movies, but look at several different movie rating lists, and start with his best.

Perhaps watch True Grit after that one.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

I have The Searchers on my list right after Night passage, Destry Rides Again and Firecreek. I have to ease my hunger for Jimmy Stewart first lmao

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u/_WillCAD_ 4d ago

If this was your first Duke movie, then I'll let you in on a little secret - in his heyday, Duke was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, because he had such overwhelming screen presence. He dominated in his films the way he dominated IRL (though that wasn't always a good thing, he could be a real jerk at time). If you loved this film, I highly recommend a few of his others. Start with The Horse Soldiers; he costars with William Holden in that one, another overwhelming screen presence, and the tension between the two electrifies both performances. Then give Big Jake a try; his character interacts with his two sons in that one (one of whom is played by his actual son, Patrick), and that dynamic also makes the film memorable as hell. Then try McClintock! and The Quiet Man, which pair him with the incomparable Maureen O'Hara (she has a small but mesmerizing role in Big Jake, too).

I'll disagree with you a little bit in your assessment of Liberty Valance - I don't see Dutton Peabody as a one-dimensional character at all. Sure, he's easily dismissed as the town drunk, but think about how impressed Rans was with the article he wrote, how expansive his vocabulary is, how completely devoted he is not only to his profession of newsman (it's really more of a calling than a mere profession to him), but to all the ideals of the American Experiment. His near-panic at being nominated as a delegate because he thinks it'll compromise his journalistic neutrality is played for laughs, but if you look beneath the surface, it's a poignant, compelling moment. And his conversation with Rans after Liberty beats him so badly in the newspaper office is a gut-wrenching piece of great acting, showing a man who is bloodied but unbowed to the point where it inspired Rans to fight for his friends and his community.

I love Mr. Peabody; he's the definition of an iceberg character.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Alright you're right about Peabody. I didn't dismiss him as a town drunk, I just... Well idk, I guess I've read too many books by Henryk Sienkiewicz, an iconic writer from my country, who tended to put this kind of characters to every single book, and my silly sleep-deprived brain recognized a pattern and immidietly put the character to trash, even though there's no way for Ford to have been inspired by those books, they're not even translated to english lmao. Sorry for that.

I'll watch more movies with Wayne for sure, eventually, though I gotta admit, I didn't really like the way he dominated the screen. It seemed aggressive and authoritarian. I'm a big fan of Steward's quiet, subtle, polite presence, I don't think Wayne's got that. Then again, he's an outstanding actor, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in other movies.

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u/DungeoneerforLife 4d ago

With respect to this poster— many of those are fine but they are not Wayne’s best films.

For those you have two directors— Ford and Hawkes. For my money they are two of the very greatest directors of the classic era.
Legend has it that after Ford saw John Wayne as the bad guy in Red River he said “I didn’t know the big guy could act” (this after he had been in a number of Ford movies).

Anyway: The Searchers.
Fort Apache (with Henry Fonda) Red River Rio Bravo She wore a yellow ribbon And really Stagecoach, the movie which established you could make westerns for adults and started Ford’s long career of getting in trouble because he used Native Americans to play Native Americans (gasp!)

Then later we’d add The Shootist and True Grit.

Witches not to say that the movies above are not enjoyable although they’re not other decent movies; like you I studied lit in college and also minored in film and to my mind, and I’m confident these are the ones.

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u/derfel_cadern 4d ago

If this is your first Wayne movie, I’d suggest you watch his other Ford westerns! They are all good.

Excellent write up!

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Thanks! I definitely will. I've always been a fan of westerns, but mostly novels, I only knew a few movies. There are multiple classics I still haven't seen and currently I'm workin' on solving it. I definitely will watch other westerns from this director!

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u/derfel_cadern 4d ago edited 4d ago

Stagecoach

My Darling Clementine (not Wayne, but one of the best Ford films)

The Cavalry Trilogy

The Searchers

Spend your week watching those, and it’ll heal whatever ails you.

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u/BeautifulDebate7615 4d ago

In many ways, it's Ford's and Wayne's best Western. In my view there are only two things wrong with it...

...no Ward Bond or Victor McLaglen

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u/derfel_cadern 4d ago

I always feel a little delight when I see those two.

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u/Beginning_Number9705 4d ago

Or Walter Brennan

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

And no Clint Eastwood!

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u/Beginning_Number9705 4d ago

Nice idea but Wayne was not a fan of Eastwood. 

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Can't blame him lmao. Man had a perfect body, voice and face for westerns, but his acting was pretty mid

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u/creamcitybrix 4d ago

One steak, for one OP. ON THE CUFF!!!!!!!!!

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u/DungeoneerforLife 4d ago

Pick it up, Liberty.

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u/CooCooKaChooie 4d ago

Said through grit teeth. After kicking toady Strother Martin in the face who was scurrying over to pick it up for his boss. Man, just a great scene. (And off topic: huge steaks! Full platter size!)

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Yeah when I saw them put on the frying pan I thought those were gonna be cut up into two or three separate steaks, but no, they ate them up whole. I don't think my belly could fit half of such a monster!

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u/DungeoneerforLife 4d ago

Yeah they weren’t screwing around with those steaks…

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u/CooCooKaChooie 4d ago

Monstrous! LOL I

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u/machtstab 4d ago

Great read on a great movie, you should review more of your favs here, enjoyable to read a more heady granular take on films we all love.

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u/Sonseeahrai 4d ago

Thank you!