THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)
Updated: Feb 12, 2023
Violence Gives Way to the Law in This Classic Western
Grade: A
**Possible Spoiler Alert!!**
The specter of John Wayne’s character Tom Doniphan hangs low over John Ford's Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, despite the fact that the Duke takes on a more supportive role here than is expected for his legendary career. On the surface, the movie belongs to Jimmy Stewart’s Ransom “Rance” Stoddard, a lawyer who became famous across the West for committing the titular action. But it becomes clear by the end that Rance owes everything to Doniphan, and it is this fact that helps give the story its deeper meaning. It may not have the same magnificent scale as some of the director’s other movies, but its characters and subject make it just as important if not more so.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance opens with Rance and his wife, Hallie (Vera Miles) arriving Shinbone, in a town they had lived in for a time, to pay their respects to the late Doniphan. The screenplay by James Warner Bella and Willis Goldbeck establishes the theme of changing times early on as the characters make note of how different the town looks, as well as references to Doniphan, whom Hallie in particular seems sad about. After meeting up with two old friends, Link Appleyard (Andy Devine) and Pompey (Woody Strode) for the funeral, Rance tells the staff of the town newspaper how they all got together, as well as how he knows Tom Doniphan.
The resulting story displays Shinbone as a more classic version of Western town, with a rowdy saloon, a hot Mexican joint, and townspeople living in fear of local outlaws. Here the outlaws are led by Liberty Valance, portrayed by Lee Marvin as a savage and brutal thug who beats his victims with a whip. Rance, who is from the eastern U.S. gets his first taste of the Wild West when his carriage is held up by the Valance gang. While recovering in the town, Rance discovers just how far-removed Shinbone is from the world he knows upon learning not only about the illiteracy of many townsfolk (including Hallie), but also the lawlessness of the land.
Rance hopes to resolve this lawlessness by educating people and having them vote in a crucial upcoming debate, but rancher Doniphan thinks the only way to solve problems in the West is with a gun. This puts the two men at odds with each other, and matters are made worse when the Valance gang turns up the heat in town and targets Rance for death. Rance becomes tempted by violence and ultimately faces Valance in a tense nighttime showdown.
John Ford directed some of the most popular and influential movies of all time before his death in 1973. A few of these movies, like The Searchers (1956), have also become somewhat controversial due to their negative depictions of Native Americans. Regardless of the subject matter, Ford consistently showed incredible talent behind the camera, and Liberty Valance was no exception. He and his cast and crew were able to provide amusing comic relief to offset the at times grim tone, such as with the cowardly town marshal Appleyard and the oft-inebriated newspaper Dutton Peabody (Edmond O’Brien). But the best skill they showed was in how subtly they are able to get their themes across.
For instance, the movie features one of the most underplayed love triangles in Western history as Rance develops feelings for Hallie, whom Doniphan is already in love with. Yet their chemistry is only sparsely glimpsed throughout the movie; not once is Hallie ever shown kissing either of them. Mainly this romance serves to emphasize the contrast between the characters and what they represent. Doniphan embodies the “dog eat dog” attitude of the West, and Rance is the law of the East trying to bring order. Hallie could be seen as the future; whoever gets her will prevail.
This is how Doniphan looms over the film. Like Wayne’s character in The Searchers, he is a dying relic of the Old West, and by the end he knows it. When it becomes clear to him that Rance is going to get Hallie, he responds the only way he knows how, with violence-not against either of them, but against his house and the room he was building especially for Hallie. Doniphan essentially gives up, but he ultimately reveals to Rance, in a clever flashback, exactly why he won and how the showdown with Valance really ended. Thus, lawlessness ultimately gives way to order, yet the two are strangely codependent.
In a way, the works of John Ford are similar to the film industry itself. Times change and new rules are introduced to an old domain, yet the present still owes a debt to the past. In Liberty Valance, the fear and ignorance of the old town are wiped away as railroads and laws approach from the east, yet a few will never forget the one who enabled the change to happen. Likewise, the Western as a genre has largely faded away, and some of Ford’s movies have fallen into disrepute, yet modern cinema owes a lot to his work. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance lacks the sweeping cinematography and wide desert vistas that Ford is known for. But what it has to say helps it stand the test of time, arguably even more so than some of his more famous movies.
Director: John Ford
Screenplay: James Warner Bellah, Willis Goldbeck (Based on the short story by Dorothy M. Johnson)
Producer: Willis Goldbeck
Cast: James Stewart (Ransom "Rance" Stoddard), John Wayne (Tom Doniphan), Lee Marvin (Liberty Valance), Vera Miles (Hallie Stoddard), Edmond O'Brien (Dutton Peabody), Andy Devine (Marshal 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), Lee Van Cleefe (Reese)
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