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CibbuanoThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
June 27th 2006 10:49
Wow. I never expected 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' to be as good as it turned out to be. I must admit, I'm a fairly new convert to the Western genre... I used to hate Westerns, with a passion. Now I save my hate mainly for musicals, and I find myself more and more drawn into an entire cinematic history of films that I’d left untouched for so long. It’s close to becoming my favourite genre even!
'The Man Who Liberty Valance' might be giving away some of it's plot in it's title alone, but there's a depth to this that explores the changing of the guard between the old world and the new. This 'battle' between ways of life is represented by the film's two heroes... Stoddard (Stewart, in fine genial form, representing the new world through education and judicial law) and Doniphon (Wayne, as hard and sarcastic as ever, representing the old world through the law of the land and the gun). The film begins quite some time after the old west has passed on, picking up on the victor Stoddard's return (who's modern victory over the ways of the past should come as no surprise to us, as we do - after all - live in the modern world) to the town he once tried to tame. From here the film flashes back to the meeting of these two men, Stoddard and Doniphon, and the villainous scourge who terrorised the town - the eponymous Valance (memorably brought to life by Lee Marvin), and we follow the changing landscape of the town as the worlds of the old and new clash.
There's an ambiguity in director Ford's work here that leads to various interpretations of the old world's role in paving the way for the future. On one hand, we are led to believe that the past (Wayne) led the way for the future, and took on certain sins in order for the modern world to advance unblemished. In many ways, this is a universal truth of sorts, but only equally true as the alternative... that the past unnecessarily wears the sins of the future. By now, you're probably wondering what I'm crapping on about, and it's hard to examine without giving away too much of a film - suffice to say, watch it and think about who really shot Liberty Valance and it tends to open a whole can of worms. Either way, it's somewhat symbolic that Wayne's character dies a forgotten drunk in a town he once stood at the head of.
Less conceptually speaking, the film has a lot to offer. The performances are all top notch, from Wayne and Stewart (and especially Marvin) to the supporting cast - a great range of versatile character actors filling out genuinely amusing roles such as the Marshall and Peabody. And John Ford's direction is both easily accessible and wonderfully constructed, especially regarding the flashback scenes, reminding us exactly how he won four Academy Awards.
This is by no means a dull film either, it's superbly paced and filled with a myriad of wonderful characters, plots and themes. I'll leave you with the words of Liberty Valance himself, "I'll teach you law... western law!"
TRIVIA: Before he goes out to be shot, Liberty Valance is shown to have the 'dead man's hand' in a game of cards - a trademark of several of John Ford's westerns.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
'The Man Who Liberty Valance' might be giving away some of it's plot in it's title alone, but there's a depth to this that explores the changing of the guard between the old world and the new. This 'battle' between ways of life is represented by the film's two heroes... Stoddard (Stewart, in fine genial form, representing the new world through education and judicial law) and Doniphon (Wayne, as hard and sarcastic as ever, representing the old world through the law of the land and the gun). The film begins quite some time after the old west has passed on, picking up on the victor Stoddard's return (who's modern victory over the ways of the past should come as no surprise to us, as we do - after all - live in the modern world) to the town he once tried to tame. From here the film flashes back to the meeting of these two men, Stoddard and Doniphon, and the villainous scourge who terrorised the town - the eponymous Valance (memorably brought to life by Lee Marvin), and we follow the changing landscape of the town as the worlds of the old and new clash.
There's an ambiguity in director Ford's work here that leads to various interpretations of the old world's role in paving the way for the future. On one hand, we are led to believe that the past (Wayne) led the way for the future, and took on certain sins in order for the modern world to advance unblemished. In many ways, this is a universal truth of sorts, but only equally true as the alternative... that the past unnecessarily wears the sins of the future. By now, you're probably wondering what I'm crapping on about, and it's hard to examine without giving away too much of a film - suffice to say, watch it and think about who really shot Liberty Valance and it tends to open a whole can of worms. Either way, it's somewhat symbolic that Wayne's character dies a forgotten drunk in a town he once stood at the head of.
Less conceptually speaking, the film has a lot to offer. The performances are all top notch, from Wayne and Stewart (and especially Marvin) to the supporting cast - a great range of versatile character actors filling out genuinely amusing roles such as the Marshall and Peabody. And John Ford's direction is both easily accessible and wonderfully constructed, especially regarding the flashback scenes, reminding us exactly how he won four Academy Awards.
This is by no means a dull film either, it's superbly paced and filled with a myriad of wonderful characters, plots and themes. I'll leave you with the words of Liberty Valance himself, "I'll teach you law... western law!"
TRIVIA: Before he goes out to be shot, Liberty Valance is shown to have the 'dead man's hand' in a game of cards - a trademark of several of John Ford's westerns.
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