{"id":1265,"date":"2013-05-22T13:04:13","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T13:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturedallroundman.com\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2015-08-27T11:55:23","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T14:55:23","slug":"the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance-1962","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturedarm.com\/staging\/5793\/the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance-1962\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em> \u2013 starring James Stewart and John Wayne \u2013 is often considered the last great film John Ford directed, in a career that comprised around 140 films over a period of fifty years. Released in 1962, Ford would direct only four more feature-length pictures; including one more with his friend and longtime collaborator Wayne, in 1963\u2019s Donovan\u2019s Reef<\/em>; and one more with Stewart, 1964\u2019s Cheyenne Autumn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The total number of films on which Ford and Wayne worked together is difficult to precisely ascertain: Wayne began his career working as an extra, and went unbilled on as many as eight Ford dramas in the late 1920s, just as Ford was making the transition to sound. Some of these films have been lost; for some, it is disputed whether Wayne actually appeared on screen at all. In 1930, with Ford\u2019s support, Wayne obtained the lead role in director Raoul Walsh\u2019s The Big Trail<\/em>. Despite a vast budget of over $2 million, and shooting in two formats \u2013 traditional 35 mm and 75 mm Grandeur film widescreen \u2013 the film failed at the box office, and Wayne spent much of the subsequent decade appearing in smaller roles and in B-movies. This persisted until 1939, and Stagecoach<\/em>. Though he had directed numerous silent Westerns, Stagecoach<\/em> was Ford\u2019s first Western in sound; and Wayne\u2019s first leading role in a Ford film.<\/p>\n

Its success established Wayne as a leading man and as a leading star. From Stagecoach<\/em> to Donovan\u2019s Reef<\/em>, Ford directed Wayne fourteen times.\u00a0Only Harry Carey worked with the director more, serving twenty-five times as Ford\u2019s lead, a fixture in that role in the first three years of Ford\u2019s career from 1917 to 1919. Carey is perhaps best known today for playing the President of the Senate in the James Stewart-led Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/em>, from 1939. Wayne and Carey would also work together and become close. Wayne\u2019s pose in the closing scene of The Searchers<\/em> \u2013 now considered Ford and Wayne\u2019s definitive work, and one of the greatest films of all time; which features Carey\u2019s son as Brad Jorgensen, killed early in the proceedings \u2013 was an homage to Carey, who often appeared with the same gesture, his left hand loosely clutching his right elbow.<\/p>\n

The plot of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em> concerns the end of the Old West, as the society of a small rural town (in this case, the undistinguished town of \u2018Shinbone\u2019) transitions towards becoming part of a federal state. This political change implicates for Ford other themes and other contests: it suggests the potential disenchantment of the individual and the end of rugged heroism; and encourages a questioning of the natures of truth and legend.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\"Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

Senator Ransom \u2018Ranse\u2019 Stoddard (Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) arrive in Shinbone via steam train. They are there for the funeral of a local named Tom Doniphon, apparently unknown by much of the town. The editor of the local newspaper, the Shinbone Star<\/em>, asserts his right for information, and demands of Stoddard, \u2018Who was Tom Doniphon?\u2019. It is Stoddard\u2019s response which comprises the remainder of the film, occurring in continuous flashback, recounting events which took place several decades before. This means that for much of the film, Stewart and Wayne \u2013 53 and 54 years old respectively at the time of shooting \u2013 portray men in their twenties.<\/p>\n

\u2018A youngster, fresh out of law school; a bag full of law books and my father\u2019s gold watch\u2019, Stoddard journeys to Shinbone \u2013 prior to the introduction of the railroad \u2013 on stagecoach. The coach is stopped by a group of outlaws, who beat Stoddard when he attempts to prevent a woman losing the broach given to her by her now-dead husband. The leader of the group, the titular Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), ransacks Stoddard\u2019s bags and finds only \u2018Law books? Well I\u2019ll teach you law\u2026Western law!; at which he brutally whips him.<\/p>\n

Stoddard is recovered by Tom Doniphon (Wayne), a rancher, and taken to the local eating establishment, the home of Hallie and her Swedish parents, Peter and Nora Ericson. As Stoddard revives, weak and in a daze, he feels he has something he must do: he wants to arrest Valance and his men. Doniphon \u2013 calling Stoddard \u2018Pilgrim\u2019, an epithet which has become popularly associated with Wayne \u2013 is dismissive, telling Stoddard, \u2018I know those law books mean a lot to you, but not out here. Out here, a man settles his own problems\u2019. Stoddard equates Doniphon\u2019s \u00a0 philosophy with the lawlessness which allows Valance to thrive; he argues vehemently, proclaiming \u2018The law is the only\u2026the only\u2026\u2019, but collapses to his bed before completing his sentence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stoddard recuperates and settles in to life in Shinbone, continuing to stay with Hallie and the Ericsons. He works washing dishes and waiting tables in their eatery, and establishes a daily school to teach the locals, including Hallie, how to read and write. Valance continues to menace the town. Doniphon and Hallie have a simmering relationship: the Ericsons initially consider a marriage proposal only a matter of time, but whether it is restraint, a languid style, a certain complacency, or whether he is simply waiting for the right moment, Doniphon proves slow to act. Meanwhile, Stoddard and Hallie grow increasingly close. When Stoddard visits Doniphon\u2019s ranch, Doniphon allows himself to be explicit: he tells Stoddard \u2018Hallie is my girl. I\u2019m building that brand new room and porch for her for when we get married\u2019. \u2018Well Tom,\u2019 Stoddard responds, \u2018I guess everybody pretty much takes that for granted\u2019. Yet Doniphon is never so expressive with Hallie, and fears her developing feelings for the young lawyer.<\/p>\n

Stoddard befriends Dutton Peabody (Edmond O\u2019Brien), the founder and sole writer of the Shinbone Star<\/em>. A growing population means that Shinbone is required to send two delegates to a territorial convention for statehood. While the townspeople are initially wary, Peabody and Stoddard succeed in explaining the benefits statehood would bring the town. An article Peabody writes for the Star<\/em>\u00a0highlights the attempts of cattle barons to keep the area an open range; Peabody argues that this is borne of vicious self-interest, and would endanger smaller homesteads; Stoddard is admiring of the piece. He speaks before the town votes for their two delegates, and proclaims that \u2018Statehood means the protection of our farms and our fences, and it means schools for our children, and it means progress for the future!\u2019. The townspeople agree. Liberty Valance \u2013 whose group of men has grown, backed by the cattle barons who seek to prevent a fair vote \u2013 arrives and attempts intimidation, but Stoddard and Peabody are voted as the town\u2019s two delegates.<\/p>\n

Soon after, in revenge, Valance and his men assault Peabody. Stoddard silently determines to act. He takes a gun and waits for Valance in the street. When Valance emerges from the town\u2019s bar, the two stalk each other, with Valance shooting Stoddard\u2019s right arm and forcing him to retrieve his gun. Somehow \u2013 despite a lack of technique embarrassingly demonstrated earlier by Doniphon \u2013 and despite faltering with his weapon, Stoddard triumphs, with Valance shot dead. Witnessing how Hallie tends for Stoddard\u2019s wound, Doniphon first drives Valance\u2019s remaining men from town, then drunkenly heads to his ranch, where he sets fire to the new room he had been building, ultimately engulfing his entire home.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

At the convention for statehood, the gathered delegates must vote for one man to represent the region at Congress in Washington. Peabody boldly nominates Stoddard. The objections to his candidacy centre on his shooting of Valance: should a Congressman be one who takes the law into his own hands; ought the delegates send Stoddard \u2018with bloodstained hands to walk the hallowed halls of government\u2019? These protestations cause Stoddard to leave the delegation in distress and uncertainty. He is halted by Doniphon, who reveals that it was he \u2013 hidden in an alleyway across the street \u2013 who shot and killed Valance. Doniphon states that he did it \u2018in cold blood\u2019 because he knew it would make Hallie happy, and tells Stoddard \u2018Hallie is your girl now\u2019. As he departs, he demands of Stoddard, \u2018Go on back in there and take that nomination. You taught her how to read and write \u2013 now give her something to read and right about\u2019.<\/p>\n

Thus Stoddard concludes his recollection and we return to the present day. \u2018You know the rest of it\u2019, he tells the young Star<\/em> journalists: he went to Washington and statehood was achieved; he became the state\u2019s first Governor, serving for three terms; served two terms in the Senate; as ambassador to the United Kingdom; returned for one more term in the Senate; and now stands on the threshold of becoming Vice President. Yet the Star<\/em>\u2018s editor throws everything Stoddard has just dictated into the furnace: he does not want its revelation. \u2018This is the West, Sir\u2019, he says, \u2018When the legend becomes fact, print the legend\u2019.<\/p>\n

A train sounds in the distance. Stoddard and Hallie take their leave. On the train back to Washington, Stoddard suggests leaving political life \u2013 after passing an irrigation bill \u2013 and returning to live in Shinbone. Hallie responds enthusiastically: \u2018If you knew how often I\u2019d dreamed of it. My roots are here\u2026I guess my heart is here. Yes, let\u2019s come back. Look at it: it was once a wilderness; now it\u2019s a garden. Aren\u2019t you proud?\u2019. Stoddard\u2019s thoughtfulness is briefly interrupted by the train driver, who promises to expedite the Senator\u2019s journey. \u2018Think nothing of it. Nothing\u2019s too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance!\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Sergio Leone called The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em> his favourite Ford film, remarking \u2018it was the only film where he learned something about pessimism\u2019. Locating the sources and specificities of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em>\u2018s pessimism goes a long way towards interpreting the film. Certainly, pessimism can be traced in everything from Liberty Valance\u2019s tyranny over the emerging town; to the careless attitude the press are shown to hold towards fact; to Tom Doniphon\u2019s lonely demise; to the laments which Stoddard and Hallie bear regarding aspects of their own lives. Many critical evaluations of the movie extend these particular concerns into a pessimism that encompasses the whole film; arguing that it serves ultimately as a reflection on the loss of the Old West, Doniphon\u2019s heroism forgotten and foregone, Stoddard the mistaken hero, whose career is based on a lie.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is how Ford and Wayne would have seen the film; perhaps this is the reading Ford endeavoured to provide. Ford\u2019s earlier Westerns typically romanticise the world of the genre, with broad vistas, bold villains and brave heroes. Wayne had teamed with Howard Hawks to make Rio Bravo<\/em> as a response to High Noon<\/em>: in High Noon<\/em>, Gary Cooper\u2019s marshal has to fight a group of murderous outlaws alone, neglected by a fearful townspeople, only aided by his wife, who ultimately shoots one of the outlaws from behind \u2013 a plot which Wayne viewed as an allegory of blacklisting and described as \u2018the most un-American thing I\u2019ve ever seen in my whole life\u2019. In some sense Liberty Valance<\/em> speaks also to High Noon<\/em>, possessing in Tom Doniphon another neglected hero. Here, however, that neglect owes to time and to the hero\u2019s own selfless withholding of the truth.<\/p>\n

Both within the film and in the apparatus to it, Ford made attempts to affirm Doniphon\u2019s heroism. The film is peculiar in that Stewart was given top billing in its promotional materials, whereas Wayne has top billing in the film itself. This reflects the nature of the film as well as the equal stature of its two stars. Ford admitted to wanting Wayne to be the lead; in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, he stated that he tried to stress Hallie\u2019s lasting attachment to Doniphon throughout the film in order to assert that character above Stewart\u2019s Ranse Stoddard. At significant moments, the film\u2019s score \u2013 otherwise composed by Cyril J. Mockridge \u2013 utilises a piece entitled \u2018Ann Rutledge Theme\u2019, originally composed by Alfred Newman for Ford\u2019s 1939 film, Young Mr. Lincoln<\/em>. The composition was evidently kept in mind by Ford for twenty-three years, used in\u00a0Liberty Valance<\/em> to express the lost love that characterises Hallie and Doniphon\u2019s relationship.<\/p>\n

Hallie\u2019s fondness for Doniphon, and her sense of regret at how things ended between them, is emphasised especially in the film\u2019s framing scenes, set in the present day. When she and Stoddard first arrive back in Shinbone, Stoddard is whisked off by the eager men of the Shinbone Star<\/em> for an interview; while Hallie \u2013 with Link Appleyard, the town\u2019s former marshal \u2013 visits Doniphon\u2019s old ranch, never fully restored after the fire. On the way, she points out that \u2018the cactus rose is in blossom\u2019. Later, in the body of the film, we see Doniphon present Hallie with a cactus rose as a present; she shows it to Stoddard, proudly acclaiming it \u2018the prettiest thing you ever did see\u2019; Stoddard admits its prettiness, but asks, \u2018Hallie, did you ever see a real rose?\u2019. Back in the present at the close of the film, Hallie has left a cactus rose atop Doniphon\u2019s coffin \u2013 a fact which causes Stoddard some furrow-browed reflection.<\/p>\n

It is interesting in this respect to briefly consider the relationships certain directors have shared with their leading men. Ford is attributed as saying, early in Wayne\u2019s career, that Wayne would become the biggest film star ever owing to the public\u2019s sense of him as an everyman. After Harry Carey, Wayne became Ford\u2019s hero; a position that suggests some emotional investment on the part of the director, which may intertwine man and actor, and which might prove difficult to break. Alfred Hitchcock famously called Cary Grant \u2018the only actor I ever loved\u2019, and used Grant for his heroic leading parts, whereas Stewart \u2013 in Rope<\/em>, Rear Window<\/em>, The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/em>, and Vertigo<\/em> \u2013 played the physically inferior, more psychologically troubled roles.<\/p>\n

The emphasis given to Hallie\u2019s remaining feelings for Doniphon brings into question her relationship with Stoddard. The development of this relationship is complex. Hallie is frequently Stoddard\u2019s carer, for instance when he arrives in Shinbone after being beaten by Valance, and following the gunfight in which his right arm is injured. On the other hand, intellectually Stoddard is superior to his future wife, and it is arguable that he condescends to her at points: in his surprise at her inability to read and write, and again when he asks her if she has seen a \u2018real\u2019 rose. Yet the two do forge a close attachment; Hallie\u2019s choosing Stoddard over Doniphon appears quite definite; and we do not sense that the decades the pair have spent married have been at all unhappy or beset by remorse.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, seeing Doniphon\u2019s coffin, and then on the train journey home, Hallie is simply in grief, and understandably feeling some guilt for Doniphon\u2019s isolated later years. Likewise, if Stoddard appears disconcerted at her enduring feelings for Doniphon, perhaps this is only natural, philosophical and fleeting. To attribute truth and permanence to the emotions we see here is to give them a symbolism and a finality which other parts of the film cannot bear. If Ford did, in a few notable ways, engineer a certain preeminence for Wayne and Doniphon, his film is by no means unequivocal in proclaiming Doniphon\u2019s person and his values over Stoddard\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The climax of the film arrives with the convention for statehood and Stoddard\u2019s nomination for Congress; which is entwined with the twist which reveals Doniphon, not Stoddard, as Liberty Valance\u2019s killer. The crux of some interpretations of the film is that this revelation upholds Doniphon and undermines Stoddard\u2019s future successes, showing that they have a dishonest foundation. This interpretation is seemingly confirmed by the film\u2019s ironic closing line, \u2018Nothing\u2019s too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance!\u2019. However, what we are shown during the convention challenges such a straightforward reading. Stoddard has earned the respect and friendship of his nominator, Dutton Peabody, and the people of Shinbone not through force, but owing to his personal warmth, his generous intellect, and a sense of morality which prioritises law and the equality of all. The belief that he shot and killed Valance \u2013 far from establishing his credentials \u2013 serves as the sole barrier to his nomination; allowing those opposing him to cast him as heedless and blood-stained.<\/p>\n

Stoddard realises himself that Valance may continue to define him: he says to Doniphon, \u2018Isn\u2019t it enough to kill a man without\u2026without trying to build a life on it?\u2019. This deeply-felt remark is more ambiguous than it may first appear: it can be read implicating Valance\u2019s death as a springboard, or as something which makes a successful career more difficult or even irrelevant. Regardless, what we see in the convention and elsewhere renders it plausible that Stoddard\u2019s career could have thrived without his reputation for shooting Valance.<\/p>\n

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em> was based on a short story by Dorothy M. Johnson, published in her 1953 collection Indian Country<\/em>. There, Doniphon and Stoddard share a closer relationship, Doniphon proactively mentoring the younger and less experienced man. The screenplay \u2013 adapted for Ford by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck \u2013 has the effect of placing the two men in contrast; but it also makes the character of Doniphon more ambiguous, and less sympathetic. Ford shot in black and white, a decision which has been both criticised and praised; it is debated whether his choice was enforced by a limited budget, or whether he deliberately forewent wide landscapes and colour for an atmospheric black and white, rich in shadow, and well suited to the film\u2019s close study of character. Others have posited that the black and white photography served to mask the makeup used to make Stewart and Wayne appear young men. Still others suggest that the film\u2019s casting has its own thematic function: that Stewart\u2019s age is evident in the body of the film despite makeup, but this reflects the fact that he is recollecting for us, looking back on his youth as a much older man, with the story we see unfolding marked by his age, an inevitably subjective account.<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of scenery, the film is still evocative of a past time, but it cannot be reduced to an easy allegory asserting the wilderness over civilisation, or even the individual over society. That statehood and the rule of law genuinely represent progress \u2013 in a positive, unsatirical sense of the term \u2013 is not significantly argued against. To view Doniphon as a forsaken hero, Stoddard as an impostor, is to limit the film\u2019s scope; it would be for us to accept the legends of the West, and to some degree of Wayne and Ford, rather than facing the film\u2019s particular set of facts. It would, in a word, render us guilty of printing a narrow legend.<\/p>\n

Nor is it sufficient to argue that the movie\u2019s conflicts lack meaning because they lack resolution, or that they are the products of a sometimes confused film. Great works of art require our openness as viewers: their flaws and conflicts are, after Joyce, the portals of discovery and ought to be accepted and investigated rather than dismissed. It remains to appreciate The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em>\u00a0through its complexities: its demonstrating of the irreconcilability of different truths; the inevitability of chance; and the nuanced, small but decisive ways in which societies and personal relations run their course.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance \u2013 starring James Stewart and John Wayne \u2013 is often considered the last great film John Ford directed, in a career that comprised around 140 films over a period of fifty years. Released in 1962, Ford would direct only four more feature-length pictures; including one more with his friend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4010,3875],"tags":[3726,1654,1710,1715,1841,3529],"class_list":{"0":"post-1265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-american-cinema","8":"category-movies","9":"tag-american-film","10":"tag-james-stewart","11":"tag-john-ford","12":"tag-john-wayne","13":"tag-leading-men","14":"tag-western"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An analysis of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, directed by John Ford, starring James Stewart and John Wayne. 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