Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Year: 1962

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Ford

Review

quite simply a great film. it’s a western, but it has shades of film noir. most people mark 1958 as the official end of film noir, but those people bother me. those are the same people that won’t admit that ‘fugitive on a chain gang’ is a film noir despite coming before the term was coined. all the actors play their parts really well. stewart and wayne are especially brilliant. it starts with the typical shot of the horizon, but is broken by the train cutting through the middle of the frame, smoke billowing out of the smokestack; which is a break from what seems to be the norm of men on horseback on the horizon. the vast majority of the film is a flashback, though there is no voice-over or reverting back to the present. a wise choice. i’ve been intrigued by the choice to tell a story when you already know that the main character is dead/dying (e.g., citizen kane, american beauty, ikiru, and the killers) or fatally injured/in trouble with the police (e.g., double indemnity). in most of these cases we’re talking about a film noir which means telling the story this way reinforces the fatalistic philosophy that dominates the genre. in american beauty and ikiru it has an opposite effect. we are all mortal and this is addressed immediately so what becomes important is the journey, rather than the destination. but none of that matters if the rest of the film is schlock…the marshall, peabody and others provide an excellent steady course of comic relief that keeps things balanced. but the real meat of the film are the two leads – wayne and stewart who both revolved around the axis of the film – vera miles’ character. i’m going out on a limb here. she symbolized purity and was probably the character closest to the audience. wayne (the old school of western thought) lead with the gun and had her heart at the beginning (chronologically) of the film. stewart isn’t short of bravado, but wields it in a much different manner, choosing to fight back with a law book in hand. he teaches hallie to read and slowly we (hallie and the audience) are converted to stewart’s style. in the end, though, it turns out that wayne is a necessary evil of sorts. though he is relegated to self-loathing in the shadows for the last 30-40 minutes of the movie, we come to realize what sacrifice he has made for stewart and our way of life. as nicholson (in a few good men) says “you want me on that wall, you need me there.” ultimately it’s a good, balanced story that ends up being rather touching. one of ford’s last films and it doesn’t seem that age had hurt his genius one bit.