1954 | Not Rated | 2h 3m | Drama, Western
Some filmmakers use a narrative trick that almost feels like cheating in order to pique curiosity about their films. This clever setup involves starting a movie in the present and having the characters elude to something critical to the story that happened in the past.
Legendary director John Ford utilized this technique as well in his 1962 Western drama “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” but here it’s executed to the extreme. Instead of a melodramatic setup that recounts fading memories or why someone was wounded, we learn that one of the story’s main characters is already dead.
As usual, Ford opens the film with a long shot that establishes the rugged natural beauty of the Old West, as a steam engine rides along tracks through rolling foothills. It stops in the small town of Shinbone and Sen. Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) disembark.
The editor of the local newspaper, the Shinbone Star, wants to know why such an important politician as Ransom is visiting such a relatively inconsequential place. However, the senator keeps tight-lipped about his intentions. Ransom eventually reveals that he and his wife are in town for the burial of an old friend, Tom Doniphon (John Wayne), whose body is laying in a simple pinewood coffin.
The Past
Before the rail line made traveling to Shinbone much easier, stagecoaches were common, and we see one transporting a younger Ransom Stoddard, long before he became a big-shot politician. He’s riding with a couple of other passengers.Suddenly, a gaggle of masked banditos pops up brandishing pistols and holds up the stagecoach. The baddies are led by the titular Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), a ruthless fellow—who roughs up the captives unnecessarily and eventually beats Ransom nearly to death with a heavy whip for stepping in to protect a lady passenger.
Doniphon helps Ransom to Shinbone, where, over time, the hurt man manages to recover from his injuries with the help of a Swedish couple, Peter (John Qualen) and Nora (Jeanette Nolan) Ericson, who runs a local steakhouse. He also meets young Hallie, who works at the restaurant.
Although Ransom agrees to work at the restaurant to cover his room and board, he ultimately plans to set up a law practice in town since he’s an attorney. Not only that, but he makes it clear to everyone, including Doniphon, that he intends to use the law to prosecute and ultimately incarcerate Valance.
But Doniphon tells Ransom that it might be wiser to move on since law and order doesn’t exist in the West—at least in a traditional sense. “Out here a man settles his own problems,” Doniphon tells him—with violent force being the primary way to settle things. Doniphon also notices that Hallie has taken a liking to Ransom and, as the former intends to marry her, he'd rather Ransom moved on.
However, Ransom stubbornly sticks to his metaphorical guns, believing that he can eventually bring Liberty to justice (oh, the irony). But Ransom also privately acknowledges Doniphon’s warnings—Liberty is a man that only recognizes force. Hence, the lawyer secretly travels out of Shinbone to practice shooting with a recently procured pistol.
Soon, Ransom becomes a champion for the people of Shinbone—teaching many of its citizens civics, history, and even how to read and write. He also becomes a political advocate for procuring the town’s statehood.
The Laws of the East and West
In the film, dual forces contrast dramatically with each other. On one hand, we have Tom Doniphon who represents the rugged, self-reliant individualist who can be quite deadly when pushed too far by bad people. On the other side of the coin, there’s Ransom Stoddard, who hails from the more settled, Eastern United States. Ransom embodies a more principled, orderly way of life, which entails the application of laws, regulations, rhetoric, politics, and “progress.”
What I like about this film is that no one is totally right or wrong—we can see the value in both of the ideals Ransom and Doniphon hold dear. And although they have their differences, they more or less support each other throughout the movie, in their own ways. John Wayne and James Stewart play remarkably well off of each other: two megastars with their particular acting styles who get to showcase their natural gifts.
Another standout is Lee Marvin as the ruthless bandit Liberty Valance, perhaps the most unhinged psychopath of any of Ford’s films. Marvin’s deep growl of a voice, combined with his deadly swagger and one hand ever-threatening to draw his hip-holstered pistol, creates a constant state of tension. No stranger to playing villains, the always-game Lee Van Cleef is perfect as Valance’s right-hand man Reese, glowering in the background with sheer menace. Vera Miles is also convincing as the woman caught between Ransom and Doniphon.
Many believe “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” to be John Ford’s greatest film. It’s somewhat of a farewell letter to a way of life that has faded into history, just as westerns began to fall out of favor during the 1960s, and modernization began to take hold in the name of so-called progress. At least, we have these incredible reminders of old Americana and a much simpler way of life.
