Ford uses a flashback within a flashback technique to accomplish this, which is very unusual for him. In a few characters and a gripping story, Ford dramatizes the debate about guns that still continues in many Western states. Tom Doniphon: You aim to help me find some?, Strother Martin as Floyd, a sidekick to Liberty Valance in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Lee Van Cleef as Reese, one of Liberty Valances sidekicks in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Mr. Scott, to Ransom Stoddard: This is the West, sir. Ford reveals Stoddard as incapable of adjusting to the life of the West: when Tom brings Hallie a "cactus rose," Stoddard, having seen real roses, cannot appreciate the beauty of the desert flower. We watch events of long-ago happen before our eyes, and are content to take a temporary departure from the Twentieth Century. Wayne was always against doing End of the west westerns, because End of the west means end of the western which translates as end of John Wayne. Indeed Hallie and Nora Ericson (Jeanette Nolan) are the only two noticeable women in town; little wonder Tom's love for Hallie is intense. Post-Liberty Valance, John Wayne would continued to be the most dependable American movie star of his times. True Grit: How The 2010 Movie Compares To The Book & John Wayne Version, The Barbarian And The Geisha Had John Wayne Literally Fighting His Director. Now with his conscious clear, Stoddard returns to the convention, accepts the nomination, and is elected to the Washington delegation. Most of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance's story is told in flashback, as Stoddard and Hallie return to the town over 25 years later to attend Doniphon's funeral. The characters in Liberty Valance are the archetypal figures of all Ford westerns brought together for a last reunion, in order that they might be destroyed. No problem: It became a hit anyway. Now Stoddard accepts Valances challenge (ignoring Doniphons advice to leave town) to shoot it out with him. TakeFort Apache (1948) for instance, which is a strong polemic on American military intervention against the Native Americans. Did Hallie love Tom Doniphon? He knows that his cowardice has lost him his chance at happiness. He even takes on the duty of helping out with waiting tables. The film was a direct influence on Leones own end of the west westernOnce upon a time in the West. Stoddard goes into the street to face Valance. Authorities hoped to learn the answer today as they continued an investigation of the poison death of H. B. Wayne was Americas favorite cowboy, while Stewart, having graduated from the school of Frank Capra, withMr. Smith Goes to WashingtonandIts a wonderful lifeisits favorite idealist. And so Stoddard tells them the story, one they decide not to print because, in this case, legend has become fact. In glorious, retro black & white! He always liked his films to be clean and straight, and any form of alteration to the classical structure of the film was anathema to him. But his is the old form of Western prowess; its Stewart who represents the territorys future. Why does this man, who has no trouble dominating a political meeting while simultaneously refusing to participate in it, skulk in the shadows like a thief, a coward? Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The film opens as Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) arrive at Shinbone to bury a friend, Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). In response to TIME making Greta Thunberg their 2019 Person of the Year, Shane Vander Hart nominates Baby Yoda and Conan the war hero dog instead. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Watching the film, we see that Ransom Stoddard is indeed the story true hero and protagonist, and at times, almost a Christ-like figure. Doniphon is not a person of any importance around town, just a sorry old man on the fringes, who passed away unnoticed. When he recovers, the college-education lawyer goes to work as a dishwasher in the hotel that took him in. Waynedid not use any scenes shot by Ford in the film (much to the chagrin of Ford) while Wayne was angry with the general impression that was created that it was Ford, and not him, who directed The Alamo; others believed Ford was jealous of Dukes increasing success compared to his own sudden decline. As a young lawyer, he comes to practice law in a lawless Western town and on the way into town, hes on a stagecoach thats robbed by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Whatever the reasons, the end result is that the studios refused to finance Liberty Valance, if Wayne was not in the cast. One night Valance demands a showdown and toys with the lawyer, shooting him in the arm and taunting him before Stoddard finally gets off a shot and Valance drops dead. As opposed to his other films, this film begins on a sad note, and as it goes on, it becomemore tragic and dark and finally ends on a very pessimistic note. (Doodie) Tennison, 18, of Texarkana, Texas. Ford's view of women is interesting. The story focuses on Ransome Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart), an American senator arriving at the town of Shinbone with his wife, Hailey (Vera Miles), to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon (Wayne). Their opponent? Fortunately James Stewart, one of Waynes closest friends, was the other star of the picture, and he afforded Wayne some moments of light relief. Christ there was no place for me. Now Hallie has started to like this lawyer-man from the East, who starts up a one-room schoolhouse to teach people how to read. But the films of John Ford make no attempt to take us into the past; they are about the past. Stoddard and Hallie then sit in silence as the politician reflects on the life he built on a myth and John Wayne's Doniphon sacrificing his own happiness for him and Hallie. He then throws down a challenge to Stoddard: leave town or face him in a gunfight. Ford is not interested in reality but in subjective viewpoint, not fact but romance and legend. Learn how your comment data is processed. After a brutal assault by Valance, Stoddard is saved by Doniphon and nursed back to health by Hallie, who form a romantic connection. But what if Doniphon is lying, what if Stoddard really is the man who shot Liberty Valance? Lee Marvin Liberty Valance And he holds the center stage in a film, with his quiet dignity and powerful, charismatic presence, where everybody else, including Stewart, is giving highly exaggerated, even cartoonish performances. None of his recent films have been big hits, even the ones he made with John Wayne likeThe Horse Soldiers were failing to find favor with the audience. All that said, its a bit of an odd film for Wayne, who got top billing but has one of the least interesting characters. But he is a sort of reluctant hero, who minds his own business, and is roused into action only if his path crosses with the outlaws. In fact, hes severely whipped by Valance after a stage holdup. He asks if she wants to move back to the town when they retire, which makes her delighted as she states her heart belongs there. But when Valance goes for a momento from a widows late husband. Doniphon - calling Stoddard 'Pilgrim', an epithet . Much safer to hide behind sarcasm and mockery. As played by Jimmy Stewart, Stoddard spends much of the film wearing an apron and washing dishes in the restaurant, sending a hardly ambiguous message about a man who doesn't wear a gun. These westerns are memory films, filled with the traditions of the past, created from the anecdotes, fables, and songs that sprang from American history. When Stoddard is wracked with guilt thinking he killed Valance, Doniphon relieves his conscience, leaving him free to pursue his political career, founded on his false heroism. (LogOut/ Valance gives him a choice: Leave town, or face him in a shootout on Main Street. John Qualen Peter Ericson 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. Stoddard is saved by Doniphon, a local farmer and horse trader, who observes: Liberty Valances the toughest man south of the Picketwirenext to me. Stoddard is nursed back to health by Hallie (Vera Miles). Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. He is Tom's farmhand and seems to be his only confidant, a protective presence; he always has Tom's back. His films begins on an optimistic note and ends on an optimistic note; even if the they would detour into darker, pessimistic territory in between, his films always end on a note of hope and glory. And Miles is also effective as the young woman eager to learn under Stewarts tutelage and hoping that his vision of a West where law and order prevail comes to be. Despite his many abilities, he simply will not take part in the community. (One stylistic touch: In this film, he habitually calls Stoddard "Pilgrim," which expresses an insight into the lawyer's character.). His films appeared very simple and, at times, very simplistic, but they dealt with huge themes: the expansion of American military might, the conflict between the European settlers and native American civilizations, the establishment of law & order in the wilderness, and the coming of religion, trade and commerce; all these themes are reflected in one way or the other in all his westerns. Though the audience tends to identify with Doniphon's individualism and to feel instinctively a desire to preserve the simplicity of the old West, the social change brought about by the railroad and the need for staehood slowly make the Doniphons and Valances obsolete. He receives a brutal beating from Valance and is left to die. An ending where Stoddard finally breaks down and miraculously kills Valance, ironically catapulting him to political success, strikes me as far more interesting. Adam Graham is a follower of Christ and currently a political Independent. I will not go into details because the suspense should not be spoiled. Ransom Stoddard believes in the U. S. Constitution, the rule by law, the trust in government. Ford would make one more Western (without Wayne),Cheyenne Autumn (1964),the penultimate movie of his career which told the story of the Old-west from the perspective of the Native Americans. Losing the woman he loved to Ransom haunted Tom for the rest of his life and he was never able to move on from it and find love again with anyone else. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Next to me., Tom Doniphon, after reading Ransoms Attorney at Law sign: Pilgrim, you really aim to hang that up outside somewhere? He arranges his characters within the frame to reflect power dynamics--or sometimes to suggest a balance is changing. Marvin is magnificent as the snarling villain. Stoddard's first confrontation with Doniphon reveals absolutely no understanding between them; they eye each other as if the other were a strange animal. Liberty Valance : Three against one, Doniphon. He explains: "The Western is intrinsically the most political movie genre, because, like Plato's 'Republic,' it is concerned with the founding of cities, and because it depicts the various abstract functions of government as direct, physical actions." Marvin stole almostevery scene in which he is featured. But the very final scene of the film had John Wayne extolling the virtues of the American soldier, and in the background, the Cavalry is seen riding out take on the Indians. Vera Miles Hallie Stoddard But he was frustrated with his costars leisurely pace,; he was a guy who moved fast , talked fast and worked fast. His westerns were all optimistic in nature and concentrated on building a myth, rather than showing the gritty reality. I think even if Tom had lied to Stoddard about the shooting to ease Stoddard's conscience, it would strike me as more profound. Stoddard grabs a six-gun he can barely use and offers to meet Valance in the street while Hallie summons Doniphon for help. When Stoddard arrived in town by stagecoach, he was a fresh young lawyer with some romantic notions about bringing law & order to the west. He appears to be a roguish heroic type at first blush, but when you look deeper, you find a very self-centered character. He films mostly on sets, but we're not particularly aware. Valance toys with Stoddard, shooting his arm and laughing at him. By the end of Liberty Valance, it was more than obvious that Ford and Wayne had come to the end of their long association, which started when Ford cast Wayne as an Odysseus like courageous hero in his western odysseyStagecoach. Everyone similarly assumes he and Hallie will get married, but he never asks her. Because he had murdered Valance, rather than shooting him in self-defence, Doniphon had to conceal his role, lest he be prosecuted. In it, Ford gives us a capsule version of the world it took him 40 years to create, and then shows us how it died. He would suddenly come across as a selfish coward because he was late to the scene, certainly a shocking resolution for any John Wayne character. The Man who shot liberty valance Tom Doniphon, the outlaw hero, shot Liberty Valance To protect Hallie and Ransom Stoddard because he knew that Ransom is the right future for his town and Hallie, even though Ransom views contradict with Toms views and wishes. And so Stoddard tells them the story, one they decide not to print because, in this case, legend has become fact. Doniphan, while still doing dishwashing work, hangs up his shingle at a local newspaper, and begins teach people to read, and about their country. There is a purity to the John Ford style. Viewers share their two cents: Writers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar gave viewers a chance to say their final piece to Grissom using Hodges, who told Gil, "As your friend and colleague, I . This is important as an election for two delegate to the territorial convention are to be held. Recognizing that that kind of cowardice is his own and not Stoddards, he gives him a pep talk and tells him what he wants to hear: that he did not violate his belief in non-violence, that he is the man he always thought he was. He is the author. Valance can be countered only by Doniphon, but Doniphon is a man too busy with his own affairs to want power or to impose his own beliefs on anybody else. Stoddard continues to defy Valance and earns the respect of the townsfolk, by first opening a law practice in town and then starting a school for teaching illiterate townspeople. As a note of trivia, a Burt Bacharach-Hal David song by the same name was recorded for the film by Gene Pitney, but wasnt used in the soundtrack. The newspaper editor prints the truth about Valance, and for his pains has his office trashed and is whipped nearly dead. Farmers want statehood. Sure, he talks a big game, and he certainly has a certain degree of martial prowess, but he refuses to put it to use, perhaps for fear of failure. He is left without the girl he loves at the dawn of a new era that has no need for his kind of individuality. With that one line of dialogue, John Ford pretty much dismantles the entire mythology of the American west that he had created over a course of 40 years. So why then does he shoot Liberty Valance? But Wayne continued to bristle about the bad experience on making the picture, years later he recollected on his experience: It was a tough assignment for me because dammit, Ford had Jimmy for the shit-kicking humor, OBrien playing the sophisticated humor, and he had the heavy, Marvin. The main conflict in the film, then, is not that between the gunslinger Tom Doniphon and the outlaw Liberty Valance; the real conflict is that between "the Old West" (Doniphon and Valance) and the forces of "progress" (Stoddard). But in Liberty Valance (as well as in his previous filmSergeant Rutledge) I find a strong influence of Kurosawas Rashomon; especially, dealing with the exploration of a particular event (involving a crime) from multiple vantage points. Fords westerns portrayed truth, honor, courage, family and community as the chief weapons by which the American West was won. However, he was nowhere near good enough as Doniphan proved in ahumiliating display. He had married Hallie in the interim, and now, they have come to pay their final respects to The real Man who shot Liberty Valance. From the time Ford first teamed up with Wayne inStagecoachin 1939, Waynes towering persona was Fords chief instrument in conceiving and propagating the myths about the old west. Ford uses a flashback structure to tell the story; Fords films are usually very linear, and he seldom uses a scattered narrative. At the time of the films release, it was dismissed as a minor work from a master filmmaker, but watching it now , it shows his extraordinary growth as a filmmaker, which is not just restricted to its thematic resonance, but also extends to its visual and narrative stylistics. The story sees James Stewart's idealistic younger lawyer Stoddard arriving in a remote town with the intention of introducing law, order and education to the townspeople. Doniphon (who is courting Hallie) is the only man willing to stand up to Valance. Ford had pestered Wayne to take up the role, because without him there would be no film. Harvard College Accepts 3.41% of Applicants to Class of 2027. Legend is that Ford wanted younger actors for his film, and didnt want to use John Wayne. Carleton Young Maxwell Scott, Edmond OBrien as Dutton Peabody, the man who lets Stoddard set up a law office and school in his newspaper building in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Woody Strode as Pompey, backing up Tom Doniphon as Hallie (Vera Miles) looks on in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Tom Doniphon: Liberty Valance is the toughest man south of picket wire. Personality chivalrous, calm, and tough as all hell. Personal plans.". There are here to attend the funeral of a man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). Answer, Bart Allison (Randolph Scott) to rancher Morley Chase in 1957's. Working in the restaurant is young Hallie. Shinbone is the only Western town I've seen in a movie with no prostitutes. > did Tom Macdonald was born on November 22, 1900 and on! This would make him a tragic figure, even if he lived the rest of his days honorably under the 'law and order' creed. From thereon, he goes onto even more heights in his political career, and now he is expecting a nomination to be the vice-president of the country. They would make one more film together, the lighthearted comedyDonovans Reef (1963), and call it quits. One that almost seemed forced upon the story. The newspaper refuses to accept the lamer story and the disconnect between Stoddard and his wife on the train made for a decent ending. One of John Fords most effective later films, told flashback fashion as the senator and his wife arrive unannounced in Shinbone to pay tribute to an old friend who has passed. But his luck finally ran out on April 3, 1992 when a jury found Gotti guilty of arranging the assassination . Stewart turns in another winning performance. While many people have imagined Stoddard as naively unaware that the law wouldnt be sufficient to deal with Liberty Valance, Stoddard was no fool. This is all to be seen: The role of a free press, the function of a town meeting, the debate about statehood, the civilizing influence of education. Stoddard has none of this embarrassment. It also seems that Doniphans decision to put Stoddard in as delegate and then offer him a wagon out of town when Valance threatens him is motivated by his desire to keep Hallie to himself. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance focuses on the love triangle between Stoddard, Doniphon and his girlfriend Hallie (Vera Miles, Psycho). Does this make sense? That and the fact that few present day people in Shinbone seem to remember Tom Doniphon suggests that after the Valance shooting, Tom Doniphon went into a seculsion, probably just stayed at his little ranch and lived like a hermit. Jeanette Nolan Nora Ericson Stoddard raises no complaint when Valance seizes his fathers gold watch and robs him. When Stoddard nominate Doniphan for delegate, he refuses the post which would bring him into conflict with Valance. The age factor was a bigger problem with Stewart, because he was playing aguy half his real age for most part of the film, but with Wayne, he was again playing a personality, a symbol which represents some abstract values, so it was not a problem for him. Stoddard, on the other hand, is of another breed; the movement West, triggered by Greeley, came after the settlers in the wagon trains, and brought with it well-established Eastern customs. But Stoddard is a powerless man; powerless before Valance; and powerless before Doniphon; and Doniphon lets Stoddard have his woman, his town, and his West. Valance challenges Stoddard to a show-down, although he knows Stoddard can hardly hold a gun. His relationship with Wayne was a little strained at the time, mainly because of incidents involving Waynes directorial ventureTheAlamo, in which Ford worked as a second unitdirector. And more importantly, why does he do it in secret? John Ford and John Wayne together created much of the mythology of the Old West we carry in our minds. When movies depict the past, that past generally becomes the immediate present of the audience. When Stoddard found the town marshal was a coward, he began to take an old gun out and practice. When the shooting ends, Valance is dead; Stoddard is hailed a hero as the man who shot Liberty Valance.. The drunken marshal won't protect him. Though we still see Stoddard shoot in the direction of Valance simultaneously, almost making the true killer ambiguous. Another turn off was the fact that James Stewarts Ransom Stoddard is the fulcrum of the plot and, for 99 percent of the picture, is also the man who shot Liberty Valance.
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