The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Genre: Western / Drama
Duration: 123 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin
IMDb score:
8,1 (90.133)
Releasedate: 15 April 1962
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance plot
"Two great stars together for the first time!"
Senator Ransom Stoddard returns to the Wild West town of Shinbone to attend the funeral of an old friend. To a journalist, who wonders what the senator is doing here, he tells how he started his career as 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'.
Actors and actresses
Tom Doniphon
Ransom Stoddard
Hallie Stoddard
Liberty Valance
Dutton Peabody
Marshal Link Appleyard
Doc Willoughby
Maj. Cassius Starbuckle
Nora Ericson
Peter Ericson
Reviews & comments
eRCee
-
- 13463 messages
- 1986 votes
Very mediocre classic. The man who shot Liberty Valance is populated by walking clichés that pass for characters (really every character, including all supporting roles, is caricatured) and by actors who are stuck in the time of German Expressionism.
Furthermore, it's all rather wooden in terms of styling, although the shots of the drunk editor in his office (with the play of light and shadows) are not bad.
Fortunately, the story is not bad. That said, maybe it could have been told a little faster, and you can't really call it surprising. I also find it remarkable to read that many people are of the opinion that Stoddard has more or less stolen his career , someone above even calls him cowardly. As if shooting Liberty Valance from a side street is such a great achievement. No, Stoddard is the one who dares to stand up to Valance, from the beginning of the film, and he holds it all the way to the end, even if it means giving up his principles.
The sourness of the final scene is that everything Stoddard has achieved for the environment, the things he has achieved through law and order, is not appreciated by the residents, and that they killing Valance as see a more important achievement.
All in all, a major setback. Fortunately, it doesn't really get boring, but with such cardboard characters (even if they should be interpreted metaphorically, as NarcissusBladsp. tells us, perhaps not even wrongly) a film does not deserve enough in my opinion.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bobbejaantje
-
- 2365 messages
- 2119 votes
The contrast between the character of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, and what they represent, is very clear. Striking is the contradiction between their values and character traits. John Wayne, as a man who relies on violence, is calmness itself. Stewart, nevertheless a lawyer and therefore a man of the spoken word, has a short fuse and loses himself more than once.
Third dog in the game Lee Marvin is nice and mean and could have had a little more screen time. But ultimately, his input mainly serves to shape the relationship between Wayne and Stewart.
I agree that there is a lot of palaver, but that is not a hindrance for me. However, the last 20 minutes I find a bit anticlimactic after Wayne initially set his own house on fire and seems to be staying in it. It seemed like a worthy conclusion in which the gunman goes down in self-destruction. Afterwards there is another part that feels superfluous.
Despite the staff in front of and behind the camera, not a complete hit, but still interesting enough.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Corporate & Media
Realtimes Network
Innovatieweg 20C
7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31(315)-764002
