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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is directed by John
Ford (The Searchers), and stars John Wayne (True Grit),
James Stewart (The Spirit Of St. Louis), Lee Marvin (Cat
Ballou), Andy Devine, Woody Strode (Spartacus), John Carrad
ine, Strother Martin, Vera Miles (Psycho), and Lee Van Cleef
(A Fistful of Dollars.) The film is based on a short story
by Dorothy M. Johnson. ***
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the story of a
lawyer, headed out west to set up a practice. En route,
his stagecoach is robbed and plundered by a gang led by
the villainous Liberty Valance. When he is finally brought
to town and comes around, he discovers that Valance has
been terrorizing the town for quite some time, and is determined
to use his sense of law and order to bring him to justice
– and the fact that the local sheriff is a coward and glutton
doesn’t help things. But, as an aging protector of the town
teaches him, law books and legal knowledge aren’t always
enough to maintain peace and out west. And things get all
the more complicated when the two of them find themselves
falling for the same woman. ***
They don’t make movies like they used to. The Man Who
Shot Liberty Valance is a masterpiece in every sense of
the words. The cast is top-notch, the characters three-dimensional
and believable, the conflict realistic, and the whole experience
is so well-written and directed. ***
As far as director-actor combinations go, perhaps none
is as legendary as the John Ford and John Wayne com bination.
When it came to westerns back in the day, no one directed
them like John Ford, and there was no gunslinger more memorable
than the Duke. Many of Wayne’s best films were those directed
by Ford (The Searchers comes to mind), and this is arguably
their finest pairing. ***
Perhaps one of the things that makes this film so great
is the way that the material is treated. This is undeniably
a western – there are frontier settings, gunslingers, and
the inevitable showdown in the town streets. But the material
has as much in common (if not more) with a character drama
as it does a western. These characters are three-dimensional,
and we actually care what they do and how the outcome of
their exploits will work out. Stewart’s character starts
out a typical lawyer, but is ultimately shaped by his experiences
and the western setting, which is unlike anything he has
ever known in the past. And the love story, unlike a lot
of recent attempts to modernize the Western, DOESN’T feel
like an afterthought! ***
I could spend hours going on about how great the cast
of this film is – it’s amazing that so many talented actors
were pulled together for a single film. Sure, Wayne, Stewart,
and Marvin are the main stars here, but the supporting cast
is just as good. It includes Lee Van Cleef as one of Liberty
Valance’s underlings, Vera Miles as the love interest, Andy
Devine as the cowardly sheriff, and Woody Strode as a servant/friend
to Wayne’s iconic character. I could go on for hours, but
I’ll stop here. ***
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance i s filmmaking at
its finest. The Wayne/Ford pairing had never been more impressive
than this, and never would be. The supporting cast is great,
and the direction, writing, acting, and characters are all
top-notch. Needless to say, the film itself gets my highest
recommendation. ---
Image and Sound:
Paramount has done a very impressive job cleaning up
this film for this reissue. In all honesty, their initial
DVD release of the movie didn’t look half bad, but here
it got the remastering treatment, and the results show in
every frame. The image is crystal- clear and free of any
major blemishes. The audio has been at least slightly improved,
as well, though this is more of a front-heavy movie than
anything since so much of it revolves around dialogue. All
in all, a superb presentation. I can only hope this means
a Blu-Ray version is on the way.
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