There's a lot in the film if we care to notice. Even his house is far outside the town (whereas Stoddard lives in its heart: at the restaurant and newspaper office). But, it was in direct opposition to the Western code. Doniphon finds him in Hallies arms. Has anyone else felt this way upon viewing The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? 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. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Hes even elected as a delegate to the territorial convention but refuses to serve. And as they swarm around the senator for details, Stoddard starts recalling the events leading up to that day and, the film cuts to a flashback. He knows that his cowardice has lost him his chance at happiness. Watching the film, we see that Ransom Stoddard is indeed the story true hero and protagonist, and at times, almost a Christ-like figure. There seemed to be a realization. In glorious, retro black & white! However, when Valance savagely beats the elderly newspaper editor, Stoddard walks down to confront Valance, still wearing the apron from his dishwashing job, a servants garment. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck contains one of the best-known lines of dialogue in any Ford movie, spoken to Stoddard years later by the town's new newspaper editor: "This is the West, sir. Valance gives him a choice: Leave town, or face him in a shootout on Main Street. Working in the restaurant is young Hallie. One that almost seemed forced upon the story. Trying to defend a woman passenger, Stoddard is beaten by Valance, left for dead, and brought to town by Tom Doniphon. It turns out he hadn't worn a handgun in years. 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. This was a breakout role for Marvin, who has been struggling in supporting parts and TV roles. He is putting to death all that Wayne represented in his westerns up until that time and for the rest of the film, he is going to painfully reconstruct the mythology of the west and Wayne through some cold hard facts. In How Green Was My Valley, Ford's adaptation of Llewellyn's novel of Welsh coal miners, the story resembles a dream, seen in retrospect by a man who has had his entire life to romanticize the past: his childhood and his family. In a film with Lee Marvin's snarl, Andy Devine's squeaky voice and the accent of the Swedes, John Wayne as usual provides the calm center, never trying for an effect. By putting John Wayne in a coffin right at the beginning of the film, Ford makes his intentions very clear. It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Setting aside the question of why Stoddard thinks its morally acceptable to base his career on a lie, but not on the real killing (hed rather have people think he killed Valance than actually do it), rewatching the film this most recent time its Doniphon that fascinates me. Meanwhile, throughout the film, Tom has not 'done the right thing' and stood up to Liberty Valance except in circumstances where he felt he had to. Meanwhile, John Wayne was reeling from the financial setbacks caused by his dream projectThe Alamo (1960), which he directed, produced and starred in. I just had to wander around in that son of a bitch and try and make a part for myself. A man of action and few words (note his instinctive hatred of the rhetoric in the Convention speeches),. The flashback itself was absurdly unrealistic, with Tom being casually tossed a rifle and firing at the last moment. Liberty Valance, his masterpiece, is one of the greatest films of all time. Comment moderation is enabled. Strother Martin Floyd Doniphon finally does kill does kill Valance. And while most of us dont have the talent of Tom Doniphan, perhaps by Gods grace, we can be more like Ransom Stoddard in our towns and communities. [Doniphon kicks Floyd in the face as he bends down to retrieve the tray] I said you, Valance; you pick it up. His chief victim was Woody Strode, with whom he very nearly came to blows. His mental downfall afterwards still makes sense if he didn't secretly shoot Valance. The corpse is being held in a plain pine box, and when he views it Stoddard is angered to see the boots have been stolen. He led the police on a short chase because he knew if he got pulled over it would violate his parole for a prior robbery. His sympathy for the townspeople is real, but not enough to motivate him to take action on their behalf. But Liberty Valance and his guns work for the cattle barons who want to keep the territory for themselves. When the fact becomes legend, print the legend," Ford's films show the legend. Despite his many abilities, he simply will not take part in the community. Liberty Valance : Three against one, Doniphon. Tom Doniphon was rough-edged, but gentlemanly to all but Liberty Valance and his henchmen. Big studios were giving way to Independents, and a new kind of gritty, violent cinema was being made for an emerging counter-cultural audience. The way Ford employs the African-American Pompey is observant. Hes mocked by Valance who trips him, causing him to spill Doniphans meal. Ford's greatest films are his westerns, a uniquely American art form he helped create, and a genre of which he is undisputed master. Virginia Mayo and Joel McCrea meet a tragic end in this 1949 Western directed by Raoul Walsh and based on his 1941 film, "High Sierra." 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 . The drunken marshal won't protect him. Ford takes us into the past, to Shinbone before the coming of the railroad modernized the town. In this movie Ransom Stoddard is a well educated attorney from the East who comes to the West to find new opportunity . He films mostly on sets, but we're not particularly aware. UPDATE: Whoa, looks like I am two days ahead of an official discussion of this film, my apologies. Legend is that Ford wanted younger actors for his film, and didnt want to use John Wayne. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. 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. Personality chivalrous, calm, and tough as all hell. 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. It was exacerbated by his failing health and his drinking problem, as the cantankerous Ford became even more of a misanthrope, thus alienating the big studios from hiring him. As a showdown between Stoddard and Valance Ford begins to seem inevitable, Ford creates considerable tension. That he does this by mixing in history, humorous supporting characters and a poignant romance is typical; his films were complete and self-contained in a way that approaches perfection. When he recovers, the college-education lawyer goes to work as a dishwasher in the hotel that took him in. Valance toys with Stoddard, shooting his arm and laughing at him. In this sense, the ending is eerily similar to The Searchers, except there he walks back into the mythical wilderness that he came from, here he is just silently absorbed by history. The final line of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance sees the conductor ensuring the couple of a smooth journey and stating nothing is too for the man who killed Valance. Tom Doniphon is a local farmer, who observes, "Liberty Valance's the toughest man south of the Picketwire--next to me." Ford is not interested in reality but in subjective viewpoint, not fact but romance and legend. Four sons reunite in their Texas hometown to attend their mother's funeral. When he died in 1961, Corriere della Sera wrote: "Perhaps with him there has ended a certain America: that of the frontier and of innocence" Photograph: SNAP/Rex Features John Wayne His first. Besides, there is a complication. After hearing all this, the newsmen decide not to print the story, as the mythology that propelled Stoddard has to be protected at any cost. Andy Devine says "he hasn't worn them in years" . Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Because he had murdered Valance, rather than shooting him in self-defence, Doniphon had to conceal his role, lest he be prosecuted. And more importantly, why does he do it in secret? 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. Cattlemen do not. Ransom Stoddard, a young Eastern lawyer traveling West on Horace Greeley's advice, is in the stagecoach held up just outside of Shinbone by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), "the toughest man south of the Picket Wire." The character of Tom Doniphon was supposed to be a younger man, and the filmmaker relentlessly mocked and teased Wayne during filming. 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. Keeping to one side, Tom Doniphon observes everything but is slow to act; his strength is silently coiled. Just finished watching The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He then asks about a cactus rose that was placed on Doniphon's coffin, and she reveals she placed it there; Tom had earlier given Hallie a cactus rose, with the strong implication being that she never stopped loving him. Ken Murray Doc Willoughby Of these "Liberty Valance" was the most pensive and thoughtful. Now with his conscious clear, Stoddard returns to the convention, accepts the nomination, and is elected to the Washington delegation. He always wanted to play heroes and he always looked at cinema as a medium for the audience to believe in heroes; there is the famous story where he chastised Kirk Douglas for playing a mad and tragic Van Gogh inLust for Life. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he'd like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Stoddard picked up with his least favored hand. He was the one man who would face Liberty Valance come what may. So the resulting fame for Stoddard was hugely unfair, right? Why does Doniphon hesitate? When John Ford and John Wayne set out to make this film, both of them were at a low stage in their life and career and, in their relationship with each other. Doniphon (who is courting Hallie) is the only man willing to stand up to Valance. Even Doniphans attempts to help Stoddard had mixed motives at best. Adam Graham is a follower of Christ and currently a political Independent. At the end of the film, we learn that Tom Doniphan (John Wayne) really had shot Liberty Valance while the public had given credit to Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) who went on to have a successful political career. Tom Doniphon is the archetypal Ford hero, the John Wayne of all Ford's westerns. Did Hallie love Tom Doniphon? Fromthere to Liberty Valance, the character has now changed into a tragic hero, in the mold of Oedipus, who loses everything dear to him and wander off into the wilderness . Tom is highly respected by his peers, because of the laid-back cut of his jib, and because he may be the only man willing to stand up to the violent outlaw Liberty Valance. It is made clear in "Liberty Valance" that segregation was the practice in the territory. Regardless, it was a great movie, but perhaps could have been greater. But he was frustrated with his costars leisurely pace,; he was a guy who moved fast , talked fast and worked fast. Perhaps, the existence of Valance gave Doniphan a status of importance and made him an indispensable man in a lawless community. In the film, except for two notable acts that change Stoddard's life forever, Doniphon isn't quite so proactive with an eye to Stoddard's future. In its tone, structure and visual style, the film is very different from other John Ford Westerns. Christ there was no place for me. Is it that the Randian half of him is ashamed of his altruistic impulses? Tom Doniphon tells him that without a gun in his hand and the experience to use it, he will sooner or later certainly be killed by Valance. Supposedly he likes Stoddard and doesnt want to see him killed, but what prevents him from announcing his presence before hand, or even after? Learn how your comment data is processed. The deadliest and most sadistic killer in all Ford's films, Liberty Valance has been filtered through all Ford's other villains, emerging as a composite of the worst features in each. Stoddard recounts the whole tale to a local newspaper reporter - and plans to come clean about that night. Hes the individualistic strain in American history: the isolationist, the Randian, the pioneer who wants not to build a community, but his own private empire. Yes, but there's more to it than that, and in John Ford's mind, gun ownership is very much an open question. To Ford, Stoddard represents blind progress. There was lot of tension between Ford and Wayne during shooting. His magnificent Western landscapes are always there, but as environment, not travelogue. So the newspapermen are all surprised, as to why Ranse Stoddard: three-term governor, two-term senator, ambassador to the Court of St. James, would attend his funeral. 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. Predictions for the 95th Annual AcademyAwards. In a few characters and a gripping story, Ford dramatizes the debate about guns that still continues in many Western states. Mr. Connors died in Peterborough, Ont., at the age of 77 from "natural causes," according to spokesman Brian Edwards. But the fact is that Wayne is really good as Tom Doniphon; Both he and Stewart, who were 54 and 53 respectability, were too old for the parts, but the film could not have been made without them. Three men stand at the center of the story: Stoddard, Doniphon, and Valance. In town, he's nursed back to health by Nora and Peter Ericson, two recent Swedish immigrants who run the local chowhouse. 25 Years ago, Shinbone was held in a grip of terror by the sadistic Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who committed many murders and enjoyed torturing his victims using a leather bullwhip. Because he did so in violation of the Western Code, he becomes an alcoholic, burning down his house and losing the woman he loves. Tom Doniphon, rancher and longtime resident of the small western town of Shinbone, has died.He was well-regarded around the region, but was by no means a man of great distinction. 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. Without Ransom Stoddards courage and convictions, there is no movie. It turns out an unseen Doniphon shot Valance with a rifle from across the street and he later came to regret saving Stoddard as he lost Hallie to the lawyer, but he pushes him to pursue a career in politics to make Hallie proud. Ford was very angry about it, having to secure a favor from his protge and he doubled down on his venom on Wayne during the shooting. Go to the bottom of each blog and youll find a ratings widget. [Valance looks and sees Pompey at the door holding a rifle] Floyd : I'll get it, Liberty! The territory is granted statehood and, being the man who shot Liberty Valance, Stoddard became its first governor. Escena del funeral de Tom Doniphon tomada del hombre que mato a Liberty Valance.

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