The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence

This is the West, sir.  When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

1962's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE is one of John Ford's most curious films.  A beautifully mounted Western that cuts deep in multiple ways.   Its themes weigh heavily upon its somewhat standard tale (and its running time), told mainly in flashback.  The very notion of heroism is explored, criticized, turned inside out.  The baton passing/overlap of frontier justice and law and order is fascinatingly rendered.  Viewers craving a streamlined narrative will be frustrated.

Ranse Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart), a Senator who has spent several years in Washington getting things done, returns to his stomping grounds of twenty five years before to attend the funeral of one Tom Doniphon (John Wayne).  The editors of the Shinbone Star are curious as to why the man would return to such a backwater to pay respects to a local of no prominence or familial tie.   Stoddard proceeds to recount some history, given "I'm the only one who can tell it through."

Stoddard was an attorney from back East looking to hang his shingle in Shinbone.  Before he even arrives in town, his stagecoach is ambushed by a cretin called Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin) and his posse.  Ranse may be small in stature, but is no coward, which is rewarded by Valence's repeated whipping and vandalism of some of his law books.  Doniphon finds the injured man and brings him to his girlfriend's Hallie's (Vera Miles) residence, also a popular local restaurant, for care.

Soon Ranse learns that the entire town (including the overweight, gluttonous marshall) is terrorized by Valence and his gang.  While Tom keeps these scum at bay with his arsenal, he is not enough to prevent their wave of violence and destruction upon the town.  Young Mr. Stoddard announces that it is time for law and order to reach the Wild West.  He teaches the locals (including Hallie) to read and write.  He organizes an election of delegates to travel to the Capital to declare statehood.

Hallie begins to fall for this new would be savior.  Ranse, the very symbol of rugged individualism, takes notice, and while he kinda likes and even admires the feisty little guy (and shows him to handle a gun), he makes it clear he wants to marry his lady.  He's even building an addition to his house for her. Meanwhile, Valence eventually decides to challenge Stoddard to a gunfight.

There's a basic story with familiar elements here.  But James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck's screenplay, based on a short story by Dorothy M. Johnson, is layered with a plethora of ideas about nostalgia, self preservation, journalism, progress, technology, and the Old west versus the new.   Some may feel too much is spent on Stoddard's eventual embrace of politics, especially during the film's arguably drawn out last half hour, but it is a critical element - if not the central one - to Ford's film.

Stewart is great, as is Wayne in a role that emcompasses confidence and vulnerability in ways I haven't before witnessed from the Duke.  Marvin burns it up as the brutal villain whose self awareness matches that of his antagonists.

Ford takes quite a bittersweet ride this time out, leading to an ending in which perhaps no one truly finds satisfaction.