A John Ford masterpiece and one of the greatest Westerns ever, but really a fantastic character study as well. Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and Lee Marvin all gave some of their finest performances in this.
My kids love the film. It is truly an underrated movie and not a "cult" movie. Those 3 stars shaped the movie, along with Vera Miles and Ed O Brien as Dutton. Complete cast of super talents.and I do believe that was a young LEE VAN CLEEF in his first role
@@luigivincenz3843 It was not his first role. Lee van Cleef had already had a role in High Noon (1952). It was very similiar to his part in Liberty Valence - both times he was second gun to the main villain.
And Woody Strode. The whole film just flies high. It was a Western but oh, so much more. The end of an era, the Wild West. A character study of all the main players. A master class in acting…and filmmaking. Shalom
But how can you forget that hardworking character actor, Carleton Young, who plays newspaper editor, Maxwell Scott. Carleton had roles in hundreds of movie-a guy who worked Hollywood as a regular job. And tv and some radio. He had a deep, booming voice. He got his stake in movie immortality. "This is the West sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." His personal life had a real Hollywood ending. He fell with renowned exotic dancer, Noel Toy [the Chinese Gypsy Rose Lee] at first sight. Captain Young married Noel in New York City for Christmas 1945. The photos had the cut line: Happy Noel!". And they stayed together until his death 40-some years later. She called him "my soldier boy" for the rest of his life. But you LA guys and gals, you go to "Hollywood Forever" Cemetery. Noel and Carleton are there, along with a memorial behind glass-an officer's cap, the figurines on top a wedding cake, photos and more. A little Hollywood ending. But real. The best kind.
Lee Marvin as one of the most terrifying villains ever. Wayne as a frontiersman with TRUE grit. Stewart as the believer with a vision. Watched this over and over when I was a kid. It doesn't pull punches or cut corners.
@@scottsmith6631 Edmund O’Brien the newspaperman or John Qualen who ran the restaurant, etc, etc. Qualen was one of the great character actors who usually had a Scandinavian accent. He first worked for Ford in 1931 and was a memorable part of lots of his pictures after that. Besides John Ford pics, how about His Girl Friday, Casablanca, Anatomy of a Murder, Elmer Gantry and many, many more?
@@brucekuehn4031 wow…..another cinephile. All great movies. His Girl Friday is one of my favorites. Strong woman lead. Dialogue being spit out like Machine Gun fire.
Its amazing how many iconic westerns Lee Van Cleef was cast in (Liberty Valance, High Noon, For A Few Dollar More, Good+Bad+Ugly, Sabata) not to mention Escape From New York).
And made every single one of them better simply by appearing. If there was just one scene with Lee Van Cleef in any western, without him even speaking, he could just smirk ... it's a better movie than it would have been without him.
@@WeAllWumbo There is a public archive of the show norm macdonald live you can find on google. I do not remember which episode he mentions this film specifically but he talks about movies quite a lot on that old podcast. If I had to guess which one it was I would pick the Carl Reiner episode.
great film. Lee Marvin used to stagger out of the "Ship of Fools" bar in Santa Monica Canyon back when I lived there, drunk as a skunk and much scarier than any character he ever played on screen.
One of the things I love most about the movie is that SPOILER ALERT John Wayne’s character gives up his own chance at happiness to save the woman he loves from a terrible heartbreak. He loves Callie so much that he would sooner lose her than see her heart broken.
The film is a metaphor of Ford's thoughts on the nature of the universe. Tom is God...the figure of the original Wild West Liberty is the serpent...a smart but vicious guy that intimidates and perverts the West for his own wants, control/power and enjoyment of torturing others. Hallie is The Bride....aka humanity that God loves deeply and wants a relationship with. Ranse is the mediator, the deliverer, the Christ. He brings with him the law, but applies the law to its real intent, not its letter. You see all this in the restaurant scene. Tom quietly watches and is on one side of the shot. Liberty is on the other side of the shot, bullying and frightening cowardly townsfolk. There's a post middle shot that cuts the frame. Ranse the man of law,acting as the lowly servant, brings out the burnt offering of Tom's steak...walking the center line. Liberty trips him spoiling the steak and ridiculing Stoddard. Tom sees Hallie showing concern and finally stands up. He's ready to finish Liberty once and for all. Ranse now on the floor against the post....a line between God and Serpent....takes the insult and places the steak upon the plate. Later Ranse teaches the town how to live and expect a respectful life, and teaches Callie how to read (the law). Rance finally confronts Liberty, but in the shadows Tom and Pompey (God and St Michael) shoot him down. Ranse (Ransom the price paid for salvation) is the hero, while Tom realizes his hope for a direct relationship with Hallie is over....burning the prepared cabin paradise while Pompey looks on without a word. The wild exciting pure West of Tom is over, just as that of the highwayman Liberty. It is now a world of civilization. Spielberg is a cultural Jew and typically won't see these things, or allude to them....even though the plot of the movie is taken from Isaiah.
Its implied she still loved him. The truth is Tom becomes uncentered and basically gives up like a damn fool. Honestly the film would have been so much better had Tom let things play out. Lol
@@spencerwilliams461 then Tom should have shot Liberty in the restaurant at the close of Act1. A 30 minute movie the end. Scarlett should have realized Rhett was her man in the library tantrum scene, not pined over scrawny weak Ashley, and not married Melanie's brother to make Ashley jealous and get into the Wilks house in Atlanta. She only realizes it after 4 loooong hours and ten onscreen years. Hamlet should have gone and avenged his father at the opening of Act2, and exposed his mother as a slut.....again not the stuff that creates Shakespeare's longest and often best reviewed play. Theater and metaphor sell tickets not pragmatic logic.
@@spencerwilliams461 I have to disagree. Hallie was in love with Rance because he represented what she craved, peace, stability and love. He was the future of the West. She loved Tom because he was what settled the west in its rougher days; but she knew that if she went with him there was no real future. In the end Tom was the kind of heroic figure that becomes forgotten except by the people he affected.
I always get a chuckle when people are interviewing directors like Spielberg and Cassavetes and even the interviewer is fanboying at the chance to talk to these great talents. Then, if the subject of John Ford comes up, those great directors start fanboying about him.
Good timing for me, re watched this on MGM+ a few days prior to this being posted. Great picture by Ford and one of Jimmy Stewart's best performances imo. “This is the west Sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
John Wayne character knew the future had no place for people like him, but he also knew he was the only one who could make that future for people like James Stewart possible ... and so he did it !!!
@@kuvasz5252 Except, it wasn't murder. Lee Marvin was about to kill Jimmy Stewart. Wayne used deadly force to prevent that murder, which made it a justifiable killing. Upon learning how he was saved by Wayne, Stewart called it murder -- and Wayne didn't disagree. But, it wouldn't have been considered a crime back then nor now.
@@DKWalser>>>> "Stewart called it murder -- and Wayne didn't disagree." That was an essential POV. The taming of the West and making it civilized such that even Tom Doniphon recognized the morality that he helped birth. That was to me the real tragedy of Doniphon, recognizing the world he lived in was disappearing and love lost yet believing that he could by killing Valence usher in a better day.
@@kuvasz5252 I don't disagree with that at all. Wayne's character in the movie was tragic. He could have let Valance kill Stoddard, thereby clearing the field for his romance of Hallie. He stopped Valance the only way he could, knowing that it would cost him any chance of winning Hallie's love. Yet, one suspects, under other circumstances, Tom would have stepped in to prevent a bully from murdering someone. He protects the weak. That's part of who he is at his core. So, saving Ransom Stoddard from Liberty Valance wasn't out of character for Tom Doniphon. Nor was it out of character for him to not claim credit for his work -- even if by claiming credit he could have earned Hallie's gratitude. He did't want her gratitude. He wanted her love. She never knew how much he really loved her. When he could have won her simply by NOT acting, when everything in him wanted to simply let Valance kill Stoddard, he acted knowing it would cost him any chance with Hallie. The tragedy is Tom never met, fell in love with, and married anyone else.
This almost feels like what The Irishman did with the mafia genre, and how each film is more of a character study and analysis on legacy. Both have the elements to satisfy viewers of each genre, but their primary focus was on discussing a specific psychological issue.
In many ways even though the timing was placed about 100 years ago the story is very relevant today. More and more communities are dealing with people who are not respectful of their neighbors which is not much different than the attitudes of Liberty Valance.
Some of Wayne's best movies are the ones in which his "archetype" is questioned, disliked, or held to be out of date, yet at the same time, like in Liberty, to have been necessary for civilization just the same.
@@DenkyManner The Searchers is a good example of what I mean - the cowboy who is a tough guy and is always right because he's John Wayne and the script says so.
With the passing of Burt Bacharach this year I always think about the work he, Hal David, and the amazing singing of Gene Pitney on the theme song that never got tied to the movie. The song was so very story telling of the movie.
WOW, thank you for that insight. I was unaware of that fact. Needless to say the song did quite well on it's own. Both the great movie and the great song made some money. Sad to see where Burt passed away just last year. The man had a golden ear for music. @@coleparker
Marvin was asked once how he played a "bad guy"....he said he never played a bad guy. He said he played a guy that always believed he was right in the way he acted, it was just the rest of the world that was wrong. He said he let the camera do the rest.
The last line of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with the dramatic irony knowing who shot Liberty always hits me right in the feels; "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance'
In one of Lee Marvin's scene in another film, he did a scene with Donna Reed which frightend her so bad, she didn't want Lee around her the rest of the shoot.
What? I cannot believe Spielberg said he thought the cinematography was Ford's least adorned film visually. Is he kidding? Coming from him that is a huge surprise because visually "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was among Ford's best filmed movies from a visual standpoint. His utilization of shadows was the stuff film noir movies were made of. This movie is beautifully filmed. Just because it's not one of Ford's grandiose sprawling westerns on location in Colorado or somewhere like that doesn't mean this film isn't striking.
Loved the feel and flow of Liberty Valance when I saw it decades ago. Have enjoyed it a few times since, and it just seems to draw me in each time. Only weak moment was Liberty turning to draw on Tom in the cantina and Tom saying "Just try it, Valance." Yeah, right. Too bad the awesome song didn't make it in.
I have watched this movie dozens of times. The acting of the peripheral characters is outstanding. Whether it's Woody Strode as Pompeii, Andy Devine as the cowardly sheriff, Liberty's henchmen with Lee van Cleef and Strother Martin and Edmund O'brien as the newspaper man Dutton. Each had their moment on screen. Yet, the major theme of this film is unsettling; and it is not that one typically stated in the quote ""when the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Instead, it is that civilization is built upon blood. That only Tom Doniphon's bushwhacking murder of Valance allowed for civilization to flourish.The West closed when laws appeared.
LIBERTY VALENCE is IMO, one of the 3 or perhaps 4 of Ford’s best western films & I remember that when it came out the critics had little good to say about it. But appreciation for it has grown & its quality is fully acknowledged today.
It was admittedly an odd film for Ford. He'd always been an actor's director but he went into greater depth in character development than he had since, possibly, The Informant. Looking at it it's also easy to forget it was released in 1962. The shots were basic with none of the cinematic vistas from The Searchers and certainly looked more like something from the 1930-40s. Especially compared to the winner for that year Lawrence of Arabia. But I'd certainly rather have seen it at least nominated rather than some of the other films from that year like Mutiny on the Bounty of the Music Man, both of which were fine films but certainly haven't survived the test of time as well as Liberty Valance has.
I would call The grapes of Wrath the last Western. The last as in it's the end of the West. The pioneers now have to leave. The Joads came west in a covered wagon and are now leaving in a truck. Like the Irish in the 1947 famine, the Jews in the pogroms, the Scottish in the clearances, all have to leave thier homelands but all of them were much better off when they arrived in the new place. Looking at history, the Joads arrived in California just as the second world war broke out and they all got jobs in the defence industries and had more money then they ever had before.
Not the first great film lessened by a bad performance. No bigger example than Glen Campbell in True Grit (unless it's Sofia Copella in Godfather 3). The best quote I ever heard about Jeffrey Hunter was about him in King of Kings (which critics called "I was a Teenage Jesus")@@annabrewer8054
As Spielberg points out, this film does not have the same cinematic impact as many of his other films but that doesn't bother me. This is my favorite Ford film because of the bountiful subject matter (freedom of the press, democratic process, importance of education, westward expansion, taming of the west, good vs evil and so much more). Add to that the great characters (and actors) including two lead actors in Wayne and Stewart ... a masterpiece.
The film wasnt so much about justice or bullies, and so forth, as it was about heroic myths and why they are necessary components to a thriving nation or culture. The mythological west- arguably created by Ford in "Stage Coach" had come full circle in Liberty Valence. There is a truth behind the myths that we would rather not know, so we feed on and grow with the myths because they give us something to aspire to. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." It reminds one rather of Cervantes
1# The Good The Bad & The Ugly 2# The Man That Shot Liberty Valance 3# Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid 4# For A Few Dollars More 5# A Fist Full Of Dollars 6# High Plains Drifter All the other westerns like The Wild Bunch & Once Upon A Time In The West & Hang Um High & Unforgivable & 3:10 to Yuma & The Magnificent Seven & Tombstone & The Quick & The Dead !!! All those last ones come after my top 6 I picked atleast as far as being perfect ❤ I'm only 30 btw & love old films especially Westerns but my top 6 trumps anything u think is better than the ones I just named😂
*As much as I love John Wayne westerns, esp. with stars lke Jimmy Stewart, this film pales in comparison to the other EPIC films of 1962. Nominated for Best Picture at the Ocars were: 'Lawrence of Arabia' (winner), 'The Longest Day', 'The Music Man', 'Mutiny on the Bounty', and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Othe great films that year: 'The Miracle Worker', 'Days of Wine and Roses', 'The Birdman of Alctraz', 'The Manchurian Candidate'!*
Fun fact: the song "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" was produced (in this case as in, 'paid for') by Paramount, but was not used in the film. There is some controversy over whether they ever intended to actually include it in the film, but in any case they decided to release the film before the track was finished.
Although flawed, it's one of favorite films, and in my opinion, has the best last line in any movie. So to you, out of context I say, "Think nothing of it, nothings to good for the man who shot Liberty Valance."
If the movie is about the person in the title, then which man is it really about? It’s almost like a mystery. And which man was the true love of Hallie? There is more shading to this story than many of his other Westerns. A film that invites multiple viewings. You pull more out of it each time. Is the movie really about How the West Was Civilized?
I would have guessed the film was older than it was, if I couldn't tell on the actors who were in in it. Seems like the horizon was fairly close to the center of the screen in most scenes too, was that something he came up with towards the end of his career?
It does indeed look like something from the 1930-40s but that was probably a deliberate choice on Ford's part to serve as a tribute too and thematic contrast against the older simpler stories. Unfortunately it may have been too soon for a homage to that era to make sense so it ended up looking dated instead. A bit like making a homage to The Avengers in the current year.
Just watched this movie a few weeks ago...for probably the tenth time! Every time I see new elements and details that leave me feeling melancholy as there is nothing even close to this coming out of Hollywood these days. Endless dross.
It was a well made movie, the actors did a terrific job, the camera angles and lighting were perfect! The only problem was with the basic story. Bullies like Liberty Valence didn’t exist in the old west at least not for long. As soon as he left the restaurant late at night a group of vigilantes would have gunned down Liberty and friends from behind. They wouldn’t know what hit them. Nobody would know who the vigilantes were. End of story.
I watched this film to prepare for my role as Teddy Roosevelt’s mentor BILL SEWELL. Lee Marvin was who I studied most for this one. I was cast. Then the strike happened. Maybe they will still produce the show.
One of my favorite westerns. Hell, one of my favorite movies for that matter. If you like this one, watch Fire Creek with Jimmy and Henry Fonda, kinda like High Noon with a better cast.
I watch it every few years, and I always forget how flawed it is - how the principal actors are far too old for their roles, how it seems to go on for a half an hour after it ends, how soundstage-bound it is, how Vera Miles loses her accent halfway through...and yet, when I'm finished watching, I have no doubt that I have watched a great film.
I just finished watching it for the first time and agree that the 2 main stars were too old for the parts, and the remaining runtime after Liberty got shot felt like it dragged. But it was still a great movie overall!
To think Van Cleef's screen debut was as the silent gunslinger in High Noon. (Stanley Kramer wanted him to play deputy Harvey Pell but required him to fix his nose - he refused (he said his nose was a distinctive feature) - and they still gave him a part.
Liberty Valance is Ford's masterpiece. Best film he ever made. The other contenders have their merits but are not as rich or as profound or as well crafted.
I love the film so much - it's a great take on the western, almost tearing down the Wayne mythic character (and in ways foreshadowing the 1960s). I am sorry that the film was such a miserable experience for Wayne, who took so much abuse from John Ford. (He was so pis*ed at having to film in black and white and on the studio lot that he took it out on Wayne.)
I don't think this film would have worked near as well in color. The black and white makes everything seem more urgent and personal. The more ' cinematic" movies Spielberg mentions did benefit from color.
“When the Horizon is on the bottom it’s interesting . When the Horizon is at the top it’s interesting. When the horizon is in the middle it’s boring as shit. Now, get the fuck out of my office” - John Ford words to Steven Spielberg.
When Liberty Valance rode to town The women folk would hide, they'd hide When Liberty Valance walked around The men would step aside 'Cause the point of a gun was the only law That Liberty understood When it came to shootin' straight and fast He was mighty good From out of the East a stranger came A law book in his hand, a man The kind of a man the West would need To tame a troubled land 'Cause the point of a gun was the only law That Liberty understood When it came to shootin' straight and fast He was mighty good Many a man would face his gun And many a man would fall The man who shot Liberty Valance He shot Liberty Valance He was the bravest of them all The love of a girl can make a man Stay on when he should go, stay on Just tryin' to build a peaceful life Where love is free to grow But the point of a gun was the only law That Liberty understood When the final showdown came at last A law book was no good Alone and afraid she prayed That he'd return that fateful night, aww that night When nothing she said could keep her man From goin' out to fight From the moment a girl gets to be full-grown The very first thing she learns When two men go out to face each other Only one returns Every one heard two shots ring out One shot made Liberty fall The man who shot Liberty Valance He shot Liberty Valance He was the bravest of them all The man who shot Liberty Valance He shot Liberty Valance He was the bravest of them all
As much as I like The Man Who Liberty Valance, my favorite John Ford film is "My Darling Clementine". As bad as Lee Marvin was in the film No one was badder than Walter Brennan "Father of the Year" - Enjoy ua-cam.com/video/4lnTbEwrOdU/v-deo.html
I am afraid that it's not one of my favourite Ford/ Wayne collaborations. I much prefer "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and what I consider to be their masterpiece "The Searchers".
@caesarpizza1338 because the Jimmy Stewart character destroyed the life of the man who saved his life multiple times. That is just to much like reality, and I watch movies to escape reality for a little while.
Some good supporting actors - beyond that this movie was a howling dog - black and white film - where was Gene Pitney's song? James Stewart did nothing but hum and hay and whine. One viewing was more then enough....
Spielberg is good at what he does, but isn't smart enough to understand this movie. In the Wild West, you didn't need a lawyer with Blackstone's Commentaries in his saddlebag first, and instead you needed the deadly John Wayne character to end the anarchy.
Think you might want to look in the mirror bud lol, gross oversimplification. Speilberg acknowledges the limitations of law, as he says in this very clip, when dealing with unrighteous and evil people who game the system. He very much acknowledges that Wayne's survivalist instincts were what was necessary to put Valance down. That being said, you're not right at all at that being the main point of the film.
This movie to me was the worst and the best of all westerns. The best: When John Wayne challenged Liberty in the cafe over the spilled steak. The worst: That darn Jimmy Stewart. When he ruined the challenge. You know John Wayne would have taken out Liberty and he needed to be taken out. He was a thug and a killer. Jimmy came off as a pacifist in most of his movies. He usually talked too much. Let real men take care of what's wrong.
But that's the beauty of the characters. They are both reluctant heroes in their own way. Duke knows Liberty is a punk but as long as he's left alone he pretty much stays out of it. For him that is just the way things are done, the law of the gun. He's the cynic. Jimmy is the idealist. He believes in the law but eventually he comes to realize Duke is right, the only way it ends is with one of them dead. He earns Duke's respect by having the guts to go against Liberty knowing he hasn't got a chance. That's why Duke shoots Liberty. Then he immediately regrets it when he realizes saving Jimmy cost him his girl. He wants to shoot Jimmy but he knows he can't do that so he numbs his pain the only way he knows how, by getting drunk. But in the end he knows Jimmy is what the territory needs and that's why he shows up at the convention and tells Jimmy the truth, then forces Jimmy to do something with the life Duke gave him, a bit like Tom Hanks on the bridge in Saving Private Ryan. Jimmy's character actually had more guts and gumption than Duke's who would have been happy just being left alone and at the end of the day he sort of shames Duke into doing what he should have done years before. Excuse the length of my response, but I love this movie.
@@itinerantpatriot1196 Naw, I didn't think that your comments were that long. I can see your passion for this film. However, it didn't convince me. Maybe John Ford wanted us to take sides. Maybe that's the point of this movie. Anyway, I will always believe that The Searchers was the best John Wayne, John Ford movie western that was ever made. And, Jimmy Stewart wasn't in it. In many ways you are right when you said, that Jimmy had to face the issue and realize that action had to be taken and one of them had to die. With that in mind, fortunately John Wayne was there or Liberty would have finished it. Sometimes, you just can not talk your way out of a serious situation. Could be why there are too many problems in this country today. Too many politicians that talk too much.
I found the movie a little boring as a 12 year old and wanted to hear Gene Pitney's song of the same name. I was disappointed it wasn't in it at the movie's end.
So Speilberg doesn't think Western when he thinks of Liberyy Valence.. Maybe Steve sees the story set on a 35ft shark hunting boat or how about at the site of a ET craft landing. Give me a break with that smug introspective dribble.
This movie is one of the dullest and stupidest westernI have ever seen.How anyone can think is a great western movie is beyond me.Sorry but this is a forgetful movie.
A John Ford masterpiece and one of the greatest Westerns ever, but really a fantastic character study as well. Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and Lee Marvin all gave some of their finest performances in this.
My kids love the film. It is truly an underrated movie and not a "cult" movie. Those 3 stars shaped the movie, along with Vera Miles and Ed O Brien as Dutton. Complete cast of super talents.and I do believe that was a young LEE VAN CLEEF in his first role
@@luigivincenz3843 It was not his first role. Lee van Cleef had already had a role in High Noon (1952). It was very similiar to his part in Liberty Valence - both times he was second gun to the main villain.
And Woody Strode. The whole film just flies high. It was a Western but oh, so much more. The end of an era, the Wild West. A character study of all the main players. A master class in acting…and filmmaking. Shalom
But how can you forget that hardworking character actor, Carleton Young, who plays newspaper editor, Maxwell Scott.
Carleton had roles in hundreds of movie-a guy who worked Hollywood as a regular job.
And tv and some radio. He had a deep, booming voice.
He got his stake in movie immortality. "This is the West sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
His personal life had a real Hollywood ending. He fell with renowned exotic dancer, Noel Toy [the Chinese Gypsy Rose Lee] at first sight. Captain Young married Noel in New York City for Christmas 1945. The photos had the cut line: Happy Noel!". And they stayed together until his death 40-some years later. She called him "my soldier boy" for the rest of his life. But you LA guys and gals, you go to "Hollywood Forever" Cemetery. Noel and Carleton are there, along with a memorial behind glass-an officer's cap, the figurines on top a wedding cake, photos and more. A little Hollywood ending. But real. The best kind.
@@thomasshoener2154 ""This is the West sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." One of the most underrated quotes in movie history.
Lee Marvin as one of the most terrifying villains ever. Wayne as a frontiersman with TRUE grit. Stewart as the believer with a vision. Watched this over and over when I was a kid. It doesn't pull punches or cut corners.
Perfect casting down to Woody Strode, Strother Martin & Andy Devine.
@@scottsmith6631 Edmund O’Brien the newspaperman or John Qualen who ran the restaurant, etc, etc.
Qualen was one of the great character actors who usually had a Scandinavian accent. He first worked for Ford in 1931 and was a memorable part of lots of his pictures after that. Besides John Ford pics, how about His Girl Friday, Casablanca, Anatomy of a Murder, Elmer Gantry and many, many more?
@jollypoorman, Good short review. You nailed it
@@brucekuehn4031 wow…..another cinephile. All great movies. His Girl Friday is one of my favorites. Strong woman lead. Dialogue being spit out like Machine Gun fire.
Him and ronald reagan also played hit men in reagan's final film before he entered politics.
I could listen to Spielberg talk about films & movies all day.
Listening to great filmmakers and storytellers sharing their passion for other great filmmaking and storytelling is one of my favorite things.
Word!
"This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
This is a three minute masterpiece in itself----beautifully put together.
Visually, yes, good clips from Ford's movie. But... WHAT was the point?
@@KutWriteWatch it again with the audio on.
I’m so happy that Mr. Spielberg has taken the time to give credit to the legendary #JohnFord.👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Its amazing how many iconic westerns Lee Van Cleef was cast in (Liberty Valance, High Noon, For A Few Dollar More, Good+Bad+Ugly, Sabata) not to mention Escape From New York).
And made every single one of them better simply by appearing. If there was just one scene with Lee Van Cleef in any western, without him even speaking, he could just smirk ... it's a better movie than it would have been without him.
And once he's paid, he always sees the job through...
I decided to check this flick out after hearing norm macdonald talk about it and it ended up being one of my favorite westerns love jimmy stewart.
ps hook me up with that friedkin and kermode commentary track for cruising pls!
Classic
Is there a video of norm talking about this movie? Would love to watch that
@@WeAllWumbo There is a public archive of the show norm macdonald live you can find on google. I do not remember which episode he mentions this film specifically but he talks about movies quite a lot on that old podcast. If I had to guess which one it was I would pick the Carl Reiner episode.
@@WeAllWumbo Let me know if you find it. i'd like to listen to it again.
great film. Lee Marvin used to stagger out of the "Ship of Fools" bar in Santa Monica Canyon back when I lived there, drunk as a skunk and much scarier than any character he ever played on screen.
One of the things I love most about the movie is that SPOILER ALERT John Wayne’s character gives up his own chance at happiness to save the woman he loves from a terrible heartbreak.
He loves Callie so much that he would sooner lose her than see her heart broken.
The film is a metaphor of Ford's thoughts on the nature of the universe.
Tom is God...the figure of the original Wild West
Liberty is the serpent...a smart but vicious guy that intimidates and perverts the West for his own wants, control/power and enjoyment of torturing others.
Hallie is The Bride....aka humanity that God loves deeply and wants a relationship with.
Ranse is the mediator, the deliverer, the Christ. He brings with him the law, but applies the law to its real intent, not its letter.
You see all this in the restaurant scene. Tom quietly watches and is on one side of the shot.
Liberty is on the other side of the shot, bullying and frightening cowardly townsfolk.
There's a post middle shot that cuts the frame.
Ranse the man of law,acting as the lowly servant, brings out the burnt offering of Tom's steak...walking the center line. Liberty trips him spoiling the steak and ridiculing Stoddard.
Tom sees Hallie showing concern and finally stands up. He's ready to finish Liberty once and for all. Ranse now on the floor against the post....a line between God and Serpent....takes the insult and places the steak upon the plate.
Later Ranse teaches the town how to live and expect a respectful life, and teaches Callie how to read (the law).
Rance finally confronts Liberty, but in the shadows Tom and Pompey (God and St Michael) shoot him down.
Ranse (Ransom the price paid for salvation) is the hero, while Tom realizes his hope for a direct relationship with Hallie is over....burning the prepared cabin paradise while Pompey looks on without a word.
The wild exciting pure West of Tom is over, just as that of the highwayman Liberty. It is now a world of civilization.
Spielberg is a cultural Jew and typically won't see these things, or allude to them....even though the plot of the movie is taken from Isaiah.
Its implied she still loved him. The truth is Tom becomes uncentered and basically gives up like a damn fool. Honestly the film would have been so much better had Tom let things play out. Lol
@@spencerwilliams461 then Tom should have shot Liberty in the restaurant at the close of Act1. A 30 minute movie the end.
Scarlett should have realized Rhett was her man in the library tantrum scene, not pined over scrawny weak Ashley, and not married Melanie's brother to make Ashley jealous and get into the Wilks house in Atlanta. She only realizes it after 4 loooong hours and ten onscreen years.
Hamlet should have gone and avenged his father at the opening of Act2, and exposed his mother as a slut.....again not the stuff that creates Shakespeare's longest and often best reviewed play.
Theater and metaphor sell tickets not pragmatic logic.
@@spencerwilliams461 I have to disagree. Hallie was in love with Rance because he represented what she craved, peace, stability and love. He was the future of the West. She loved Tom because he was what settled the west in its rougher days; but she knew that if she went with him there was no real future. In the end Tom was the kind of heroic figure that becomes forgotten except by the people he affected.
I always get a chuckle when people are interviewing directors like Spielberg and Cassavetes and even the interviewer is fanboying at the chance to talk to these great talents. Then, if the subject of John Ford comes up, those great directors start fanboying about him.
i was hesitant about watching thought it would be so boring, but oh god I loved it
Good timing for me, re watched this on MGM+ a few days prior to this being posted. Great picture by Ford and one of Jimmy Stewart's best performances imo. “This is the west Sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
John Wayne character knew the future had no place for people like him, but he also knew he was the only one who could make that future for people like James Stewart possible ... and so he did it !!!
Nicely said. The truly sad part was that to promote that future he had to commit murder.
@@kuvasz5252 Except, it wasn't murder. Lee Marvin was about to kill Jimmy Stewart. Wayne used deadly force to prevent that murder, which made it a justifiable killing. Upon learning how he was saved by Wayne, Stewart called it murder -- and Wayne didn't disagree. But, it wouldn't have been considered a crime back then nor now.
@@DKWalser>>>> "Stewart called it murder -- and Wayne didn't disagree." That was an essential POV. The taming of the West and making it civilized such that even Tom Doniphon recognized the morality that he helped birth. That was to me the real tragedy of Doniphon, recognizing the world he lived in was disappearing and love lost yet believing that he could by killing Valence usher in a better day.
@@kuvasz5252 I don't disagree with that at all. Wayne's character in the movie was tragic. He could have let Valance kill Stoddard, thereby clearing the field for his romance of Hallie. He stopped Valance the only way he could, knowing that it would cost him any chance of winning Hallie's love.
Yet, one suspects, under other circumstances, Tom would have stepped in to prevent a bully from murdering someone. He protects the weak. That's part of who he is at his core. So, saving Ransom Stoddard from Liberty Valance wasn't out of character for Tom Doniphon. Nor was it out of character for him to not claim credit for his work -- even if by claiming credit he could have earned Hallie's gratitude. He did't want her gratitude. He wanted her love. She never knew how much he really loved her. When he could have won her simply by NOT acting, when everything in him wanted to simply let Valance kill Stoddard, he acted knowing it would cost him any chance with Hallie.
The tragedy is Tom never met, fell in love with, and married anyone else.
@@DKWalser and I don't disagree with that at all.
We ought to meet somewhere and watch this movie.
One of my all time favorites for the story and artful direction and performances.
Never been a fan of Westerns, never understood their appeal, but the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of my favorite movies.
Let’s not forget the underrated Vera Miles. An actress who never got her due
Your channel is a great time! Please keep providing more gems!
Just saw this movie in 4k. It can't be topped.
A very interesting take from such a great figure of cinematography such as Stephen Spielberg. A grand video done here
This almost feels like what The Irishman did with the mafia genre, and how each film is more of a character study and analysis on legacy. Both have the elements to satisfy viewers of each genre, but their primary focus was on discussing a specific psychological issue.
A character study by the great John Ford. Stellar cast brought a studied screenplay to life. Marvin is marvellous as the villainous Valance.
Love Liberty Valance. Need to watch it again now. Also, I can’t believe I just heard Spielberg use the word ‘bollocking’.
In many ways even though the timing was placed about 100 years ago the story is very relevant today. More and more communities are dealing with people who are not respectful of their neighbors which is not much different than the attitudes of Liberty Valance.
This is 1 of my top 3 John Wayne western , maybe # 1, I am a Clint Eastwood fan most of all with his westerns , the dirty Harry movies , etc...
As someone who has never liked the John Wayne archetype, I enjoy this film for presenting a different type of hero in a classic western.
Some of Wayne's best movies are the ones in which his "archetype" is questioned, disliked, or held to be out of date, yet at the same time, like in Liberty, to have been necessary for civilization just the same.
It depends what you think the archetype is. He often played deeply flawed, obsessive complex characters. Red River and The Searchers spring to mind.
@@DenkyManner The Searchers is a good example of what I mean - the cowboy who is a tough guy and is always right because he's John Wayne and the script says so.
Great little vignette. About a great film.Thanks.
A great film, from starting at the end of the story to the reveal of the legend.
With the passing of Burt Bacharach this year I always think about the work he, Hal David, and the amazing singing of Gene Pitney on the theme song that never got tied to the movie. The song was so very story telling of the movie.
It was John Ford who did not want Pitney's song to be tied to the movie.
WOW, thank you for that insight. I was unaware of that fact. Needless to say the song did quite well on it's own. Both the great movie and the great song made some money. Sad to see where Burt passed away just last year. The man had a golden ear for music. @@coleparker
The Shootist is another fine western with Wayne and Stewart..with the added frisson of it being Wayne's swan song
John Wayne was the heart of that movie. He was the only actor to whom Lee Marvin would have been afraid of. Terrific Duke, God bless him.
Marvin was asked once how he played a "bad guy"....he said he never played a bad guy. He said he played a guy that always believed he was right in the way he acted, it was just the rest of the world that was wrong. He said he let the camera do the rest.
The last line of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with the dramatic irony knowing who shot Liberty always hits me right in the feels; "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance'
In one of Lee Marvin's scene in another film, he did a scene with Donna Reed which frightend her so bad, she didn't want Lee around her the rest of the shoot.
What? I cannot believe Spielberg said he thought the cinematography was Ford's least adorned film visually. Is he kidding? Coming from him that is a huge surprise because visually "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was among Ford's best filmed movies from a visual standpoint. His utilization of shadows was the stuff film noir movies were made of. This movie is beautifully filmed. Just because it's not one of Ford's grandiose sprawling westerns on location in Colorado or somewhere like that doesn't mean this film isn't striking.
Loved the feel and flow of Liberty Valance when I saw it decades ago. Have enjoyed it a few times since, and it just seems to draw me in each time. Only weak moment was Liberty turning to draw on Tom in the cantina and Tom saying "Just try it, Valance." Yeah, right. Too bad the awesome song didn't make it in.
I'm not a massive Ford or Wayne fan overall but this was a great movie.
You're a liberal Democrat
I have watched this movie dozens of times. The acting of the peripheral characters is outstanding. Whether it's Woody Strode as Pompeii, Andy Devine as the cowardly sheriff, Liberty's henchmen with Lee van Cleef and Strother Martin and Edmund O'brien as the newspaper man Dutton. Each had their moment on screen. Yet, the major theme of this film is unsettling; and it is not that one typically stated in the quote ""when the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Instead, it is that civilization is built upon blood. That only Tom Doniphon's bushwhacking murder of Valance allowed for civilization to flourish.The West closed when laws appeared.
My favorite Ford film - even more than The Searchers which is his masterpiece. It also has the best last line in film history.
LIBERTY VALENCE is IMO, one of the 3 or perhaps 4 of Ford’s best western films & I remember that when it came out the critics had little good to say about it. But appreciation for it has grown & its quality is fully acknowledged today.
It was admittedly an odd film for Ford. He'd always been an actor's director but he went into greater depth in character development than he had since, possibly, The Informant. Looking at it it's also easy to forget it was released in 1962. The shots were basic with none of the cinematic vistas from The Searchers and certainly looked more like something from the 1930-40s. Especially compared to the winner for that year Lawrence of Arabia. But I'd certainly rather have seen it at least nominated rather than some of the other films from that year like Mutiny on the Bounty of the Music Man, both of which were fine films but certainly haven't survived the test of time as well as Liberty Valance has.
I'd rate it #1 of the films I've seen, followed by The Searchers and Stagecoach.
Steven Spielberg talking about being given ‘a bollocking’. You can tell he’s spent a lot of time working with British film crews!
My favorite western
Ford had some great Westerns, but the Grapes of Wrath is his masterpiece.
"The Grapes Of Wrath" and "The Informer" are my favourites. "The Searchers" to me is ruined by Jeffrey Hunter, who is terrible in the film.
"Some" great westerns? Damn! the guy almost invented that film genre.
I would call The grapes of Wrath the last Western. The last as in it's the end of the West. The pioneers now have to leave. The Joads came west in a covered wagon and are now leaving in a truck. Like the Irish in the 1947 famine, the Jews in the pogroms, the Scottish in the clearances, all have to leave thier homelands but all of them were much better off when they arrived in the new place. Looking at history, the Joads arrived in California just as the second world war broke out and they all got jobs in the defence industries and had more money then they ever had before.
That's just it. He had about a dozen masterpieces.
Not the first great film lessened by a bad performance. No bigger example than Glen Campbell in True Grit (unless it's Sofia Copella in Godfather 3). The best quote I ever heard about Jeffrey Hunter was about him in King of Kings (which critics called "I was a Teenage Jesus")@@annabrewer8054
As Spielberg points out, this film does not have the same cinematic impact as many of his other films but that doesn't bother me. This is my favorite Ford film because of the bountiful subject matter (freedom of the press, democratic process, importance of education, westward expansion, taming of the west, good vs evil and so much more). Add to that the great characters (and actors) including two lead actors in Wayne and Stewart ... a masterpiece.
The film wasnt so much about justice or bullies, and so forth, as it was about heroic myths and why they are necessary components to a thriving nation or culture.
The mythological west- arguably created by Ford in "Stage Coach" had come full circle in Liberty Valence.
There is a truth behind the myths that we would rather not know, so we feed on and grow with the myths because they give us something to aspire to.
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
It reminds one rather of Cervantes
Great, great movie. Almost never reacted to by UA-cam reactors because they're too young to have heard of it.
And a great song
Liberty valance and Shane two of the greatest westerns ever…..and the beginning of magnificent 7. (Original)
1# The Good The Bad & The Ugly
2# The Man That Shot Liberty Valance
3# Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
4# For A Few Dollars More
5# A Fist Full Of Dollars
6# High Plains Drifter
All the other westerns like The Wild Bunch & Once Upon A Time In The West & Hang Um High & Unforgivable & 3:10 to Yuma & The Magnificent Seven & Tombstone & The Quick & The Dead !!! All those last ones come after my top 6 I picked atleast as far as being perfect ❤
I'm only 30 btw & love old films especially Westerns but my top 6 trumps anything u think is better than the ones I just named😂
*As much as I love John Wayne westerns, esp. with stars lke Jimmy Stewart, this film pales in comparison to the other EPIC films of 1962. Nominated for Best Picture at the Ocars were: 'Lawrence of Arabia' (winner), 'The Longest Day', 'The Music Man', 'Mutiny on the Bounty', and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Othe great films that year: 'The Miracle Worker', 'Days of Wine and Roses', 'The Birdman of Alctraz', 'The Manchurian Candidate'!*
Fun fact: the song "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" was produced (in this case as in, 'paid for') by Paramount, but was not used in the film. There is some controversy over whether they ever intended to actually include it in the film, but in any case they decided to release the film before the track was finished.
Thanks. I didn't know that. I was a big Gene Pitney fan.
Although flawed, it's one of favorite films, and in my opinion, has the best last line in any movie. So to you, out of context I say, "Think nothing of it, nothings to good for the man who shot Liberty Valance."
TOO...
Ha ha! That’s the first time I’ve ever heard an American use the word bollocking! 😂
If the movie is about the person in the title, then which man is it really about? It’s almost like a mystery. And which man was the true love of Hallie? There is more shading to this story than many of his other Westerns. A film that invites multiple viewings. You pull more out of it each time. Is the movie really about How the West Was Civilized?
"Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance."
Then we see the sad resignation of Hallie and Ransom.
It is a perfect ending.
I would have guessed the film was older than it was, if I couldn't tell on the actors who were in in it. Seems like the horizon was fairly close to the center of the screen in most scenes too, was that something he came up with towards the end of his career?
It's not meant to feel as epic. It's more of a personal drama.
Kid, you gotta learn the rules before you can break 'em!
It does indeed look like something from the 1930-40s but that was probably a deliberate choice on Ford's part to serve as a tribute too and thematic contrast against the older simpler stories. Unfortunately it may have been too soon for a homage to that era to make sense so it ended up looking dated instead. A bit like making a homage to The Avengers in the current year.
Just watched this movie a few weeks ago...for probably the tenth time! Every time I see new elements and details that leave me feeling melancholy as there is nothing even close to this coming out of Hollywood these days. Endless dross.
David Lynch as John Ford is fantastic
Yeah that film is a masterpiece. Best John Ford film in my opinion.
It was a well made movie, the actors did a terrific job, the camera angles and lighting were perfect! The only problem was with the basic story. Bullies like Liberty Valence didn’t exist in the old west at least not for long. As soon as he left the restaurant late at night a group of vigilantes would have gunned down Liberty and friends from behind. They wouldn’t know what hit them. Nobody would know who the vigilantes were. End of story.
It happened in the real world. see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy
I watched this film to prepare for my role as Teddy Roosevelt’s mentor BILL SEWELL. Lee Marvin was who I studied most for this one. I was cast. Then the strike happened. Maybe they will still produce the show.
After auditioning in Hollywood for years I finally got cast. Then the strike hit. Hahaha.
One of my favorite westerns. Hell, one of my favorite movies for that matter. If you like this one, watch Fire Creek with Jimmy and Henry Fonda, kinda like High Noon with a better cast.
Ford was a great producer but boy was he hard on all the crew and actors and he didn’t care who you were!
The film being black and white brings out so.e serious shadows
A little 'film noir?...
a very great western IMO the best American film of 1962.
"That's my steak Liberty"........................
Lee Marvin had such menace.
"Gettem liberty"
The point is less about Liberty being a bully, and more about the money behind him.
So what WAS the advice from John Ford?
See The Fabelmans and you will find out!
This movie would be awesome colorized.
I watch it every few years, and I always forget how flawed it is - how the principal actors are far too old for their roles, how it seems to go on for a half an hour after it ends, how soundstage-bound it is, how Vera Miles loses her accent halfway through...and yet, when I'm finished watching, I have no doubt that I have watched a great film.
I just finished watching it for the first time and agree that the 2 main stars were too old for the parts, and the remaining runtime after Liberty got shot felt like it dragged. But it was still a great movie overall!
Turn down the sound, it works as a silent movie. My guess is Ford was celebrating 50 years of his career
Great movie in delicious black and white. The acter who played Dutton Peabody nearly stole the show - Edmond O'Brian.
O'Brien is playing the Thomas Mitchell role.
Its also a metaphor.
Don't forget Lee Van Cleef who did a good job playing the villain in a number of films.
To think Van Cleef's screen debut was as the silent gunslinger in High Noon. (Stanley Kramer wanted him to play deputy Harvey Pell but required him to fix his nose - he refused (he said his nose was a distinctive feature) - and they still gave him a part.
1:27 " ... where the story takes place in 1910 ..." Are you sure? Seems earlier.
Liberty Valance is Ford's masterpiece. Best film he ever made. The other contenders have their merits but are not as rich or as profound or as well crafted.
Good but it's no Grapes of Wrath.😊
Wayne’s best movie
Heh, heh: “Bollocking”, lol!
I love the film so much - it's a great take on the western, almost tearing down the Wayne mythic character (and in ways foreshadowing the 1960s). I am sorry that the film was such a miserable experience for Wayne, who took so much abuse from John Ford. (He was so pis*ed at having to film in black and white and on the studio lot that he took it out on Wayne.)
I don't think this film would have worked near as well in color. The black and white makes everything seem more urgent and personal. The more ' cinematic" movies Spielberg mentions did benefit from color.
“When the Horizon is on the bottom it’s interesting . When the Horizon is at the top it’s interesting. When the horizon is in the middle it’s boring as shit. Now, get the fuck out of my office” - John Ford words to Steven Spielberg.
When Liberty Valance rode to town
The women folk would hide, they'd hide
When Liberty Valance walked around
The men would step aside
'Cause the point of a gun was the only law
That Liberty understood
When it came to shootin' straight and fast
He was mighty good
From out of the East a stranger came
A law book in his hand, a man
The kind of a man the West would need
To tame a troubled land
'Cause the point of a gun was the only law
That Liberty understood
When it came to shootin' straight and fast
He was mighty good
Many a man would face his gun
And many a man would fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all
The love of a girl can make a man
Stay on when he should go, stay on
Just tryin' to build a peaceful life
Where love is free to grow
But the point of a gun was the only law
That Liberty understood
When the final showdown came at last
A law book was no good
Alone and afraid she prayed
That he'd return that fateful night, aww that night
When nothing she said could keep her man
From goin' out to fight
From the moment a girl gets to be full-grown
The very first thing she learns
When two men go out to face each other
Only one returns
Every one heard two shots ring out
One shot made Liberty fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all
The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all
Great film, but I always thought it was a half hour too long.
This is the difference between an original masterpiece by Ford and the cluttered homages of Tarantino.
Not boring as shit!
I don't understand how the bad guy is called LIBERTY.
Did Spielberg just say "bollocking"? 😮😂 How does he expect Americans to understand that term?
As much as I like The Man Who Liberty Valance, my favorite John Ford film
is "My Darling Clementine".
As bad as Lee Marvin was in the film
No one was badder than Walter Brennan "Father of the Year" - Enjoy
ua-cam.com/video/4lnTbEwrOdU/v-deo.html
I am afraid that it's not one of my favourite Ford/ Wayne collaborations. I much prefer "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and what I consider to be their masterpiece "The Searchers".
“I’ll show you law !!!!!! Western law!!!” 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂legendary
When I was young I loved this movie, the older I get the more I hate it
Why do you hate it?
@caesarpizza1338 because the Jimmy Stewart character destroyed the life of the man who saved his life multiple times. That is just to much like reality, and I watch movies to escape reality for a little while.
@@pughoneycutt1986 jimmy didn't destroy Wayne's life, Wayne sacrifice himself for him.
@caesarpizza1338 matter of perspective, even if you are right it's still to much like reality that I watch movies to get away from for a while
Some good supporting actors - beyond that this movie was a howling dog - black and white film - where was Gene Pitney's song? James Stewart did nothing but hum and hay and whine. One viewing was more then enough....
Not so keen then.
Spielberg is good at what he does, but isn't smart enough to understand this movie. In the Wild West, you didn't need a lawyer with Blackstone's Commentaries in his saddlebag first, and instead you needed the deadly John Wayne character to end the anarchy.
Therefore, the good senator's whole career was established on the foundation of violence that he traveled West to destroy.
Think you might want to look in the mirror bud lol, gross oversimplification. Speilberg acknowledges the limitations of law, as he says in this very clip, when dealing with unrighteous and evil people who game the system. He very much acknowledges that Wayne's survivalist instincts were what was necessary to put Valance down. That being said, you're not right at all at that being the main point of the film.
@@KingLoop13 okie dokie.
This movie to me was the worst and the best of all westerns. The best: When John Wayne challenged Liberty in the cafe over the spilled steak. The worst: That darn Jimmy Stewart. When he ruined the challenge. You know John Wayne would have taken out Liberty and he needed to be taken out. He was a thug and a killer. Jimmy came off as a pacifist in most of his movies. He usually talked too much. Let real men take care of what's wrong.
But that's the beauty of the characters. They are both reluctant heroes in their own way. Duke knows Liberty is a punk but as long as he's left alone he pretty much stays out of it. For him that is just the way things are done, the law of the gun. He's the cynic. Jimmy is the idealist. He believes in the law but eventually he comes to realize Duke is right, the only way it ends is with one of them dead. He earns Duke's respect by having the guts to go against Liberty knowing he hasn't got a chance. That's why Duke shoots Liberty. Then he immediately regrets it when he realizes saving Jimmy cost him his girl. He wants to shoot Jimmy but he knows he can't do that so he numbs his pain the only way he knows how, by getting drunk.
But in the end he knows Jimmy is what the territory needs and that's why he shows up at the convention and tells Jimmy the truth, then forces Jimmy to do something with the life Duke gave him, a bit like Tom Hanks on the bridge in Saving Private Ryan. Jimmy's character actually had more guts and gumption than Duke's who would have been happy just being left alone and at the end of the day he sort of shames Duke into doing what he should have done years before. Excuse the length of my response, but I love this movie.
@@itinerantpatriot1196 Naw, I didn't think that your comments were that long. I can see your passion for this film. However, it didn't convince me. Maybe John Ford wanted us to take sides. Maybe that's the point of this movie. Anyway, I will always believe that The Searchers was the best John Wayne, John Ford movie western that was ever made. And, Jimmy Stewart wasn't in it. In many ways you are right when you said, that Jimmy had to face the issue and realize that action had to be taken and one of them had to die. With that in mind, fortunately John Wayne was there or Liberty would have finished it. Sometimes, you just can not talk your way out of a serious situation. Could be why there are too many problems in this country today. Too many politicians that talk too much.
I found the movie a little boring as a 12 year old and wanted to hear Gene Pitney's song of the same name. I was disappointed it wasn't in it at the movie's end.
John Wayne were too old for the film
So... WHAT WAS THE ADVICE ABOUT COMPOSITION?
Waste of time.
So Speilberg doesn't think Western when he thinks of Liberyy Valence.. Maybe Steve sees the story set on a 35ft shark hunting boat or how about at the site of a ET craft landing. Give me a break with that smug introspective dribble.
This movie is one of the dullest and stupidest westernI have ever seen.How anyone can think is a great western movie is beyond me.Sorry but this is a forgetful movie.