I had seen this film many years ago when I was a lot younger, and thought it was a pretty good Western. The passage of time and a keener focus reveals a lot more going on in this movie than a conflict between two good men and the killing of an outlaw gunman. Surface generalities aside, the story is about the passing of an era, with the bullets of a bygone time about to be replaced by the subtler but just as lethal machinations of the political machine.
There's another way to look at the events surrounding the death of Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Suppose Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) made up the story about shooting Valance to save Ransom Stoddard's hide. It would have been just another savage way of further emasculating Jimmy Stewart's character upon realizing that Hallie (Vera Miles) was never going to be his girl. After all, he wasn't above humiliating Ranse with the mean spirited paint can demonstration where his rage was more palpable. I'm not advancing that hypothesis by the way, but it's an interesting conjecture that fits, and isn't denied by any of the other facts of the story.
There's a rather strange moment in the picture that director Ford opted to keep. When Stoddard addresses the town meeting about to nominate representatives to Washington, he walks from behind a desk and hits his head on the bottom of the stairwell. He looks at the stair, and without skipping a beat, keeps on talking to the audience. I wonder if it hurt?
Even stranger though is the sequence when Wayne's character leaves town after drinking heavily and arrives home with his ward Pompey (Woody Strode). In town he has a black shirt, arriving at home it's a light colored one. Breaking the door in, the shirt is black again, and when Pompey saves him from the fire, it's not only light colored again, but with a set of buttons that go down to the belt line. Finally, the shirt is black again in the final scene of that sequence.
For his final team up with John Wayne, Ford seems to go for caricature with many of the figures here. Most obvious is Lee Marvin's title character, Liberty Valance. He's pretty much allowed free reign as a nut case, and even though Andy Devine's usual persona as a do nothing lawman is somewhat expected, he's totally ineffective in enforcing anything in the town of Shinbone. Liberty's henchman Floyd (Strother Martin) is irritating as a whiny outlaw, and Lee Van Cleef has disappointingly too little screen time to be of consequence. Perhaps the most over the top performance is delivered by John Carradine, with macho exuberance and a name to match as Major Cassius Starbuckle.
There's a lot going on in 'Liberty Valance' with repeat viewings recommended to uncover even more nuances. This is one Western that doesn't fit the typical mold, where preconceptions are shot down like cans on a fence post. It's a look at the wild west coming to an end with a blend of nostalgia, romance and grit that offers an effective glimpse at legend before succumbing to fact.
There's another way to look at the events surrounding the death of Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Suppose Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) made up the story about shooting Valance to save Ransom Stoddard's hide. It would have been just another savage way of further emasculating Jimmy Stewart's character upon realizing that Hallie (Vera Miles) was never going to be his girl. After all, he wasn't above humiliating Ranse with the mean spirited paint can demonstration where his rage was more palpable. I'm not advancing that hypothesis by the way, but it's an interesting conjecture that fits, and isn't denied by any of the other facts of the story.
There's a rather strange moment in the picture that director Ford opted to keep. When Stoddard addresses the town meeting about to nominate representatives to Washington, he walks from behind a desk and hits his head on the bottom of the stairwell. He looks at the stair, and without skipping a beat, keeps on talking to the audience. I wonder if it hurt?
Even stranger though is the sequence when Wayne's character leaves town after drinking heavily and arrives home with his ward Pompey (Woody Strode). In town he has a black shirt, arriving at home it's a light colored one. Breaking the door in, the shirt is black again, and when Pompey saves him from the fire, it's not only light colored again, but with a set of buttons that go down to the belt line. Finally, the shirt is black again in the final scene of that sequence.
For his final team up with John Wayne, Ford seems to go for caricature with many of the figures here. Most obvious is Lee Marvin's title character, Liberty Valance. He's pretty much allowed free reign as a nut case, and even though Andy Devine's usual persona as a do nothing lawman is somewhat expected, he's totally ineffective in enforcing anything in the town of Shinbone. Liberty's henchman Floyd (Strother Martin) is irritating as a whiny outlaw, and Lee Van Cleef has disappointingly too little screen time to be of consequence. Perhaps the most over the top performance is delivered by John Carradine, with macho exuberance and a name to match as Major Cassius Starbuckle.
There's a lot going on in 'Liberty Valance' with repeat viewings recommended to uncover even more nuances. This is one Western that doesn't fit the typical mold, where preconceptions are shot down like cans on a fence post. It's a look at the wild west coming to an end with a blend of nostalgia, romance and grit that offers an effective glimpse at legend before succumbing to fact.