“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962)

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” was the last
masterpiece from John Ford, the western’s poet
laureate.  Eschewing both colour and location shooting
Ford creates a melancholy ode to the end of the
frontier and the coming of civilisation.  Gone is much
of the optimism evident earlier in his career,
replaced by an open acknowledgement that the winning
of the west came at a cost, not the least of which was
the truth.

John Wayne, Ford’s most frequent lead, stars as a
tough cowboy who allows another to build a political
reputation on his brave actions.  James Stewart might
be too long in the tooth to completely convince as the
naive eastern law man but he is otherwise ideally cast
as the Duke’s well meaning nemesis and Lee Marvin has
one of his best roles as the titular villain.  The
balance of the players, members of Ford’s so called
’stock company’, all have moments to shine,
particularly John Carradine as a blow hard orator. Few
westerns have such a literate, overtly symbolic
script, one which Ford translates without fear of
pretension or heaviness.  The director’s trademark
sentiment here has a real emotional weight, never more
than in the film’s quietly moving final moments.