The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Film Analysis
John Ford’s The Man who Shot Liberty Valance is one of the greatest American films ever made, and certainly John Ford’s best, the only challenger to this title potentially being the quintessential western, The Searchers. Many would classify The Man who Shot Liberty Valance as a western, and they, at first glance, would be correct to assume so: John Wayne, a gun fight, and a setting of the western territories. At further watchings, one can clearly see that The Man who Shot Liberty Valance is an inversion upon the western genre, and also shows its demise; this is shown through the setting, the shots, and the overall plot and theme of the film.
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance is about Ransom Stoddard's move and then his challenges in the old west, the death of Liberty Valance. and the eventual inclusion of the territory into the United States, starting in the “Present” where Ransom is a senator, going to the funeral of Tom Doniphan, the man who shot liberty valance.
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Social Contract Theory. “ In entering into civil society, people sacrifice the physical freedom of being able to do whatever they please, but they gain the civil freedom of being able to think and act rationally and morally.” (Sparknotes, Roussou) So the people, in order to achieve civility, must give up freedom; they must give up liberty to achieve safety. What is the ending of the film? Ransom Stoddard appears to kill Liberty Valance, and thus is voted upon to be the senator after the territories officially join the United States. This would be ideal enough, showing the death of western outlaw freedom, named Liberty Valance no less, but in reality it is shown that Liberty was in fact killed by Tom Doniphon. Tom Doniphon, the personification of the west, kills its last true bastion of true freedom, and leads to his own eventual obsoletion in the eyes of the people. The death of the
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Film Analysis
976 Words | 4 PagesClassic western films dominated the screen in the 1960s, with major productions such as The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) directed by Sergio Leone, The Magnificent Seven (1960) directed by John Sturges, and what is considered a well-known western produced in this area, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart as the main characters. While The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance meets all the criteria to classify it as a classic western, that being set in a culture structured around codes of honor and personal justice and gunslingers in every scene of the movie, the film lacks many characteristics to classify it as a well-rounded film. Set in the late 1800s, a senator by the name of Ransom Stoddard visits this town in the middle of nowhere with his wife to attend the funeral of one of his old friends Tom Doniphan. Many question the reasoning for the appearance of Ransom because not many know who Tom Doniphan was. With the local newspaper harassing him for answers as to who Tom Doniphan was, Ransom gives in and tells the tale through the use of flashbacks.
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