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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1960s Movies»Movies 1962
    Movies 1962 Movies M 2 Mins Read

    Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (1962)

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    In 1910, US senator “Pilgrim” Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife return, unannounced, to the frontier town of Shinbone to attend the funeral of rancher Tom Doniphon (John Wayne).

    A local reporter takes an interest in their arrival, and the senator then begins to tell the story of Shinbone’s wild days, when gunman Liberty Valance terrorised the town. The bulk of the story unfolds in flashback, culminating in a twist that only a spoilsport would reveal.

    Filmed in monochrome on backlots and soundstages, John Ford’s adaptation of Dorothy M. Johnson’s short story was as much a lament for the passing of the Hollywood studio system and the traditional Western genre as an elegy for the lost frontier.

    The skillfully written screenplay makes the complexity of its themes appear simple, and the film clearly shows the impact of the arrival of literacy on an innocent, more primitive West.

    Dismissed by many critics on its release, this has since been claimed as a twilight masterpiece that sums up Ford’s changing attitudes since My Darling Clementine to the central themes of his career.

    Wayne and Stewart create indelible Western icons, and a superb Lee Marvin offers memorable support as the Liberty Valance of the title.

    The picture will always be remembered for newspaper editor Edmond O’Brien’s line: “This is the west, sir. When the legend conflicts with the facts, print the legend.”

    Senator Ransom Stoddard
    James Stewart
    Tom Doniphon
    John Wayne
    Hallie Stoddard
    Vera Miles
    Liberty Valance
    Lee Marvin
    Dutton Peabody
    Edmond O’Brien
    Link Appleyard
    Andy Devine
    Pompey
    Woody Strode
    Doc Willoughby
    Ken Murray
    Major Cassius Starbuckle
    John Carradine
    Nora Ericson
    Jeanette Nolan
    Peter Ericson
    John Qualen
    Amos Carruthers
    Denver Pyle
    Reese
    Lee Van Cleef
    Floyd
    Strother Martin

    Director
    John Ford

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