“This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

If you’ve read any of my blog up to this point, you know I have an unhealthy infatuation with John Ford. What can I say? He’s one of the first American directors to be considered an auteur (a filmmaker with a unique style and approach to filmmaking that is distinguishable from others), and his filmography can boast for itself: his trilogy of Will Rogers films – Doctor Bull, Judge Priest, Steamboat Round the Bend, his 1939 trifecta – Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln and Drums Along the Mohawk, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, Sergeant Rutledge, Two Rode Together, How the West Was Won, and Donovan’s Reef, just to name a few. The man was nothing if not eclectic. There’s plenty to praise, but there’s also plenty to criticize. Whether it was because of all these successful films, his time in the military, the auteur appraisal, or whatever; the man was a tyrant by all accounts and according to those who worked on the film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, there wasn’t a worse movie set to be on. Ford did not like studio interference with his work, but since he couldn’t get into fights with the studio heads, he took his anger out on his actors, John Wayne in particular. Ford was the man who made Wayne a star, and so out of loyalty, Wayne would never fight back with Ford (which probably made Ford all the more venomous). Woody Strode recounts that Ford constantly ridiculed Wayne for his failed time as a football player (Strode was a successful player in college) and avoiding active military duty during World War II (James Stewart served in WWII, and Ford himself filmed documentaries at battle sites). Wayne became bitter towards Strode and Stewart (which was probably intentional for the sake of their characters in the movie) in particular and took some of his rage out on the former. So, while apparently The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance wasn’t much fun to make, it sure is fun to watch, and on that note, we move on.

The movie begins with a senator and his wife returning to a town called Shinbone for the funeral of a friend. The senator is asked by a reporter why he would come to this small town to a funeral of a random rancher, and the senator recounts events that occurred 25 years before. Upon entering the town of Shinbone for the first time, Rance Stoddard (James Stewart) is immediately attacked by the outlaw, Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), and his gang. Rance is discovered by Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) who carries Rance in to be treated for his wounds by his girlfriend, Hallie (Vera Miles). Rance works in Shinbone, hoping to set up a law practice, befriends the local newspaper editor, Dutton Peabody, and decides to build and teach a school when he discovers Hallie and a good portion of the town are illiterate. Meanwhile, Valance’s tirades on Shinbone and the surrounding area are getting worse, and Rance decides he better learn to use a gun. Tom attempts to teach him, but soon their time together turns into a competition for Hallie’s affections. Valance challenges Rance to a gunfight after Rance defeats Valance in being elected as a delegate to the upcoming statehood convention. When the newspaper reports that Valance has killed a local farmer, Valance and his gang beat Peabody and burn the newspaper office. When Rance finally confronts Valance, Valance quickly disarms him and aims to kill. Rance reaches for his gun and fires and Valance goes down. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Tom is standing in the bushes with a rifle, and he later reveals to Rance that he was actually the one to kill Valance. But he also tells Rance to take responsibility for the shooting and give Hallie the life she deserves. Back in the present, the newspaper reporter burns his notes from Rance’s story, deciding the truth would ruin Rance’s legacy.

This is the first time John Wayne and James Stewart ever worked together on a film project – thirty-ish years after both actors became huge stars. By this point, both men were in their 50s and honestly too old for the roles they took on (their costar and the desire of both of their affections, Vera Miles, was roughly twenty years their junior). They only appeared in two other films together, How the West Was Won and The Shootist (James Stewart had already retired from acting by the time The Shootist was being made, and he only came back as a favor to John Wayne, for whom The Shootist would be his last movie before dying of stomach cancer). Meanwhile, Lee Marvin was still an up-and-comer at this time, but at least had the fame to get looked at for the part of Liberty Valance. This was only his second film made after he starred on the television show, M Squad, for four years. It’s very rare that a film can have so many heavy-hitters in it, and it still be mostly remembered for its plot and not just who is in it. Such is the legend of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Bonus Review: The Searchers

More acclaimed than The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers is one of the best John Ford – John Wayne collaborations. Quite frankly, Ethan Edwards is the best acting of John Wayne’s prolific career. This isn’t to say there aren’t better movies with John Wayne in them, but Wayne is so perfect as the cynical, racist uncle to Natalie Wood’s Debbie, that no other performance comes close. When Debbie is kidnapped by Comanche, Ethan leads a small group to look for her and bring her home, or kill her if she’s been “tainted”. The most harrowing scene in the film comes when Ethan attempts to do just that after five long years of searching. Once he returns Debbie home, we watch through the doorway as Ethan Edwards walks out into the sunset. Not as a hero, reveling in his success, but as a bitter man refusing to accept that the world is changing without him. Much can be said of Ford’s attempts at dark undertones in the film. There’s Ethan’s blatant racism, and mistreatment of Native Americans in general, but also there’s at least a hint that Debbie is actually Ethan’s daughter, having cuckolded his own brother. Yeesh.

Ethan Edwards returns to West Texas after eight long years. He visits his brother, Aaron, and his wife, Martha, and their children, Ben, Lucy and Debbie. Aaron’s neighbor freaks out because his cattle are stolen, so Captain Clayton leads Ethan and a troop of Texas Rangers to get them back. The men learn that the theft was the Comanche’s plot to get the men away from their families and rush back home, but it’s too late. Aaron’s house is in flames, Aaron, Martha and Ben are dead, and Lucy and Debbie are missing. The same group goes hunting the Comanches but have little luck, so most turn back. Only Ethan, Martin – Aaron’s adopted son – and Brad, Lucy’s fiancée, keep hunting. They find Lucy’s body in a canyon and, in a rage, Brad rides into the Comanche camp and is quickly killed. Ethan and Martin lose the trail when winter comes and return home. They are welcomed in by Aaron’s neighbor, and Ethan learns a man named Futterman has info on Debbie’s whereabouts. He leaves alone, but Martin catches up, and they learn Debbie has been taken by a ruthless Comanche named Scar. Eventually, they find Debbie, now thirteen, as one of Scar’s wives and she refuses to come home. Ethan tries to shoot her, preferring her dead to being an Indian, but Martin shields her with his body. They return home without Debbie before the Comanches get to them. They try again to locate Debbie by attacking Scar’s camp. Martin rescues Debbie and kills Scar. Ethan comes up behind him and scalps Scar. They all return home, Debbie welcomed once again, but Ethan stands in the doorway and walks away.