Released in 1962, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was directed by the great John Ford and starred Hollywood legends James Stewart and John Wayne. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck, was adapted from a short story by Dorothy M. Johnson. The film was a big hit upon its release, and Edith Head received an Academy Award nomination for best costume design; one of the few westerns ever to be nominated for the award. Along with The Searchers, My Darling Clementine, and Stagecoach, Who Shot Liberty Valance is widely considered to be one of director John Ford’s best westerns. In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
The only occasion James Stewart and John Wayne would truly make a film together, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is about the changing of the guard, the measure of a man and the need for a hero. It’s the late 1800’s, an aging Senator named Ransom Stoddard (Stewart) has just returned to the town of Shinbone to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon (Wayne). Everybody in Shinbone has heard of Stoddard but none remember the recently departed Doniphon. Using flashbacks, Ford has Stoddard tell the story of his friend to a local newspaper reporter and over the course of two hours, 3 minutes we are told the story of these two very different men who have enough common interests to coexist.
Stoddard is a young law school graduate who dreams of changing the world. He is traveling by stagecoach to the town of Shinbone when he is violently attacked by a gang of men led by the ruthless Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). After struggling to get into town, Stoddard is cared for by Hallie (Vera Miles), a woman who runs a local restaurant. While recuperating, Stoddard earns his keep as a dishwasher for Hallie. During that time he meets Doniphon, a cowboy who laughs at the idea of law and order; preferring to let his six shooter do the talking. Of course Stoddard, the bleeding heart, and Doniphon, the old school tough guy, have their differences, but they have two very important things in common: a love for Hallie and a disdain for Valance.
Stoddard eventually starts a school for the local citizens. There, they not only learn the three R’s but are instilled with a sense of civic pride in their community. When a convention is held to select two delegates to the territorial capital city, Valance wishes to be voted one himself and attempts to bully the townspeople. Stoddard, along with the publisher of the Shinbone Star, Dutton Peabody (Edmond O’Brien), are selected. After being thwarted in the meeting, Valance challenges Stoddard to a gunfight. Though he has little experience with a gun, Stoddard accepts the challenge. There is a final showdown, the results of which I won’t reveal here; wait for it, even though there’s a little too much extraneous action following it, it’s one of the scenes you’ll remember.
In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance John Ford effectively combines drama, excitement and humor to make an atypical Western of substance and enduring power. And to his credit, Ford creates a final moment that’s as touching as anything you’re likely to find in any movie, Western or not.
The 1.85:1 ratio, anamorphic widescreen black-and-white picture shows up with strong contrasts, the whites only sometimes overshadowing the darker tones and glowing a bit too brightly. Definition is reasonably sharp for a standard-def presentation, with a modicum of natural film grain and few signs of excessive age marks or deterioration.
Unlike the video, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio does show its age in being a bit too bright, forward, and edgy in the midrange and having little to show for itself in terms of frequency range, dynamic impact, or surround activity. Still, the sound serves the film well enough, and there is certainly no difficulty understanding the dialogue or being annoyed by background noise.
The special features included here are spread over two discs. The first disc includes the film itself and two commentary tracks. The second disc includes a documentary on the making of the film, along with the film’s trailer and some stills galleries.
• Feature Commentary with Peter Bogdanovich, including archival recordings of John Ford and Jimmy Stewart – This is a scene-specific commentary, with Bogdanovich critiquing and discussing the elements of most scenes. Bogdanovich also includes various recorded interviews he did with Ford, Stewart and Wayne. Many of the recordings can also be heard in the documentary on the second disc.
• Selected Scene Commentary by Dan Ford, including archival recordings of John Ford, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin– (22:44) Dan Ford, grandson of the great filmmaker, contributes his own recorded interviews as commentary to several scenes from the film. This feature has to be viewed separately from the film, in its own menu. The viewer can either play all the sections or just pick which ones are desired. As with the Bogdanovich recordings, much of this material can be heard in the documentary on the second disc.
On Disc two, we find:
• The Size of Legends, The Soul of Myth (50:55, Anamorphic) – SOME SPOILERS IN THIS FEATURE! – This is a 7-part featurette that efficiently covers the making of the film, from John Ford’s attempts to get backing for it through the production, to its eventual reception. Various critics and family members of the principals are interviewed on-camera, buttressed by recorded interview material with John Ford, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin. Footage from the film is intercut with stills taken on the set of John Ford at work with the actors. This is a fairly honest piece of work – John Ford is not idealized here – he comes across as a fairly demanding director and a difficult person, both in the discussions about him and in his own answers to Bogdanovich’s questions on the recordings.
• Trailer (2:43, Anamorphic) – The original theatrical trailer for the film is included here. It shows its age, to be sure, but it’s interesting to see. As an interesting curiosity, the trailer also plugs the song written for the film but not used in it.
• Galleries (Anamorphic) – Four galleries of stills are included here, one each for John Ford, Production, Publicity and Lobby Cards. Many of these are the photos seen in the documentary but they’re fun to see on their own.
