That he does this by mixing in history, humorous supporting characters and a poignant romance is typical; his films were complete and self-contained in a way that approaches perfection. Waynedid not use any scenes shot by Ford in the film (much to the chagrin of Ford) while Wayne was angry with the general impression that was created that it was Ford, and not him, who directed The Alamo; others believed Ford was jealous of Dukes increasing success compared to his own sudden decline. Out of either James Stewart or John Wayne, who was The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and how does this alter the ending? It turns out he hadn't worn a handgun in years. When Stoddard found the town marshal was a coward, he began to take an old gun out and practice. None of his recent films have been big hits, even the ones he made with John Wayne likeThe Horse Soldiers were failing to find favor with the audience. As the film opens, U. S. Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) is arriving in Shinbone by the new railroad with his wife Hallie (Vera Miles). John Ford died in 1973, and even though they didnt make any more films together, John Wayne would remain close to his mentor till his death. There is a purity to the John Ford style. But Liberty Valance and his guns work for the cattle barons who want to keep the territory for themselves. Miraculously, Stoddard kills Valance, wins Hallie (Tom's former girl), and goes to the political convention. He is Tom's farmhand and seems to be his only confidant, a protective presence; he always has Tom's back. Stoddard demands that Doniphon's boots and spurs and gunbelt be returned to his corpse. Without ever seeming to hurry, he doesn't include a single gratuitous shot. Doniphon revealed how he was hidden on a side street with Pompey when the showdown occurred. Beginning with "Stagecoach" (1939), continuing from 1948 through 1950 with the Cavalry Trilogy ("Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "Rio Grande"), and finally to 1962 and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," together in 10 features they largely formed the templates of the Hollywood Western. He dies a drunkard, having lost everything in his life, unacknowledged and unknown. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Stoddard goes into the street to face Valance. Wayne always plays characters who take charge of the situation, the guy who takes the fight to the opposition and, the contrast between him and the bad guy is always well defined. It also seems that Doniphans decision to put Stoddard in as delegate and then offer him a wagon out of town when Valance threatens him is motivated by his desire to keep Hallie to himself. Stoddard's first instinct is to demand the arrest of Liberty Valance; Doniphon tells him that law books mean nothing out West, that if Stoddard wants to take Valance, he'd better start carrying a hand-gun. Doniphan offers Stoddard a wagon out of town, and he considers it. Ransom: Thats why I painted it. In glorious, retro black & white! Tom Doniphon is played by John Wayne, while Ransom Stoddard is played by Jimmie Stewart. Yes, but there's more to it than that, and in John Ford's mind, gun ownership is very much an open question. The first time we see it, James Stewart is bullied and wounded but miraculously shoots Valance, who seems to have woefully underestimated him. In its sparseness and interplay of light and darkness, Ford evokes moments from Film Noirs- where Wayne comes out of the darkness, shoots Marvin, and then recedes back into darkness. In a long flashback involving most of the film, Ford recalls the events leading up to that day. A newspaper reporter and editor begin asking questions about why the senator is back in town; Doniphon, after all, did not die as a man of any significance. Seeing how his act of heroism has won Hattie for Stoddard, he becomes disgusted with himself, burning his home, the symbol of his hopes for the future as well as his isolation from the community, to the ground. When Liberty Valance was finally released, it met with mixed critical reaction, the American critics didnt think much of it, but the European critics called it one of Fords masterworks. But he hasnt. His relationship with Wayne was a little strained at the time, mainly because of incidents involving Waynes directorial ventureTheAlamo, in which Ford worked as a second unitdirector. He would have rolled with Todd Beamer on Flight 93, rushed the terrorist on the French train, and helped save lives at Las Vegas just not very effectively. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Another turn off was the fact that James Stewarts Ransom Stoddard is the fulcrum of the plot and, for 99 percent of the picture, is also the man who shot Liberty Valance. Predictions for the 95th Annual AcademyAwards. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is Ford's deeply personal farewell to a period in American history he loved, a folklore he helped create. Liberty Valance: Three against one, Doniphon. The tall, confident Woody Strode appeared in five Ford pictures, all the way from "Stagecoach" to Ford's final film, "7 Women" (1966). Stoddard, on the other hand, is of another breed; the movement West, triggered by Greeley, came after the settlers in the wagon trains, and brought with it well-established Eastern customs. Thirty years ago the swaggering, tough-talking leader of the Gambino crime family was found guilty of murder and racketeering after eluding prosecutors at three previous high-profile trials. Lee Van Cleef Reese The character of Tom Doniphon was supposed to be a younger man, and the filmmaker relentlessly mocked and teased Wayne during filming. What Doniphon craves most is domesticity, but by finally shooting Valance, he loses that opportunity; thismakes Doniphon the most tragic character that John Wayne has ever. There are few comparisons to Tom as an artist; even fewer to him as a . James Stewart Ransom Stoddard But as he would come to reveal in Liberty Valance, he was just printing the legend all along, leaving out the hard facts. Without Ransom Stoddards courage and convictions, there is no movie. No problem: It became a hit anyway. Subscribe to our email newsletter. All that said, its a bit of an odd film for Wayne, who got top billing but has one of the least interesting characters. This makes Doniphon a very passive character with respect to Valance, which explains why a direct confrontation never takes place between them, though at many points in the film, they come close. When he recovers, the college-education lawyer goes to work as a dishwasher in the hotel that took him in. "At the heart of the Western", argues John Lenihan, was always In response to TIME making Greta Thunberg their 2019 Person of the Year, Shane Vander Hart nominates Baby Yoda and Conan the war hero dog instead. Tom could stand up to Valance, but it would suit him to have Stoddard out of the way so that he could bring Hallie home to that porch with its rocking chair. There is no formally enforced law and order; Doniphon says, "Out here a man settles his own problems.". Of course, the pick of the lot was Lee Marvin who portrayed the anger, maliciousness, and sadism of a man who symbolized all the lawlessness of the old west, and who refused to step gently aside to encroaching civilization. Stoddard is saved by Doniphon, a local farmer and horse trader, who observes: Liberty Valances the toughest man south of the Picketwirenext to me. Stoddard is nursed back to health by Hallie (Vera Miles). So the newspapermen are all surprised, as to why Ranse Stoddard: three-term governor, two-term senator, ambassador to the Court of St. James, would attend his funeral. Andy Devine says "he hasn't worn them in years" . The police tried to pull him over in Lake View Terrace in San Fernando Valley after he was speeding at 110 mph. It was like Gary Cooper inHigh Noonexcept Stoddard wasnt Gary Cooper with the gun. Valance challenges Stoddard to a show-down, although he knows Stoddard can hardly hold a gun. After this film, his career would see a meteoric rise and, by the mid 1960s, he would become one of the top stars in the industry. This leads to Stoddard being elected as a delegate (along with Dutton Peabody (Edmond OBrien), publisher of the local newspaper) for a statehood convention at the territorial capital. As the film opens, U. S. Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) arrives in Shinbone by the new railroad with his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) to attend the funeral of a man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). His mood made life difficult for all the actors involved but he was especially tough on Wayne, who found himself in the direct firing line again. It's Doniphon, offscreen, who breaks our hearts, a man shrunken and made smooth by decades of slow erosion. Next: The Barbarian And The Geisha Had John Wayne Literally Fighting His Director. Related: True Grit: How The 2010 Movie Compares To The Book & John Wayne Version. Throughout the film, he tells us that hes tougher than Liberty Valance, that he can beat Liberty Valance and he makes us believe. This is fascism against democracy: the tyranny of the strongman over the ordinary people. At the end of the film, we learn that Tom Doniphan (John Wayne) really had shot Liberty Valance while the public had given credit to Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) who went on to have a successful political career. Besides, there is a complication. Wayne losing out to such a loser of a characterwould anger any john Wayne fan, most of all Wayne himself Wayne (and his audience) like to see Wayne triumphant, not as a tragic, moody alcoholic who dies off-screen. > did Tom Macdonald was born on November 22, 1900 and on! Stoddard continues to defy Valance and earns the respect of the townsfolk, by first opening a law practice in town and then starting a school for teaching illiterate townspeople. He also hated, what he called, intellectual snobbishness, but, this film is the most intellectual of all his films, not to mention cynical, political, pessimistic and subversive. Tom Doniphon and his handyman, Pompey, find Ranse and take him to Shinbone, where Tom's girlfriend, Hallie, treats his wounds. Mr. Connors died in Peterborough, Ont., at the age of 77 from "natural causes," according to spokesman Brian Edwards. John Wayne Tom Doniphon The body of Tom Doniphon is at rest in a plain, wooden casket. A man of action and few words (note his instinctive hatred of the rhetoric in the Convention speeches), Doniphon is very much an individual who minds his own business. Doniphon is not a person of any importance around town, just a sorry old man on the fringes, who passed away unnoticed. They would make one more film together, the lighthearted comedyDonovans Reef (1963), and call it quits. (LogOut/ Ford uses a flashback structure to tell the story; Fords films are usually very linear, and he seldom uses a scattered narrative. Tom Doniphon tells him that without a gun in his hand and the experience to use it, he will sooner or later certainly be killed by Valance. These westerns are memory films, filled with the traditions of the past, created from the anecdotes, fables, and songs that sprang from American history. Tom Doniphon is a local farmer, who observes, "Liberty Valance's the toughest man south of the Picketwire--next to me." When Stoddard arrived in town by stagecoach, he was a fresh young lawyer with some romantic notions about bringing law & order to the west. Hallie, once Tom's girl, has fallen in love with Stoddard, and in sparing him, Doniphon loses her. A man of action and few words (note his instinctive hatred of the rhetoric in the Convention speeches),. To Ford, Stoddard represents blind progress. Stoddard's first confrontation with Doniphon reveals absolutely no understanding between them; they eye each other as if the other were a strange animal. Trying to defend a woman passenger, Stoddard is beaten by Valance, left for dead, and brought to town by Tom Doniphon. When Stoddard is wracked with guilt thinking he killed Valance, Doniphon relieves his conscience, leaving him free to pursue his political career, founded on his false heroism. All three spend much of their time hanging out in the restaurant kitchen. We watch events of long-ago happen before our eyes, and are content to take a temporary departure from the Twentieth Century. I said you, Valance; you pick it up. In fact, they find themselves up for election as territorial delegates to work toward that goal. [Valance looks and sees Pompey at the door holding a rifle] Floyd : I'll get it, Liberty! So Ford had to go back to his favorite son to get this picture made, and he didnt like it at all and neither did Wayne. Pompey had thrown Tom a rifle and at the exact moment of Valance's fourth and potentially-fatal shot, Doniphon killed Valance from a side angle, without anyone knowing at the moment of the blast. Stoddard decides that he cannot be entrusted with public service after killing a man in a gunfight and he decides to withdraw. When Peabody and Stoddard are elected as the delegates, Valance promises vengeance. When Stoddard nominate Doniphan for delegate, he refuses the post which would bring him into conflict with Valance. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance from 1962 was one of their final projects together, though John Wayne was cast by the studio against Ford's wishes. Even Doniphans attempts to help Stoddard had mixed motives at best. Now obviously this revelation makes the frame story of Old Senator Stoddard work better. Tom Doniphon tells him that without a gun in his hand and the experience to use it, he will sooner or later certainly be killed by Valance. He comes into conflict with Liberty Valance again when the town has to elect two representatives to the Statehood Convention; Sotddard and the townspeople want statehood--it would mean government protection of their rights, the establishment of schools and the railroad. His mental downfall afterwards still makes sense if he didn't secretly shoot Valance. He is putting to death all that Wayne represented in his westerns up until that time and for the rest of the film, he is going to painfully reconstruct the mythology of the west and Wayne through some cold hard facts. Regardless, it was a great movie, but perhaps could have been greater. [Doniphon kicks Floyd in the face as he bends down to retrieve the tray] Supposedly he likes Stoddard and doesnt want to see him killed, but what prevents him from announcing his presence before hand, or even after? Tom Doniphon shoots the outlaw thug Liberty Valance from the shadows, keeps it a secret, then realizes that his girl Hallie is in love with Ransom Stoddard, whereupon he burns his house to the ground (starting with the new wing he'd built for her. Stoddard believes that hes a real man, a tough and violent character who can handle himself, and that Stoddard is a tenderfoot who is pretty much useless in the real world. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Now you can rate you favorite and least favorite Westerns, too. Tom is highly respected by his peers, because of the laid-back cut of his jib, and because he may be the only man willing to stand up to the violent outlaw Liberty Valance. Where Tom sees Liberty Valance as a source of personal conflict, a potential menace to his own well-being, Stoddard can only see Valance as the embodiment of a social evil that must be wiped out through new laws and social reform. Doniphon - calling Stoddard 'Pilgrim', an epithet . Doniphon is not a person of any importance around town, just a sorry old man on the fringes, who passed away unnoticed. There are here to attend the funeral of a man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). Meanwhile, John Wayne was reeling from the financial setbacks caused by his dream projectThe Alamo (1960), which he directed, produced and starred in. I dont trust ambiguity. Wayne became surly and aggressive during the shoot and he started taking out his anger on everybody else on the set, except Ford. Now Hallie has started to like this lawyer-man from the East, who starts up a one-room schoolhouse to teach people how to read. Harvard College Accepts 3.41% of Applicants to Class of 2027. Stoddard was inept but courageous. Tom repeatedly helps Ransom and the two become a competitive force against Liberty Valance. Live Action again exposes Planned Parenthood. He forbids Stoddards to teach Hallie to read. Now with his conscious clear, Stoddard returns to the convention, accepts the nomination, and is elected to the Washington delegation. His friend & Ranch hand Pompey (Woody Strode)saves him from the fire, but is unable to save the house. But things are not that easy. That and the fact that few present day people in Shinbone seem to remember Tom Doniphon suggests that after the Valance shooting, Tom Doniphon went into a seculsion, probably just stayed at his little ranch and lived like a hermit. In it, Ford gives us a capsule version of the world it took him 40 years to create, and then shows us how it died. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Also, he was angry that Ford always put him in colorless characters, while other actors in the film got all the juicy scenes. It's not saying too much to note that Ransom Stoddard is elected to the U. S. Senate because he is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." But the fact is that Wayne is really good as Tom Doniphon; Both he and Stewart, who were 54 and 53 respectability, were too old for the parts, but the film could not have been made without them. Why does Doniphon hesitate? What happened Tom Doniphon? Setting aside the question of why Stoddard thinks its morally acceptable to base his career on a lie, but not on the real killing (hed rather have people think he killed Valance than actually do it), rewatching the film this most recent time its Doniphon that fascinates me. He finds out real soon while traveling to the town of Shinbone that the West doesn't really care about law or . Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Stoddard has none of this embarrassment. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.. There are here to attend the funeral of a man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). Stoddard and Hallie then sit in silence as the politician reflects on the life he built on a myth and John Wayne's Doniphon sacrificing his own happiness for him and Hallie. He is everything Doniphon wishes he could be. He had married Hallie in the interim, and now, they have come to pay their final respects to The real Man who shot Liberty Valance. When the shooting ends, Valance is dead; Stoddard is hailed a hero as the man who shot Liberty Valance.. In fact, hes severely whipped by Valance after a stage holdup. In all other respects, hes the same character John Wayne played in countless films throughout his career, the competent hero, cool under fire, respected by all. Doniphan is ready to kill Valance over spoiling his steak by tripping Stoddard, but does nothing while Valance oppresses his neighbors, and torments innocent people. Earlier, we have seen Doniphon training Stoddard in the use of guns, but findingStoddard not up to the task, Doniphon had humiliated him. Three men stand at the center of the story: Stoddard, Doniphon, and Valance. But the most important of all, the film begins with the death of his lead character, Tom Doniphon, played by none other than John Wayne. While Howard Hawks westerns emphasized professionalism and comradeship among the settlers of the old west, and Anthony Manns westerns shed light on the dark side of this civilization: greed, vengeance and violence; the westerns that John Ford made were not just simple genre pictures, they were about the building of the American nation. Vera Miles Hallie Stoddard Doniphan, while still doing dishwashing work, hangs. It is made clear in "Liberty Valance" that segregation was the practice in the territory. Tom Doniphon was rough-edged, but gentlemanly to all but Liberty Valance and his henchmen. He is the author. Collin Brendemuehl: Fake history is worthy of exploration if to correct bad history. This would make him a tragic figure, even if he lived the rest of his days honorably under the 'law and order' creed. In the end,The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis about two men: One man is humble and comes to serve the people of a frightened community and to bring law and peace, and is willing to put his life on the line for it. This famous aphorism (One of the most famous lines in Movie history) is spoken by the character of a newspaperman in Fords 1962 western,The Man who shot Liberty Valance. In another film I might even think this ambiguous element was more important. It is the Ford town, complete with a drunken doctor, a crusading newspaper editor, a cowardly marshall (brillantly played by Andy Devine), two saloons-one high class, and then the Spanish place down the street--and assorted cowboys and farmers. Stoddard becomes disgusted and leaves, but Doniphon stops him and reveals that it was he who actually shot Liberty Valance. It turns out an unseen Doniphon shot Valance with a rifle from across the street and he later came to regret saving Stoddard as he lost Hallie to the lawyer, but he pushes him to pursue a career in politics to make Hallie proud. Tom Doniphon came to the rescue and saved Ransom's life. Did Hallie love Tom Doniphon? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. He always liked his films to be clean and straight, and any form of alteration to the classical structure of the film was anathema to him. This was a breakout role for Marvin, who has been struggling in supporting parts and TV roles. But the very final scene of the film had John Wayne extolling the virtues of the American soldier, and in the background, the Cavalry is seen riding out take on the Indians. Doniphan, while still doing dishwashing work, hangs up his shingle at a local newspaper, and begins teach people to read, and about their country. Stoddard grabs a six-gun he can barely use and offers to meet Valance in the street while Hallie summons Doniphon for help. It would be easy for him to assume the title of town marshal from lovable cowardly drunk Andy Devine, and yet he has no interest.
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