The body of Tom Doniphon is at rest in a plain, wooden casket. The way Ford employs the African-American Pompey is observant. As a result, Stoddard gains an unearned reputation as the man who heroically shot Liberty Valance - a reputation that eventually propels him into the US Senate. /a > Oar. 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." Stoddard goes into the street to face Valance. The film ends with the defeat of American cavalry and the pathetic death of Col. Thursday (Henry Fonda). Why does this man, who has no trouble dominating a political meeting while simultaneously refusing to participate in it, skulk in the shadows like a thief, a coward? But right on his arrival, he encounters the brutal Valance, who steals all his belongings andalmost whips him to death. Stewart turns in another winning performance. But his luck finally ran out on April 3, 1992 when a jury found Gotti guilty of arranging the assassination . 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. Tom Doniphon is the archetypal Ford hero, the John Wayne of all Ford's westerns. The 10 best screen cowboys - in pictures - The Guardian Once in the town of Shinbone, he finds allies in the form of tough Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) and his fiance, Hallie (Vera Miles). I said you, Valance; you pick it up. This was a breakout role for Marvin, who has been struggling in supporting parts and TV roles. After hearing all this, the newsmen decide not to print the story, as the mythology that propelled Stoddard has to be protected at any cost. Here, he is practically rendered motionless. From thereon, he goes onto even more heights in his political career, and now he is expecting a nomination to be the vice-president of the country. of course, Ford was making a larger point; that the kind of men needed to master the wilderness are the kind of men that can only function in wilderness; they are men who civilization must expel; If society is tobenefit, then thereis no place for either Valance or Doniphon in the new world. True Grit: How The 2010 Movie Compares To The Book & John Wayne Version, The Barbarian And The Geisha Had John Wayne Literally Fighting His Director. John Qualen Peter Ericson 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). Ford turns the ending into a rousing beginning and constructs an elaborate mythology for the American military. As opposed to his other films, this film begins on a sad note, and as it goes on, it becomemore tragic and dark and finally ends on a very pessimistic note. Now it's a garden. So, when Stoddard and Valance face off, Doniphan fires the shot that kills Liberty Valance from across the street, thus losing the girl he loves to give her what she wants. 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. Liberty Valance, his masterpiece, is one of the greatest films of all time. His westerns were all optimistic in nature and concentrated on building a myth, rather than showing the gritty reality. In glorious, retro black & white! Stoddard grabs a six-gun he can barely use and offers to meet Valance in the street while Hallie summons Doniphon for help. John Ford's Funeral Oration: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Is it that the Randian half of him is ashamed of his altruistic impulses? Ford's view of women is interesting. It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. But hes conflicted: he finds himself drawn back to the community time and again, ostensibly by his love for Hattie, but also from an honest desire to help the townspeople avoid being killed by Valance and other instruments of the Northern cattle interests that are attempting to block statehood, and thus the establishment of law and order in the territory (statehood means the end of the so-called open range the literal and symbolic manifestation of the raw capitalist power of the cattle barons: the land belongs to them because they have the power to take it). Did Hallie love Tom Doniphon? Fords westerns portrayed truth, honor, courage, family and community as the chief weapons by which the American West was won. Ford would repeatedly use Marvin (and Stewart, who also served in WWII) as a stick to beat John Wayne, who hadnt served in WWII, something that always offended Ford. But, it was in direct opposition to the Western code. Stoddard believes so firmly in the law that he is willing to lose his life for his principles. John Wayne would never play this character for anybody else, expect for his pappy Ford. Comment moderation is enabled. 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. Valance and his two sidekicks hold up a stagecoach on the way to town, and when one of the passengers, Ransom, stands up to him Liberty nearly whips him to death. You put that thing up, youll have to defend it with a gun. Ford uses a flashback structure to tell the story; Fords films are usually very linear, and he seldom uses a scattered narrative. Tom repeatedly helps Ransom and the two become a competitive force against Liberty Valance. The reputation of the film continues to grow over the years, and it was a big influence on Sergio Leone, who called this his most favorite Ford film. At the time of the films release, it was dismissed as a minor work from a master filmmaker, but watching it now , it shows his extraordinary growth as a filmmaker, which is not just restricted to its thematic resonance, but also extends to its visual and narrative stylistics. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.
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