He appears to be a roguish heroic type at first blush, but when you look deeper, you find a very self-centered character. He dies a drunkard, having lost everything in his life, unacknowledged and unknown. Authorities hoped to learn the answer today as they continued an investigation of the poison death of H. B. So the resulting fame for Stoddard was hugely unfair, right? Stoddard is recovered by Tom Doniphon (Wayne), a rancher, and taken to the local eating establishment, the home of Hallie and her Swedish parents, Peter and Nora Ericson. 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. 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. Trying to defend a woman passenger, Stoddard is beaten by Valance, left for dead, and brought to town by Tom Doniphon. Stoddard grabs a six-gun he can barely use and offers to meet Valance in the street while Hallie summons Doniphon for help. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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. He even takes on the duty of helping out with waiting tables. Some of this motivated by his desire for Hallie (Vera Miles) whose heart was slowly moving towards Stoddard. Supposedly he likes Stoddard and doesnt want to see him killed, but what prevents him from announcing his presence before hand, or even after? 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. Stoddard demands that Doniphon's boots and spurs and gunbelt be returned to his corpse. Ford isn't making an anachronistic statement on racism, but he's being sure we notice it. His chief victim was Woody Strode, with whom he very nearly came to blows. Doniphon (who is courting Hallie) is the only man willing to stand up to Valance. It's Doniphon, offscreen, who breaks our hearts, a man shrunken and made smooth by decades of slow erosion. The characters in Liberty Valance are the archetypal figures of all Ford westerns brought together for a last reunion, in order that they might be destroyed. In a final act of self-negation, he tells Stoddard the truth, absolving him of the act of killing (to which Stoddard had remained steadfastly opposed throughout his ordeal in the West), and taking the sin on himself to suffer alone. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - Once Upon a Time in a Western Design a site like this with WordPress.com, Follow MANK'S MOVIE MUSINGS on WordPress.com. 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. Earlier, we have seen Doniphon training Stoddard in the use of guns, but findingStoddard not up to the task, Doniphon had humiliated him. Stoddard goes into the street to face Valance. It should be clear from that line-up that he often worked alongside John Wayne too, who credited the filmmaker with making him a star. This is all to be seen: The role of a free press, the function of a town meeting, the debate about statehood, the civilizing influence of education.
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