“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” is in a lot of ways the last great classic Western. Directed by John Ford, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne star with a swarm of excellent supporting cast including Vera Miles, Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef. But heading up the supporting cast is Lee Marvin as the poisonously evil Liberty Valance. It is a tale of the closing of the old west when the cattle barons tried to hold onto the open range by standing in the way of statehood in some unnamed mountain western state; possibly Montana or Wyoming. Here the cowboys are the dead-enders holding off progress and the future is with the farmers and townspeople.
(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)
The plot involves the coming to the town of Shinbone of the state’s senior United States Senator Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart). He’s come with his wife Hallie to attend the funeral of their old friend Tom Doniphon. The local newspaper owner wants to know what would bring such an important personage as Stoddard to Shinbone for the funeral of a complete unknown such as Doniphon. And the whole movie is a flash back to Stoddard’s arrival in Shinbone as a young man and how this changed his and everyone else’s lives.
Ransom is headed into town on a stage coach that is held up by infamous criminal Liberty Valance and his gang. When Stoddard attempts to stop the thieves from stealing a piece of sentimental jewelry from a widow he is savagely beaten by Valance, ending with a lashing from a whip that Liberty always carries with him.
In the next scene Tom Doniphon brings the seriously injured Stoddard into town on his buckboard for medical attention. Now we meet Hallie who helps treat Stoddard’s wounds. Meanwhile Stoddard insists that the town marshal Link Appleyard (played by Andy Devine) should arrest Valance for robbery and the assault. But we discover that Appleyard is too afraid of Valance to even consider arresting the outlaw. Doniphon explains to Stoddard that the only way to stop Valance is with a gun. But he also makes it clear that the only one Valance fears is Doniphon himself because of his superior gun hand. He advises Stoddard to leave town. We also find out that Hallie is Doniphon’s girl.
The movie moves on to a town meeting to appoint delegates to the state election convention where the representative to the federal government will be selected. Valance attempts to intimidate the townspeople into selecting him as delegate. But with Doniphon’s help Stoddard and the owner of the newspaper, Dutton Peabody (played by Edmond O’Brien) are selected. Valance explicitly tells Stoddard that he is going to come gunning for him that night and Hallie and Doniphon both warn him to leave town.
Valance returns that night and destroys Peabody’s newspaper office and beats him savagely. Stoddard finds Peabody and calls for the town doctor then gets his gun and heads onto the main street to shoot it out with Valance. Valance toys with Stoddard. He fires a shot at a flower pot hanging near Stoddard’s head from a long distance. Then he shoots Stoddard in his shooting arm, allowing him to recover his gun with his left hand. Finally, he says, “This one will be right between the eyes.” Stoddard fires first and Valance is hit and eventually dies.
Now Hallie feels guilty that Stoddard risked his life because of her disapproval of his idea of leaving town. And it becomes clear that she has shifted her affections from Doniphon to Stoddard. Doniphon sees this emotional change and goes to his ranch and burns down the home he had been building for his married life with Hallie.
Despite their wounds Stoddard and Peabody attend the meeting at the territory capitol and Stoddard’s name is advanced as a candidate. John Carradine plays an orator working for the ranchers who characterizes Stoddard as a murderer who does not deserve such a high office. Stoddard feels guilty for killing Valance and walks out of the meeting. Doniphon follows him out and confronts him about leaving. When Stoddard admits his feelings of guilt, Doniphon reveals the truth about the shooting of Valance. In a flashback scene we witness Doniphon shooting Valance from a side street with his rifle a split second before Stoddard’s ineffective pistol shot was fired. Relieved to know he hadn’t killed another human being, Stoddard returns to the meeting where he is selected representative.
The movie flashes back to Stoddard telling this story to the newspapermen. The editor thanks Stoddard but tells him he won’t reveal the truth about who shot Liberty Valance. He says, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Ransom and Hallie leave town after the funeral and it is clear that she still had very deep feelings for Tom. And they both decide to return from Washington and finish their lives in Shinbone. The parting shot occurs when a railroad official is complimented by Stoddard on the excellent service he had received on the train. The man replied, “Nothing is too good for “the man who shot Liberty Valance!”
I will say that this movie was something of a throwback for the year it was made in 1962. Despite younger stars like Vera Miles, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef and Lee Marvin this looked and felt like Golden Age Hollywood western. The biggest difference was the post-cowboy theme with the ranchers as the bad guys. And of course, Stewart and Wayne were a little long in the tooth for the characters they were playing during the flashback scenes of the movie. But I will say this is a very enjoyable film. I’d say the highlight is watching Lee Marvin getting his comeuppances on the streets of Shinbone. He does play a satisfying bad guy. I’ll call this movie highly recommended for anyone who likes a classic western.