The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Screening on Film
Directed by John Ford.
With John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin.
US, 1962, 35mm, black & white, 123 min.
With John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin.
US, 1962, 35mm, black & white, 123 min.
A wonderful entry into Ford: even those who disdain westerns see Liberty Valance and adore this masterwork. It’s a grand movie about politics, law, journalism, history, education, with a love triangle as tragic, and moving, as Cyrano de Bergerac. The film’s priceless flashbacks are Ford’s six-gun salute to the volatile America of yesteryear, when John Wayne rides tall, Lee Marvin (as Liberty) is the baddest bad man on the range, and the cactus rose grows untamed in the desert. All this changes when Jimmy Stewart comes West with law books in his hand. More? The epiphanic last shots are worthy of Joyce. A must-see.
