Summary
John Wayneand James Stewart worked on a handful of Western movies together, but their best collaboration was also their first. Both John Wayne and James Stewart are legends of Hollywood, and they were at the height of their popularity in the early 1960s. Some ofthe movies that defined John Wayne’s careercame in that decade, as did some ofJames Stewart’s best films. Since they were so popular, it seemed almost inevitable that Wayne and Stewart would work together, and they finally got their chance in 1962.
In total, John Wayne and James Stewart starred in three films together.Wayne and Stewart worked with Henry Fondain the three-hour epicHow the West Was Won, and they also co-starred inWayne’s final film,The Shootist. Both of those movies were tremendous, but they weren’t the best work the two actors did together. That honor goes to their first collaboration, which also happened to be one of the least typical Westerns they made. John Wayne and James Stewart’s best film together was none other thanThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
John Wayne’s 5 Best Westerns, Ranked
John Wayne had an extensive career in Hollywood, but some of his Westerns were better than others.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Was Wayne & Stewart’s First Western Team-Up - What It’s About
The first time James Stewart and John Wayne co-starred in a Western together was inThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valancein 1962. Stewart played Ransom Stoddard, a former lawyer who became a U.S. Senator, while Wayne played Tom Doniphon, a rancher who was handy with a gun.The Man Who Shot Liberty Valancestarts with Ransom returning to the town of Shinbone for Tom’s funeral, but most of the movie is a flashback to when the two met. Back then, Ransom was just a young lawyer looking to begin his practice, and Tom helped him out after he was mugged by the local outlaw: Liberty Valance.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
As the title suggests,The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis about answering the question of who actually shot the outlaw: Tom or Ransom. Such a simple question, however, got very complicated over the course of the film. By thetwist ending ofThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it seemed Ransom had killed the outlaw, but it turned out that Tom actually pulled the trigger. Though he didn’t actually kill the man, Ransom was the one who benefited, as he stole Tom’s girlfriend, Hallie, and became a Senator, while Tom fell into a depression and died poor and alone.
Who Else Was In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
While Wayne and Stewart were the main attraction,The Man Who Shot Liberty Valancehad a very deep cast of talented actors.Lee Marvin, who is now most known for his war movies likeThe Dirty DozenandThe Professionals, played the titular outlaw, Liberty Valance. He gave a great performance as the local bully and villain, and it was one of his first major movies before his true breakout role inCat Ballou. Vera Miles, the star ofPsycho, also starred inThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, where she played Hallie, the former girlfriend of Tom and present-day wife of Ransom.
Link Appleyard
Why The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Is John Wayne & James Stewart’s Best Western Together
ThoughThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valancewas John Wayne and James Stewart’s first time working together on a Western, it was also their best outing.Wayne and Stewart went on to do two more Westerns together:How the West Was WonandThe Shootist. While those are both great films, they pale in comparison toThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Wayne and Stewart’s first collaboration was far from an action-packed Western shooter like their other films, but it was probably their most complex, deep, and morally intriguing film together.
It’s hard to boil down what makes The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance so good simply because it did so many things tremendously well.
It’s hard to boil down what makesThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceso good simply because it did so many things tremendously well. Both Wayne and Stewart’s characters were exactly in their wheelhouse as actors, and they were both at their absolute best in playing them.The titular mystery ofThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis also such a compelling hook for a film, and it raises so many intriguing questions. It’s a study of things like stolen valor and the price of making a noble choice, and that twist made the film’s already compelling characters into endlessly deep questions to ponder.
In essence,The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis just a Western that fires on all cylinders at all times. If it wasn’t, there’s no way it could have become the best collaboration between legends as big as James Stewart and John Wayne.The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis well worth a watch, if for no other reason than to see where the legendary pairing ofJohn Wayneand James Stewart began, and where it peaked.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Cast
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 Western film directed by John Ford. Starring James Stewart as an idealistic senator and John Wayne as a rugged rancher, the story explores themes of justice and legend as they confront the outlaw Liberty Valance, played by Lee Marvin. The film examines the conflicts between law, order, and personal morality in the American West.
