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Like a film I reviewed earlier,"Sink the Bismarck"there was a popular song released around the same time as this movie, with the same name, BUT is NOT in said movie.
More important in these days of political bickering and "Tea Party"vs "Occupy "Everyone should revisit this film at least once.Sure its a western on the surface but it's whole lot more.Free men,both former slaves and immigrants and special interests both ranchers and farmers via in the transformation of a territory into statehood.Yes a microcosm of what it is to be a American, as SO MANY seem to have forgotten today.
To the film.It's a John Ford classic with John Wayne as Tom Doniphon BUT this is NOT Mr Wayne's film.No,this film belongs to James Stewart as Ransom Stoddard and a who's who of westerns in the supporting cast anchored by Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance and a wild performance by Edmond O'Brien as Dutton Peabody and a really wasted role as the female love interest by beautiful Vera Miles as Hallie Stoddard and so many others it will fill the page to list them all here.Released in 1962 and running 123 minutes I tool 1/2 star off for being filmed in black and white.
The story open with Ransom,now a senator and his wife,Hallie returning to the small town of Shinbone,for the funeral of forgotten friend Tom.Through a flashback, pressed for by a local newspaper man of why and what is the connection between the two,a story unfolds of timeless hope and vision of what this country was and should be again.Ransom was fresh from the east and wanting to practice law in the west, spurred on by Horace Greely's great quote,"go west young man"Long story short,Ransom is everything you hope you can be in a civilized world.The west had a little way to go yet,and like todays villains who prey on weakness,Liberty ( what a play on words !!)Valance can ruin everything,if not for Tom.Be warned however,Tom is not so goody goody as you might think.Nether was this country,born with slavery and cleansed in the blood of the Civil War later.
Finally Ransom must face Liberty and its nor a fair fight at all but it is a honorable one and we all know how many fine young men died through the years for the honor and freedom of theirs and ours.I'll let you see the film and discover and debate the"honor"I mentioned.Mr.Wayne took a big gamble on his legacy doing his role in this film,I however respect him all the more for it.
At the end of the film,the newspaper man tears up the story Ransom just told him and when asked why not the truth,he replies,"This is the west where legend becomes the truth".
Trailer URL follows the pix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8nqY5TAAII
More important in these days of political bickering and "Tea Party"vs "Occupy "Everyone should revisit this film at least once.Sure its a western on the surface but it's whole lot more.Free men,both former slaves and immigrants and special interests both ranchers and farmers via in the transformation of a territory into statehood.Yes a microcosm of what it is to be a American, as SO MANY seem to have forgotten today.
To the film.It's a John Ford classic with John Wayne as Tom Doniphon BUT this is NOT Mr Wayne's film.No,this film belongs to James Stewart as Ransom Stoddard and a who's who of westerns in the supporting cast anchored by Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance and a wild performance by Edmond O'Brien as Dutton Peabody and a really wasted role as the female love interest by beautiful Vera Miles as Hallie Stoddard and so many others it will fill the page to list them all here.Released in 1962 and running 123 minutes I tool 1/2 star off for being filmed in black and white.
The story open with Ransom,now a senator and his wife,Hallie returning to the small town of Shinbone,for the funeral of forgotten friend Tom.Through a flashback, pressed for by a local newspaper man of why and what is the connection between the two,a story unfolds of timeless hope and vision of what this country was and should be again.Ransom was fresh from the east and wanting to practice law in the west, spurred on by Horace Greely's great quote,"go west young man"Long story short,Ransom is everything you hope you can be in a civilized world.The west had a little way to go yet,and like todays villains who prey on weakness,Liberty ( what a play on words !!)Valance can ruin everything,if not for Tom.Be warned however,Tom is not so goody goody as you might think.Nether was this country,born with slavery and cleansed in the blood of the Civil War later.
Finally Ransom must face Liberty and its nor a fair fight at all but it is a honorable one and we all know how many fine young men died through the years for the honor and freedom of theirs and ours.I'll let you see the film and discover and debate the"honor"I mentioned.Mr.Wayne took a big gamble on his legacy doing his role in this film,I however respect him all the more for it.
At the end of the film,the newspaper man tears up the story Ransom just told him and when asked why not the truth,he replies,"This is the west where legend becomes the truth".
Trailer URL follows the pix.
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