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MOVIES / ON DVD / THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

96%
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94%
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96 %
Reviews Counted: 28 Fresh: 27  Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.7/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Synopsis: In John Ford's stark, melancholy swan song for the conventional frontier Western, aged Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) returns to the small town of Shinbone with his wife, Hallie (Vera Miles), for the funeral of his friend, Tom Doniphan (John Wayne), where he recounts for reporters... In John Ford's stark, melancholy swan song for the conventional frontier Western, aged Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) returns to the small town of Shinbone with his wife, Hallie (Vera Miles), for the funeral of his friend, Tom Doniphan (John Wayne), where he recounts for reporters his relationship with the man. His arrival in the town years earlier as a newly minted lawyer had been welcomed with a vicious beating by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), a flamboyant thug hired by powerful business interests fearful of the lawyer's intentions to stump for statehood. Doniphan, a rancher and feared gunman, finds Stoddard unconscious, takes him into town, and continues to protect him, particularly after coming to realize that the woman he loves cares more for the lawyer. Despite Doniphan's warnings that the only law in the region comes at the end of a gun barrel, the stubborn lawyer insists on teaching the illiterate townspeople about the rule of law in a democratic society. When Stoddard is elected as the regional delegate to the territorial convention, Valance baits the politician, a notoriously inept gunman, into a showdown. The film, which plays like a Western version of Freud's CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS, reflects the aging director's ambivalence about many of the beliefs that had animated his earlier work. Shot on two soundstages because of a limited budget and Ford's poor health, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE blends a stripped-down look with an intentionally fractured, ambiguous narrative to stand as a haunting elegy for the fearless gunman, the endless wilderness, and the loss of freedom their vanishing betokens. [More]

Genre: Westerns

Starring: John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles, Dutton Peabody

Director: John Ford
Story: Dorothy Johnson
Screenwriter: James Warner Bellah, Willis Goldbeck
Producer: Willis Goldbeck
Composer: Cyril Mockridge, Alfred Newman

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 5, 2001

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case - Sensormatic
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.66
  • Single Side - Dual Layer

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Mono - English
  • Dolby Digital Mono - French

Additional Release Material:

  • Trailers - 1.Original Theatrical

Interactive Features:

  • Interactive Menus
  • Scene Selection

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
03/01/08
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
11/20/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
07/13/07
Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com
Ratings Image
A-

In one of his last (good) Westerns, John Ford draws even more explicitly the contrast between charismatic and legal authority, between the Wilderness of the West (John Wayne) and the values of the Civilization (Jimmy Stewart, from the East).

Full Review | comment Comment
12/25/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
4/4

In their final Western together, Wayne and Ford gave the past a resounding send-off.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/03/06
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/13/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
5/5

My favorite movie of all time

comment Comment
05/26/05
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/09/05
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
02/07/05
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
11/12/04
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/25/04
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/17/04
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Ratings Image
5/5

When the movie becomes a legend, watch the legend.

comment Comment
06/17/04
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/04/04
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ratings Image
C+

John Ford's most complete vision about the passing of the Old West.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/07/03
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
09/06/03
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
01/30/03
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Ratings Image
4/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
01/09/03
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/29/02
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
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Related Forums

My favorite movie of all time!
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by: thewickerman 9/6/04

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