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Shane gets the edge for me........The saloon showdown.........the kid.......the wife who seems to be attracted to him..........Jack Palance......
And did Shane die....?? Was he mortally wounded...?? You never learn what happened later as he rides off......
Exactly. See. This is why SHANE is a great movie: It respects the audience. It gives you 2 + 2, then trusts that you are smart enough to come up with 4. It doesn't spoon feed you.
Its pretty obvious the wife is attracted to Shane, and him to her. Which is why he has to leave in the end. 'Cause Shane is basically a good guy.
And yes, I think it's obvious Shane was mortally wounded and rode off to die, because he loved the kid too much to let him see that.
Jack Palance in that movie ... he is the Darth Vader of Westerns. One of the best villains ever put to film.
For those interested I'd suggest Ebert's essay on Shane. Kind of woke me up about the film. Not so simple as i thought of good/bad guys! Lots of undercurrents as noted. And as for the end, Ebert makes a great point about Shane in that he could be considered a medieval kinght or a samurai. It looks like he's got a 'code'. But then he goes on with some points to make you appreciate the film even more.
It is interesting to note that the movie Shane was based on a true story.
It was based on the novel by Jack Schaefer. Which true story is he supposed to have based his novel on?
Don't get me wrong, I love Shane, book and film. I'm just imprinted on High Noon , but Shane is a wonderful movie. There are interesting theories in various books about Westerns about why the character in the book, a dark, brooding man (here he is, the "real" Shane! Predating the movie)...
...becomes fair-haired Alan Ladd. Apparently it was a deliberate attempt to make him angelic, almost a visitation from another dimension--someone who would be too angelic to run off with Jean Arthur and become really human. And maybe, at the end, he has become too human for that same reason, because of love, and thus must ride off and die...
Also, the movie couldn't have two gunmen dressed in black, so they had to have the hero in light buckskin and the villain (and what a great villain Palance was!) in black. Movies have to resort to visual opposites.
It was based on the novel by Jack Schaefer. Which true story is he supposed to have based his novel on?
The events of the Wyoming cattle wars, etc. really happened. Shane himself is total fiction. I wouldn't say it was based on a true story so much as set against the backdrop of actual events. More like Saving Private Ryan than Band of Brothers.
You know it's evdient that through Mr. Stevens' treatment of the book that we got one of the greatest American films ever made. The fact of 'opposites' sure highlights the great conflict of good and evil in the film. And if you think about it we should all be glad we have 'Shanes' around because sometimes people that want to come off being 'reasonable' have to be killed. Somebody has to do something.
The events of the Wyoming cattle wars, etc. really happened. Shane himself is total fiction. I wouldn't say it was based on a true story so much as set against the backdrop of actual events. More like Saving Private Ryan than Band of Brothers.
Absolutely, the Johnson County War (and other cattle wars). Even in today's Wyoming the memories are tangible. I thought nickerman meant a specific true story about a gunfighter siding with a sodbuster family against the ranchers, because in that case I'd love to read about it.
BTW, I thought I'd mention, for those of you who might not know this, that Schaefer wrote another Western novel which became the inspiration for two great movies: Monte Walsh. That's my favorite Western novel (and it differs from both movies!).
I can't choose they are both so good. The deeper themes of High Noon and the heartfelt story of Shane. Both were stories of integrity honor and doing what you have to do. Keeping your moral center when all about you are in doubt.
They were both a cut above the fort apache, searchers, westerny type stories not to insult them because I loved them too
makes me want to join netflix and pull some of these up
There were a few too many 'fun' fistfights in Shane. Fistfights were the thing in the westerns of the time, but these days, it makes little sense that the heroes of the movie first beat the crap out of each other, then go beat the crap out of everyone in a bar a few minutes later.
Alan Ladd was OK as Shane, but he was more stoic than the tortured civil war vet turned hired killer that the bestselling novel portrayed the character.
It was a movie very much of it's time. All the vets of WWII who were putting their lives together again really connected to the movie and read much more into it than there actually was. But it's still good enough to capture a viewer today.
High Noon was one of the first psychological westerns. The theme is all about false bravery when an enemy is far away, cowardice as the enemy approaches, and the price of true courage.
The aging sheriff, on the last day of his job, just as he is leaving town to a honeymoon with his new bride, is called back by the citizens to protect them from the criminals who were sent to prison by the town, and are now out, vowing bloody vengeance.
Gary Cooper played against his long stereotype as a quiet, calm gunfighter with nerves of steel. He's a bundle of nerves, no longer sure of his former skills. The townspeople all go from anger to bluster to outright cowardice, leaving only one person who will stand by the sheriff, the ambitious deputy, and even he wants out. In the end, only his bride has enough guts to stick with him to the end.
It was Cooper's greatest role by far, and won him an Oscar. It won 4 Oscars and 14 other awards.
In comparison, Shane won 1 Oscar for photography. But shooting in the Teton mountains usually makes for great photography. It was Alan Ladd's greatest role, but Ladd didn't connect with viewers to the same depth Cooper did, or me.
They're both good, but on my personal list, neither was as good as The Searchers or Lonesome Dove. Those two tie for first place on my list.
Watched it, or most of it, with my husband the other day since he couldn't believe I never
saw it....Didn't care for it....The boy, (a young Brandon De Wilde who was good years later
in Hud) didn't show much emotion when his father was getting beat up, or his mother was
frantic, but at the end he was upset that Shane was leaving...JMHO
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, but Shane is a wonderful movie. There are interesting theories in various books about Westerns about why the character in the book, a dark, brooding man (here he is, the "real" Shane! Predating the movie)...
