The Man Who Shot Libery Valance [1962] – John Ford

John Ford’s The Man who Shot Liberty Valance effectively shows how society has come to write off the ethos of the classical western film by personifying both progress and tradition. John Ford is the right man to provide this commentary, since he spearheaded the emergence of the western in popular cinema and essentially created its social implications. With his early westerns such as Stagecoach, Ford focused on the expansiveness and beauty of nature and how the uncivilized west was ripe with potential. The heroes were powerful and masculine men who took the law into their own hands to provide justice through the use of guns and muscle.

In The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, both Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) and Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) represent this classic characterization, although they both have very different morals. Clad with desperado-like outfits and guns, both men are hyper-masculine and fearless against opposition. They are the last of a dying breed and are trying to continue their tradition while being suffocated at all sides by the rapidly increasing demands of a more modern society. Enter Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart), a law man from the east who rejects violence and believes that the law can solve all problems. Though his morals are largely in line with Doniphon’s, he is framed as a feminine conformist who favors introspection over action. Even his emergence to the west is a result of his emasculation at the hands of Valance, who gives him a lesson in “western law”.

Doniphon and Valance are the classical western, desperately trying to maintain their principles while Stoddard is progress in a quickly changing society. In the end Stoddard overcomes and gains the support of the town as well as person success in politics, much like other kinds of films have come to trump the classical western. Yet, as a cactus rose is placed atop Tom Doniphon’s casket, the realization that the classical western is dead is extremely somber. Stoddard, now a senator, rides away in a train and decides that he wants to return to the west. Yet the train itself is a reminder that progress has taken over and the classical west of the past can never truly be revisited.

Further Reading:

John Ford’s Funeral Oration: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Temenuga Trifonova
A Legend that Dare Not Imprint its Name: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Peter H. Kemp

True Grit [2010] – Joel & Ethan Coen

With True Grit, the Coen brothers take their shot into breathing life back into the Western genre. The film is widely considered a remake of the 1969 film of the same name (starring John Wayne in an academy award winning performance), but the Coen brothers created an adaptation of the 1968 novel that takes no reference from the original movie. Joel and Ethan take their film mastery and apply it to their first true genre piece with breathtaking results. But what did you expect?

The film takes place in 1877 Arkansas. It follows Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a 14 year old girl looking to avenge the murder of her father. The murderer is a well known miscreant named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Mattie chooses to enlist the help of a U.S. Marshal in her search for revenge, and she decides upon Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), an eye patch sporting man brute for his ruthlessness. Before the expedition begins, Mattie is approached by Texas Ranger LaBeouf (Matt Damon), who has been searching for Chaney for years. From here Mattie Ross, Cogburn and LaBeouf begin their search for Chaney which is filled with obstacles of all reaches. The plot itself is quite simple but the execution is masterful.

There are some great performances in the film. Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld manages to do an extremely solid portrayal of Mattie Ross regardless of being surrounded by some of the most respected actors in Hollywood. Jeff Bridges is the perfect fit for the ruthless and sarcastic Rooster Cogburn, and though Josh Brolin doesn’t appear in the vast majority of the film his villainous essence personifies Tom Chaney. I enjoyed Matt Damon as LaBeouf, and I feel that he is consistently good in films that manage to cast him in the correct roles. This isn’t a role that the public would expect from Damon, but with it he shows that he can flourish in an array of different parts.

The Coens have tackled the Western in a way that manages to acknowledge and respect the Hollywood Westerns of yesteryear while still making the genre their own. The gritty, historically accurate style that they chose to use meshes flawlessly with the bleak landscapes and negative attitudes of the time. A further testament to the genius of the Coens.