Shane
Dir: George Stevens
1953
****
Shane is and has been acknowledged as one of the greatest westerns of all time. I liked it but to be honest it was a little too melodramatic for my tastes. A. B. Guthrie Jr. based his screenplay on Jack Schaefer’s 1949 novel. Although never explicitly stated, the basic plot elements of Shane were derived from the 1892 Johnson County War in Wyoming, the archetypal cattlemen–homesteaders conflict, which also served as the background for The Virginian and Heaven's Gate. It was expensive for a western at the time with a cost of $3.1 million and it was the first film to be projected in "flat" widescreen, a format that Paramount invented in order to offer audiences a wider panorama, perfect for the genre. Shane (Alan Ladd), a skilled, laconic gunfighter with a mysterious past, rides into an isolated valley in the sparsely settled Wyoming Territory, some time after the Civil War. At dinner with local rancher Joe Starrett (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur) and son Joey (Brandon deWilde), he learns that a war of intimidation is being waged on the valley's settlers. Though they have claimed their land legally under the Homestead Acts, a ruthless cattle baron, Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer), has hired rogues and henchmen to harass them and drive them out of the valley. Starrett offers Shane a job, and he accepts. At the town's general store, Shane and other homesteaders are loading up supplies. Shane enters the saloon adjacent to the store, where Ryker's men are drinking, and orders a soda pop for Joey. Chris Calloway, one of Ryker's men, throws a shot of whiskey on Shane's shirt. "Smell like a man!" he taunts. Shane doesn't rise to the bait, and leaves to the taunts of Ryker's men. On the next trip to town, Shane returns the empty soda bottle to the saloon, where Calloway again taunts him. Shane orders two shots of whiskey, pours one on Calloway's shirt and throws the other in his face, then knocks him to the ground. A brawl ensues; Shane prevails, with Starrett's help. Ryker declares that the next time they meet, "the air will be filled with gun smoke." Joey is drawn to Shane, and to his gun. Shane shows him how to wear a holster and demonstrates his shooting skills, but Marian interrupts the lesson. Guns, she says, are not going to be a part of her son's life. Shane counters that a gun is a tool, no better nor worse than an axe or a shovel, and as good or bad as the man using it. Marian retorts that the valley would be better off without any guns - including Shane's. Jack Wilson (Jack Palance), an unscrupulous gunfighter working for Ryker, deliberately provokes Frank "Stonewall" Torrey, a hot-tempered ex-Confederate homesteader. When the inexperienced farmer goes for his gun, Wilson shoots him dead. At Torrey's funeral, there is talk among the settlers of giving in to Ryker and moving on; but after battling a fire set by Ryker's men, they find new determination and resolve to continue the fight. Ryker invites Starrett to a meeting at the saloon to negotiate a settlement and then orders Wilson to kill him when he arrives. Calloway, unable to tolerate Ryker's treachery any longer, warns Shane of the double-cross. Starrett says no matter, he will shoot it out with Wilson, and asks Shane to look after Marian and Joey if he dies. Shane, aware that Starrett is no match for Wilson in a gunfight, says he must go instead. Starrett is adamant, and Shane is forced to knock him unconscious. A distraught Marian asks Shane why he is doing this. For her, he replies, and her husband and son, and all the other decent people who want a chance to live in peace in the valley. As Shane rides to town, Joey follows him on foot. At the saloon, he beats Wilson to a draw, then shoots Ryker as he draws a hidden gun. Shane tells Joey to tell his mother that the settlers have won, and he must leave. His left arm hangs limply at his side as he mounts his horse. Shane rides out of town, ignoring Joey's desperate cries of "Shane! Come back!" It is famous for being a classic tear-jerking moment but my eyes remained dry. What I really liked about the film our the parts no one ever talks about, the brilliant fight scene in particular. I never saw Shane as the hero either, rather Starrett. I never understood why Joey idolised Shane so much when his dad was a pretty cool character. The illusion is shattered even more so when you know that during said scene in which the wounded Shane explains to a distraught Joey why he has to leave, the entire cast and crew were close to tears. All except Brandon deWilde that is. Every time Ladd spoke his lines of farewell, deWilde crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. Finally, Ladd called to the boy's father and said 'Make that kid stop or I'll beat him over the head with a brick’. Director George Stevens originally wanted Montgomery Clift and William Holden for the Shane and Starrett roles; when both proved unavailable, Stevens asked Paramount executive Y. Frank Freeman for a list of available actors with current contracts; within three minutes he chose Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, and Jean Arthur. Shane was Arthur's first cinematic role in five years, and her last, at the age of 50 though she later appeared in theater, and a short-lived television series. She accepted the part at the request of Stevens, who had directed her in The Talk of the Town in 1942 and The More the Merrier in 1943 for which she received her only Oscar nomination. Funnily enough, Ladd was uncomfortable with guns (Shane's shooting demonstration for Joey required 116 takes) and Jack Palance was nervous around horses, and had great difficulty with mounting and dismounting. Palance was the film’s scene-stealer and the only actor with real screen presence. I get the appeal and the story structure has been copied many times since but for my money I believe it has been vastly improved upon many times over. Melodrama has its place – George Stevens was the king of melodrama – but I much prefer his classic I Remember Mama. There are countless westerns that are greater than Shane, Shane is just the most commercial and well-rounded of its day, with unashamedly emotional manipulation. Shane was originally scheduled for 28 days of shooting and 20 at the studio with a budget of $1,980,000. It finished after 75 days of shooting at a cost of over $3,000,000. It was completed in 1951 but Stevens' editing process was so rigorous that it wasn't released until 1953. This drove up the costs of what should have been a simple, straightforward Western; in fact, they spiraled so much that Paramount approached Howard Hughes about taking on the property, but he declined. He changed his mind when he saw a rough cut and offered to buy the film on the spot. This made Paramount rethink its strategy - originally it was going to release it as a "B" picture but then decided it should be one of the studio's flagship films of the year. This proved to be a good decision, as the film was a major success and easily recouped its inflated budget but the fact remains that Shame was a piece of luck, a haphazard picture that only succeeded through unheard of indulgence and emotional manipulation. Like I say, I did like it, but it certainly didn’t make me cry – and I cry at everything.