Friday, June 14, 2013

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962)

Why it's here: 
Highly recommended by a friend who brought his son and some snacks over to watch with us! We certainly can't go wrong with that.

Specs: 
2 hours; black and white

Our rating on a scale of 1 - 10: 
8.13

More about the film and our reaction to it:
The film did not disappoint. Remarkable for the onscreen pairing of James Stewart and John Wayne whose talents suit each other remarkably well, this film is yet another of John Ford's successful Westerns and probably one of the best Westerns we've seen. It kept reminding me of the other wonderfully different Westerns in our festival: Stagecoach and High Noon. All three share a similar calm, intellectual story - rather than a high energy "shoot em up" approach.

The film may be best suited for tweens and up -- not because it is gory or violent -- but because it might seem dull or slow for those who don't get in to the underlying personal and political tensions. There are a few graphic and unsettling moments including, I guess I don't give anything away here that the title hasn't already suggested -- a man shot in a gun battle. The interesting piece is not so much that this man was shot but by whom and why and we don't really learn that until we put it all together at the end.

We would recommend the film highly.


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