Analysis Of The Western Film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The 1962 Western film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” centers around Ranse
Stoddard and his struggle with morality and justice. The film opens with Stoddard and his wife Hallie returning to Shinbone, a small town in the west, for Tom Doniphon’s funeral. In a flashback that spans most of the film, Stoddard recounts how Doniphon, a relatively unknown man, became so important to him, a famous, well respected senator. 25 years ago, Stoddard was beaten up and left by the road by Liberty Valance, leader of a notorious gang. Doniphon found Stoddard and brought him back to Shinbone, explaining that Stoddard’s position as a lawyer meant nothing if he couldn’t handle a gun. Throughout the film, Stoddard struggled with this Western lifestyle, and

Immediately after being viciously beaten up by Valance and the rest of his gang, Stoddard, with blood and bruises littering his face, demands to know the name of the man who beat him up. He plans on finding Valance and arresting him, and even after Doniphon offers him his handgun, he mutters, “Gun? I don’t want a gun. I don’t want a gun,” then hotly continues, “I don’t want to kill him!” Here, the thought of physically fighting the man who beat him up shocks him. He believes hurting Valance is beneath him, that Doniphon is horrible for even implying that Stoddard would kill Valance. He doesn’t even want to carry a gun to defend himself, something he repeats for emphasis. In this scene, Stoddard is sitting down on the bed, woozy and bloody, evidence of his defeat. But his words, which are shown throughout the film to be his weapon of choice, describe different scene. Stoddard is angry, ready to jump up, find Valance, and arrest him. He wants Valance to pay, but in a different way, one that is unheard of in Shinbone. Furthermore, he is shocked that everyone knows about Valance and his abuse, yet does nothing about it. This is Stoddard’s first realization that the town he came upon isn’t like the East, where he’s from. When he stands up and starts shouting he is a lawyer and no one is above the law, he falls down, with Doniphon having to

The first student talks about the United States being a republic, that the people can choose who holds power by voting for representatives. Not only does this embody what Stoddard is trying to teach the town, where many people don’t care about voting and getting the best representative, but it also foreshadows Stoddard’s future, as he’ll be chosen as a delegate for the statehood convention and he’ll go on to become a United States senator. When Stoddard talks about the newspaper that details the cattleman vs statehood conflict, he shows the type of town that Shinbone will become, one where the powerful ranchers don’t own large areas of land and the people can vote for their rights. The return of Doniphon shatters the moment when he reveals that Valance and his men have been hiring gunmen for the ranchers, and have already killed some people. When it’s revealed that Stoddard has been practicing shooting a gun to prepare for a standoff with Valance, the line between Doniphon and Stoddard isn’t as clear. No longer is Stoddard the straight-laced pilgrim who advocates for doing everything by the law. Although he’s still trying to bring some change to Shinbone, making it more of a self-governing town, part of him sees that Doniphon is right, that sometimes the law can’t fix