The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962
****
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Woody Strode, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Lee Van Cleef
An elderly US Senator reminisces of the days when he arrived in the town of Shinbone as an idealistic lawyer but was forced to pick up a gun when the push came to shove. John Ford's last great Western concentrates on its characters and doesn't offer the expansive landscapes of his best known films, such as The Searchers. The film deals with Western mythology ("When the legend becomes fact, print the legend") and its melancholic story signals the end of the golden age of the Hollywood western. That's why you can accept Stewart and Wayne in the lead although they are both about 30 years too old for their roles. Based on a short story by Dorothy M. Johnson.
