The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

This John Ford western begins with a senator (James Stewart) and his wife (Vera Miles) returning to a western town in an unnamed state to attend the funeral of a man (John Wayne). While visiting the body, Stewart tells the story of how they all knew each other and why this seemingly unimportant individual is the reason he became senator. The flashback takes up the majority of the film. In it, Stewart is driving through town in a flashback when a man named Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) robs his stagecoach. Stewart is a lawyer and wants to prosecute him but John Wayne explains to him that's not how things work in the film. The plot is pretty good, although I'm not sure the flashback was all that necessary. It didn't add all that much and the audience never does know how John Wayne died.

As mentioned a moment ago, this film stars James Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and Vera Miles. Of them, James Stewart is the only one whose character has much depth and he's the only one who really stands out in terms of acting. The other main characters are good, but nothing great. There were a lot of townspeople and I didn't really care for the way they acted. Many of them were supposed to be drunk half the time which was fine, but they weren't all that convincing and more irritating than anything.

Overall, this is a pretty good film but it's not up there with something like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It's the first John Wayne film I've seen, but it's usually regarded as one of his better ones so I'm sure this is a must-see for John Wayne fans. This is generally regarded as one of Stewart's better westerns, but again it's the first one I've seen. Fans of westerns will probably enjoy this, but I don't think it's good enough to where people who despise westerns will find much to enjoy in this film.

80/100
B-

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