lady_sarai

Okay, fine, so you all knew I'd do it anyway.

I found a copy of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and watched it tonight.

And by "found" I by no means am saying that I searched high and low and discovered that the only store in the state of Maine that carried ONE copy was Borders. No.

Also, all of our movie rental stores? Suck.

But there's no reason I should know this because I am not that obsessive.

Nope.

.....

Has anyone else seen this movie? Because I'd REALLY like to discuss it.

Suffice it to say, despite it being a Western, and despite John Wayne (who I have decided I am not a fan of, really), I liked it.

Enough to not regret the $8 I spent on it. ;)

My favorite character not being Liberty Valance, Tom or Ransom, but Hallie.

Yes, the female lead.

She kind of rocked. It surprised me.

Hallie has a temper and the best thing ever? The way she slams things around the kitchen she works in and yells at everyone and bullies them around with her yelling. Particularly the men.

And then, in the end, I totally can't read her and it... intrigues me.

So, the story is pretty cut-and-dry.

New guy comes to town. He's got a bag of lawbooks and no gun, and he's a lawyer. (This would be Jimmy Stewart, as Ransom Stoddard.) He's so green, it's laughable. When his stage is held up, he starts spouting law at Liberty Valance and tells him he's an attorney and will see him behind bars.

Ha.

Liberty beats his ass. I mean, he punches him, pistol whips him, ACTUALLY whips him... We've establishes that Liberty? Not a nice man.

That being said, he didn't impress me all that much as a villain. Maybe I'm used to Magneto and Mr. Sinister, and Voldemort. Can't beat Voldemort for the villain factor.

Tom Doniphon is John Wayne's character and I didn't care for him too much, either. He's in love with Hallie and everyone knows that Hallie is "his girl"... except Hallie.

What's awesome is that Hallie really makes her own decisions, even knowing (we assume) how Tom feels about her. And Ransom doesn't pursue Hallie. He's attracted to her, but knows he's new in town and that Tom loves her.

This does not stop Hallie.

Ransom sets up a school, teaches all the adults to read, blah blah blah.

Anyway, after a whole bunch of stuff happens, Liberty calls Ransom out for an old fashioned gun-fighting duel in the street, after dark.

Everyone tells him to run for it, and he MIGHT have been considering it, but he obviously doesn't like the idea.

Hallie throws a magnificent temper tantrum, slamming things around and glaring at anything that moves. She obviously doesn't want him to leave.

Except that when the newspaper man is beaten and left for dead, and Ransom decides to face Liberty... she freaks out.

And sends for Tom.

Thus! Being proactive, as best she can. I like it.

She's young, she's idealistic. She's living in a time when women had limited power. She loves Ransom (or at least cares a great deal for him). She's not sitting at home crying over his decision to face the bag guy, she's doing what she can to help him/stop him. Earlier, she did the same by blabbing to Tom that Ransom had gotten a gun and was trying to use it. Thus, Tom teaches Ransom how to shoot. Not very successfully, and it earns him a punch in the jaw, but there you are. Hallie did something about what she saw as a problem she couldn't solve.

Okay, seriously ending my slight "you-go-girl"ing.

Anyway, so Ransom faces Liberty and gets shot in the arm and Liberty is pretty much PLAYING with him while he laughs and when he goes to actually kill him, a gun is fired and Liberty dies.

Later, it's revealed that Tom came along and watched from the shadows and was the one who ACTUALLY fired the shot that killed Liberty Valance.

But Ransom gets the credit for it. Not that he wants it.

I was, again, struck my how much I like Jimmy Stewart. =P He's a good actor.

It's obvious that Ransom is in shock, and is feeling sick and defeated and there is NOTHING GOOD about what just happened, except that he isn't dead. Which, I wonder, he might not even list as a good thing.

And Hallie frantically starts treating the gun shot to his arm and begins getting hysterical a bit. Because she realizes what almost happened.

This would be the scene in my icon, btw.

She apologizes, because she thinks he went out there because of her obvious temper tantrum. She realizes that while she didn't want him to leave, if he had left, he would have stayed alive. He almost died and WOULD HAVE, except for Tom--but no one knows about that.

And while she is crying all over Ransom and hugging him and apologizing frantically, Tom walks in.

He then goes home and sets his house on fire. (He had been building a new room and porch for when he married Hallie... except he hadn't asked yet.)

And there's this whole thing about electing a delegate to Washington so they can become a state or something, and Ransom gets nominated and then there's all this yelling about how he killed a man and there's blood on his hands and you can just tell that everything they're saying is what he's feeling.

So he goes to leave, and declares he's moving back East, because he's a hypocrite who talks about law and order and justice without violence, but he killed a man... and then Tom (who followed him) tells him the truth.

And is bitter and angry and snide and tells Ransom to go to Washington and take Hallie with him (pretty much).

And that's pretty much how it goes.

Now, the movie begins and ends with Ransom and Hallie coming back, years later, for Tom's funeral. In the beginning, you think Tom was this close friend and by the end you realize that Tom and Ransom had this weird relationship where Tom was sort of a mentor and teacher and sort of an adversary and really enjoyed belitting Ransom.

And all through the movie, much is made of the cactus rose and how Tom gave them to Hallie. In the end, a cactus rose is on Tom's coffin.

Now, you'd think that would be a good ending... and it would have been. Very bittersweet, but a good image to end on.

Then came the bit that, for me, possibly made the movie. And made me go "whoa."

So, Hallie and Ransom are on the train going back to Washington and he asks if she wants to move back there permanently (as in, he wants to retire), and she tells him that she's wished that for years.

He asks, "Hallie, who put the cactus rose on Tom's coffin?"

She says, very solemnly, "I did."

And that's the end of that exchange, but you KNOW there's more to this than is being said. They both look tired, and you almost wonder what Hallie is thinking, and if a part of her is regretting choosing Ransom. Because had she chosen Tom, she never would have left the town she loves, but by marrying Ransom, she wound up living in Washington for most of her life.

Which seems strange, because from the very beginning, it seems like Ransom is the one she's going to choose anyway, and there's not much reason to think she's taking Tom's courting very seriously.

For the rest of the movie, she pretty much sits and looks out the window, looking pensive.

But the conductor comes along and begins telling Ransom about everything they're doing to accommodate him and when Ransom thanks him and promises to write a letter of thanks, the conductor says something.

He says "Anything for the man who shot Liberty Valance!"

The look on Jimmy Stewart's face? Holy cow. You know the expression "his face fell?" It so did.

It's like... he's been living with this label that doesn't belong to him, for so many years and he's never going to escape it. And it's possible that his wife--the woman he loves--might have always loved the man who ACTUALLY killed Liberty Valance, in some way. You can tell he feels like he's never going to escape that, and it goes against everything he believes in, but there you have it.

And THAT is how the movie ends.

It's kind of a depressing ending, and it sort of left me a little sucker-punched, like... whoa.

So, worth it for that ending.

All that said, the reason I think I like this movie is the characters.

Expecially Ransom. He's so idealistic and green in the beginning that it's laughable. But he continues spouting law and order, and he BELIEVES in non-violent justice.

And at one point, there's a showdown in the restaurant he's working in and Liberty trips him. He drops Tom's steak and Tom and Liberty stand there posturing and telling one another to pick up the steak OR ELSE and finally Ransom gets so disgusted that he picks up the steak and starts yelling.

He's furious that they would kill each other over something that ridiculous, not getting the "my gun is bigger than yours" game they were obviously playing. He's also mad that Tom seems to be fighting his battles for him. But he knows there's no other choice.

Then he does get a gun, despite all his yelling that he won't give in to that. And when Tom is teaching him how to shoot and plays a little dirty, Ransom LOSES it. He punches Tom and yells about not liking tricks.

The irony kills me.

Because in the end, he DOES give in to everything he's been arguing against and trying to change. He DOES go face Liberty with a gun, and is prepared to die. I'd think he almost EXPECTS to die, because why would he think he could beat Liberty, when no one else ever has and everyone is scared of him?

And then, it's ultimately a trick that saves his life, and when he finds out the truth, he doesn't tell it to anyone. He is stuck with the knowledge that he is taking the credit and the guilt over something he didn't actually do.

And I am SO over-thinking this story.

The song is a lot cheerier. ;)

Also, I think certain parts could have been built up and the movie would have been better had they explored the love triangle more. Given us more of a reason to understand that ending, anyway. That, and a bit more between Liberty and Ransom to set up the duel.

Also, Liberty called Ransom "dude" the entire movie, and Tom called him "pilgrim." It was odd.