Shane
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
If there was a DNA test to identify the family tree of my lifelong love of movies, I have no doubt that my strongest and deepest tap root would be the western. I was born in 1953, and the myth of the American frontier has always been there for me—a parade of iconic images, both on tv and on the silver screen. I have been obsessed with the genre as long as I can remember. once I even attended a 48-hour film festival that showed westerns and only westerns, with no break between them. It was glorious! So, the idea of me picking my favorite western of all-time is an impossible task, like trying to catch just one drop of water in a flood.
We can feel that Shane is branded and haunted by the killings he has done.
But there is one western that I can point to--without question—that stands as an absolute giant for me in the classic Hollywood tradition. Released the same year I was born, it’s Shane, directed by George Stevens, with a screenplay by the novelist A.B. Guthrie Jr., and starring Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Brandon De Wilde, and a menacing, evil Jack Palance. Filmed in Wyoming against the stunning backdrop of the Grand Tetons, the story catches fire from the moment that Shane--a lone man on horseback--rides into the lush valley and finds himself caught in a bitter feud between a handful of struggling homesteaders and a ruthless cattle baron. Shane is enigmatic, a wandering orphan of the road. He says little and his past is shrouded in mystery. But one thing is clear: he has the skills and the hair-trigger instincts of a gunfighter. And we can feel that he is branded and haunted by the killings he has done.
Before long, Shane finds himself living and working with one of homesteaders—Joe and Marian Starrett, and their 9-year-old son Joey. In no time, he finds himself part of their family. It becomes a nurturing home for him. But while Shane may want to leave his bloody past behind him, the universe has other ideas. When the cattle baron can’t bully and harass the homesteaders into fleeing the valley, he hires a notorious gunslinger named Jack Wilson to drive them out, one bullet at a time.
In the classic western tradition, Shane and Wilson are headed for a violent showdown. Whichever one survives will settle the feud and determine the fate of the valley. Director George Stevens masterfully orchestrates the emotional pacing of the last 30 minutes of the film as events collide and the two men face off in an inevitable, explosive dance of death.
Make no mistake, Shane is much more than a good versus evil morality tale. The story unfolds in rich layers of complexity. There’s the attraction between Shane and Marian that has the potential to fracture her marriage; there’s her son’s dangerous idol worship of Shane’s skill with a six-shooter; there’s a clash of beliefs over the evil that guns can do, necessary or otherwise; and there’s a dark, sober portrayal of the cost of violence and the illusion of heroism on the American frontier.
I give Shane four out of four stars. After watching it countless times over seven decades, I still tear up at the end. and I know there will always come a time when I will come back to see Shane again.
