But she was homesick -- and she yearned to write a different kind of story. On TV he would have been dispatched by the second commercial and the villainy would have passed to some shadowy employer, some ruthless rancher who didn't want statehood. [19] Jimmie Rodgers also recorded the song, in the Gene Pitney style. Stewart here is neither George Bailey nor Mister Smith; Wayne is extremely gruff and sometimes unlovable; Lee Marvin is very nearly a conscienceless psychopath and not a hard-living funster. [6] According to cinematographer William H. Clothier, however, "There was one reason and one reason only ... Paramount was cutting costs. He was justifiably excited about the prospects. He was a sadistic and violent Old West outlaw, a holy terror to the town of Shinbone, and the ruthless leader of an outlaw gang. It was Doniphon, aided by his employee Pompey, who stood in the shadows with a rifle and timed a shot to match Stoddard's shots, and that it was Doniphon who shot Liberty. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. As she grew up, she developed a love of reading and an interest in writing, and submitted stories to her small-town newspaper. Ranse returns to Hallie to treat his arm. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." It was a work of fiction. Valance challenges Ranse to a gunfight to be held later in the evening. Your public library, if you're lucky, has some Dorothy M. Johnson books; I think you'll find them a treat. "Jimmy Stewart had most of the sides [sequences with dialogue], but Wayne was the central character, the motivation for the whole thing. John Ford, the director of the 1962 film, and John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin, the stars, welcomed her into their own club. Ford resented the studio's intrusion and retaliated by taunting Wayne relentlessly throughout the filming. http://parallax-view.org/2009/05/21/john-fords-wilderness-the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance/ Small rancher Tom Doniphon tries to convince a disgusted Stoddard of this hard fact of their existence, a lesson made all the harder by the rivalry between Stoddard and Doniphon for Hallie, the daughter of the restaurant owner. Now, I don't know if Mr. Stewart has a prejudice against Negroes, but I just wanted you all to know about it." When Stoddard asks why Doniphon let him have the credit, Doniphon tells him that the people need him, and so does Hallie. She sold some stories to the Saturday Evening Post, using her full name as a byline: Dorothy Marie Johnson. They must have had to edit it for time.". But people continue to think they heard it there. [8] Strode recounted that Ford "kept needling Duke about his failure to make it as a football player", comparing him to Strode (a former NFL running back), whom he pronounced "a real football player". Her husband had built up numerous debts, including gambling losses; she vowed that she would make good on all of them, and she did. Still haunted by the lie that set him up, Stoddard decades later attempts to tell the truth to a newspaper in Shinbone, but the editor and reporter refuse to disrupt the legend that effectively made that area what it now was. [10], Stewart related that midway through filming, Wayne asked him why he, Stewart, never seemed to be the target of Ford's venomous remarks. Tom sees how much the two care for each other, and he retreats to his farm in a drunken rage where he burns down his house. Because she seemed to enjoy putting unexpected twists into her plots, and because we're talking about "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," I'll end this with a story about the movie I think she might have liked. I'm glad you made it. At the statehood convention, Ranse decides to withdraw his name for territorial delegate for statehood, concluding he is not worthy after killing Valance. Tom Doniphon finds Ranse and takes him to Shinbone. Zane Grey, Max Brand, Owen Wister, Luke Short, Jack Schaefer, Louis L'Amour -- right up to today, those are the kinds of names most frequently associated with famous Western novels. [21], Contemporary reviews were generally positive, although a number of critics thought the final act was a letdown. He was portrayed by the late Lee Marvin, who also played Chino in The Wild One. To say that made him a little depressed is an understatement. "You might say I'm old fashioned, but black and white i… She never had it made. Jimmy Stewart, director John Ford and John Wayne appear on the set of 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' in 1962. As Stoddard returns to Washington, D.C. with Hallie, and contemplates retiring to Shinbone, he thanks the train conductor for the railroad's many courtesies. Tom advises Ranse of Valance's trickery. If you'd like to see it. "[18] Portions of the song There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight are played in scenes by bar musicians and a marching band. "[3] Ford also reportedly argued that the climactic shoot-out between Valance and Stoddard would not have worked in color. The studio also specified that Wayne's name appear before Stewart's on theatre marquees, reportedly at Ford's request. She died in 1984, at the age of 78. As they pay their respects, local newspaper editor Maxwell Scott asks Stoddard why a United States senator would make the long journey from Washington to attend the funeral of a local rancher. In the present, Stoddard's political accomplishments fill in the intervening years; but his story will not be published, with editor Scott stating, "This is the West, sir. Upon entering the territory as a young attorney, Ranse is beaten and robbed by Liberty Valance and his gang. During my years of musical travels, I became friends with Gene Pitney, the singer whose hits included "It Hurts to Be in Love," "Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa," "Town Without Pity" and, of course, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." His alleged killer is a man who must rise to that legend, while his real killer is no saint, merely an immensely practical man. Liberty is portrayed as being an almost mystically good shot. She moved to New York, found work at the Gregg Shorthand Co., and eventually became the editor of a women's-interest magazine. The film's music score was composed by Cyril J. Mockridge, but in scenes involving Hallie's relationships with Doniphon and Stoddard, Ford reprised Alfred Newman's "Ann Rutledge Theme", from Young Mr. Lincoln. The film is considered one of Ford's best,[29] and in one poll, ranked with The Searchers and The Shootist as one of Wayne's best Westerns. You've got to know your job, lay your shadows in properly, get your perspective right, but in color, there it is," he said. Ranse's wounds are treated by Tom's girlfriend, Hallie, and others, who explain to him that Valance terrorizes the residents, and the town's Marshal Appleyard is powerless to stop him. Ford responded, "What's wrong with Uncle Remus?" Multiple stories and speculations exist to explain this decision. "It was the only film," he said, "where [Ford] learned about something called pessimism. When the horses did stop, Wayne tried to pick a fight with the younger and fitter Strode. Both sets of fans, Pitney said, were wrong. Her writing was so clean, so spare -- she knew just how to draw her readers into a tale and keep them hanging on right up to the last word in the last sentence of the last paragraph. What should have been left to enthrall the imagination is spelled out until there is nothing left to savor or discuss. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: This article is about 1962 film. Updated 1410 GMT (2210 HKT) September 22, 2013. "[24], Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called the film "a leisurely yarn boasting fine performances," but was bothered by "the incredulous fact that the lively townsfolk of Shinbone didn't polish off Valence [sic] for themselves. Yet, as Liberty openly mocks Stoddard and his ham-handed efforts to use a weapon, it seems that the wounded Stoddard gets off a shot that kills Liberty. "[14], Parts of the film were shot in Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California.[15][16]. Born in Iowa in 1905, an only child, she soon moved with her parents to Montana. Stoddard is immensely remorseful for having killed a man, so he almost refuses to join in the fight he started, until he is pulled aside by Doniphon. The authorship of Westerns -- tales of cowboys and rustlers and settlers and the rough-hewn world around them -- had traditionally been a men's club. A men's club? Hallie, attracted to Ranse and concerned for his safety, tells Tom of Ranse's gun practice. We both gotta be professionals." Pitney said in an interview that he was in the studio about to record the song when "... Bacharach informed us that the film just came out." "[7], Another condition imposed by the studio, according to Van Cleef, was that Wayne be cast as Doniphon. The Western Writers of America bestowed upon her their highest honors. Dorothy Marie Johnson yearned to break into the boy's club of Western story writers, Her story "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was turned into a film with top Hollywood stars, Greene: She knew how to draw readers into a tale and keep them hanging until the end. Wayne later told Strode, "We gotta work together. A memorable song, composed by songwriting legends Hal David and Burt Bacharach, and originally sung by Gene Pitney, was made for but not used in the film itself, though it followed closely enough that it is associated with the story. And Richard Harris, who starred in 1970's "A Man Called Horse.". Nursed back to health by a restaurateur and his family, Stoddard finds twin dilemmas: Shinbone, with an ineffectual marshal and large ranchers in effect making their own law, needs his services desperately, yet a man like Liberty Valance can only be taken down by the same sort of violence that is the outlaw's stock and trade. So did Gary Cooper, who starred in another movie based on one of her stories: 1959's "The Hanging Tree." In an inception flashback, Tom tells Ranse it was he, Tom, who fired the fatal shot killing Valance, not Ranse. – Nominated, This page was last edited on 28 October 2020, at 23:35. Edith Head's costumes were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (black-and-white), one of the few Westerns ever nominated in that category. Senator Ranse Stoddard and his wife Hallie arrive in Shinbone, a frontier town in an unnamed western state, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon. "[32] In a retrospective analysis, The New York Times called Liberty Valance "...one of the great Western classics," because "it questions the role of myth in forging the legends of the West, while setting this theme in the elegiac atmosphere of the West itself, set off by the aging Stewart and Wayne. Pitney told me that he constantly heard two things from fans. In the original short story, he is less of an outlaw icon, his importance growing in the mind of the humiliated Stoddard, who in both versions, shows signs of settling a grudge more than seeking justice. Liberty is always a dishonorable outlaw villain, and he is taken down by a method that was often the true way outlaws were dealt with. You've got to know your job, lay your shadows in properly, get your perspective right, but in color, there it is," he said. As she grew up, she developed a … [20], Liberty Valance was released in April 1962, and achieved both financial and critical success. Strode blamed Ford for nearly all the friction on the set. The Burt Bacharach-Hal David song "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" became a top-10 hit for Gene Pitney. Ranse is determined that law and justice can prevail over Valance; however, Ranse begins practicing with a gun. I was kind of hoping you would. 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