The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962
This movie has a reputation as one of the best Westerns of all time. I bought it on blu-ray a few years ago but more recently got a 4k digital copy which I watched. A black and white movie from 1962 doesn't really benefit from 4k, but it looks as good as it will probably get. Directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and John Wayne, it is definitely worth watching, but by 1962 I think it is fair to expect more from a Western and this movie seems like a throwback. In this movie Wayne constantly refers to Stewart as "pilgrim" so it is neat seeing the origin of that iconic John Wayne-ism. Lee Marvin makes a great villain, but the conceit of the movie is that the lawyer played by Stewart has to give up his principles and take up a gun against Marvin seems like a stretch. The shooting takes place about 30 minutes before the end of the movie and they drag things out quite a bit afterwards. It's a fairly simple story and despite some good performances, feels padded with characters that don't ultimately matter. The movie does an okay job showing how the wild west ended and was replaced with something more human, but only after the main characters have to give up what they want as Stewart has to resort to violence instead of legal wrangling and Wayne loses the woman he loves. I don't think the movie ties up all of its threads like I would like. It takes a few chances including having a black man pointing a gun at white guy and getting to drink in a saloon, but he is still subservient to Wayne. The movie seems to be full of half measures like that, unwilling to really break barriers. Still, Stewart is pretty good, and John Wayne plays his role perfectly, even while side performances are weak, including a drunk editor, a cowardly marshall, and a windbag politician.
Written: 12 Oct 2025
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital