Shane

Few westerns grace the Academy Award’s list of greatest films of all time. Like most genre pictures, it takes a great deal to break into that elite list of films. There are a few, though: High Noon, 12 O’Clock High, Cimarron, In Old Arizona, and How the West Was Won were all westerns that got that honor. They were all uniquely different films, too. High Noon, for instance, utilized the gimmick of real time to increase tension and build up the drama of its story. In Old Arizona was taking advantage of the new processes allowing sound pictures to be filmed outdoors. How the West Was Won was all about telling a multigenerational story that tied together with the taming of the American frontier. 1953’s Shane, however, is more of a straightforward character piece with a lead that is just as enigmatic in the final reel as he is in the first. He’s like the quintessential Man with No Name, except he is given one, although that could be just an alibi. But this straightforward narrative hides a deeper story, one that director George Stevens was personally feeling in his post-World War II years.

When we first meet Shane (Alan Ladd), he is riding into an isolated valley somewhere in Wyoming territory in the late 1800s. He’s a drifter, but obviously a skilled gunfighter, who is quick on the draw at the slightest hint of danger. Yet he actively avoids violence unless there is no other alternative. He hires on as a farmhand with Joe Starrett (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur), and their young son Joey (Brandon deWilde). While Shane proves to be an invaluable help on the homestead, it doesn’t take long for him to realize that there is trouble brewing in this area. 

Ruthless cattle baron Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer) has taken it upon himself to run all the homesteaders out of the area despite their legal rights to the land through the Homestead Acts. To do so, he has hired various rogues and henchmen to harass the homesteaders into abandoning their land rather than lose their lives defending it. One of these rogues is Jack Wilson (Jack Palance, billed as Walter Jack Palance), another skilled gunman and someone Shane is familiar with. A series of assaults, bar brawls, and destruction of private property have the homesteaders about ready to throw in the towel, but Joe manages to keep rallying them into resisting being run off their land. Ryker decides that the best way to deal with the problem is to eliminate Joe Starrett and sets up an ambush to that end. But Shane, who had promised himself he wouldn’t gunfight anymore, sees that he must break that promise to do what is right. 

On top of the main story, there is a subplot about Joe’s son Joey idolizing Shane and wanting to learn how to handle a gun from him, despite his mother not wanting the boy to learn such things. This sets things up for several scenes where Joey is dazzled by Shane’s skills with his six-shooter, much to Marian’s chagrin. While this is an unhealthy fascination with gunplay, it does allow for Joey to be in the right place at the right time to warn Shane of impending danger and save his life. 

Shane is an examination, on some level, of what it means to be masculine. It’s also an examination of violence in the Old West. We get this not only with Joey and his quest to learn how to handle a firearm, but also in the other homesteaders, specifically Frank “Stonewall” Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.), who is a hot-tempered ex-Confederate who is not physically imposing but allows himself to be coaxed into a shootout with Walter Jack that he has no chance of winning. In this shootout, as well as others, we get a real sense of how violent guns can be. No one just slumps over dead from being shot, they are thrown back violently. It may not be a realistic depiction of gunplay but it serves the film’s theme.

We also see these themes in Marian, who vocalizes her desire for a day when there are no guns left in the valley. She even dislikes Joey having a little rifle to play with, even though he is never allowed to have it loaded. Shane, himself, will leave a message for her in the end that there are no more guns in the valley, even as he is riding off, wounded and perhaps dying. 

Joey is seduced by the violence he is seeing from Ryker and his men, as well as from Shane, whom he idolizes. This worries Marian, who is opposed to the old ways. Joey often follows Shane and witnesses bouts of violence that excite him, particularly during the climactic shootout in the end. Shane, realizing that he represents the old ways, goes off into the night, leaving the Starretts behind because he knows that he represents the Old West and will always be that to Joey. He also may be mortally wounded but the film deliberately keeps that vague. In a scene that has since become famous, Joey tearfully begs Shane to come back, not wanting to let the old gunslinger go. This moment has been copied and parodied several times, including on the 1966 Batman television series. 

This film is notable for being not only Jean Arthur’s only color film, but also her last film. She had already semi-retired, making only sporadic appearances in films in the years leading up to it, but Shane would be the last time she appeared on the big screen. Afterwards, she would make a handful of guest appearances on television, including a short-lived sitcom, The Jean Arthur Show, but she stayed mostly retired. Her character in Shane is virtually omnipresent, even when she is offscreen. We feel her influence when we are seeing Joey sneak off and peer through windows at brawls and shootouts. She also has some control over her husband, though to a lesser degree. He, like Shane, represents the old ways but he is on the cusp of change.

Shane is deceptively complex thanks to some well-developed themes, a tribute to talented screenwriter A.B. Guthrie Jr. But some of that credit goes to director George Stevens, too, who was using film to help process his own experiences during World War II. George was a different filmmaker after the war, and that is reflected in the titles he took on in the years immediately afterwards. There is a darker tone to the later films such as A Place in the Sunand Giant. He would also go on to helm The Diary of Anne Frank, a look at the lives and tribulations of a Jewish family hiding out from the Nazis in Amsterdam. In Shane, George is giving us a lead character who is a violent man, but is also determined to use violence only as a last resort. Every time Shane is put into a position where violence seems inevitable, he gives his opponent(s) plenty of opportunities to turn away before he attacks. 

Shane is also a beautifully filmed movie, earning the movie its only Oscar win. Loyal Griggs, who famously shot Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, was a talented cinematographer who knew how to shoot outdoors, and that can be seen in every shot of this feature, even the ones that take place in near complete darkness. This is an incredible feat in cinematography that is best viewed on the biggest screen possible to really help you appreciate just how amazing this film looks. Watching this on a phone or tablet simply will not do.

Shane is one of those films that takes a few viewings to really grasp everything the filmmakers were trying to get across. It is not done justice by a casual viewing but by really paying attention and seeing just what this all means. It is for this reason that this film enjoys the reputation it has after nearly seventy-five years. To the casual viewer who looks no deeper than surface level, this will seem like a run-of-the-mill western, no better than the average episode of Gunsmoke or Rawhide, but it is more than that; much, much more. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Motion Picture: George Stevens

Best Director: George Stevens

Best Supporting Actor: Brandon deWilde

Best Supporting Actor: Jack Palance

Best Screenplay: A.B. Guthrie Jr. 

Best Cinematography - Color: Loyal Griggs (won)

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Release Date: April 23, 1953

Running Time: 118 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon deWilde, and Jack Palance

Directed By: George Stevens