{"id":32473,"date":"2023-07-27T17:18:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T23:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/?p=32473"},"modified":"2023-07-28T06:49:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T12:49:48","slug":"amb-shane-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/amb-shane-1953\/","title":{"rendered":"AMB: SHANE (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shane (1953): Breakdown by The Hestinator (Brandon)<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THEIR BADASSITUDE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

THE HEROES:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alan Ladd as Shane<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Our main man is Shane, the archetypal avenging angel gunman who fights for the rights of the downtrodden. I mean, this guy is a saintly white knight. I love it. When our story begins, Shane just wants to live the quiet life and quit gunfighting, but injustice just keeps coming around. This time, it\u2019s a callous cattle baron who wants to drive the family he\u2019s living with off of their property. Not on Shane\u2019s watch. He\u2019s the strong, silent type, but, as a barroom confrontation with Chris Calloway (Ben Johnson) reveals, he doesn\u2019t want any trouble. His days of whooping ass are over\u2026or are they?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Van Heflin as Joe Starrett<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Van Heflin\u2019s Joe Starrett is a perfect representation of how the United States thinks of the typical father on the Wild West frontier. He\u2019s kind, he\u2019s tough, he\u2019s resourceful, he\u2019s protective of his family and their property. Joe is not a man of violence, but he\u2019s prepared to do what a man\u2019s gotta do. He doesn\u2019t want to be a vigilante, but circumstances are pushing him too far.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jean Arthur as Marian Starrett<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

She really wants to get into Shane\u2019s buckskin. It\u2019s kinda weird actually. Joe\u2019s wife is supposed to be this paragon of frontier virtue, but she spends the entire runtime mentally disrobing the title character, who is most certainly not her husband. She likes to cook and cry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brandon De Wilde as Joey Starrett<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

This tale wouldn\u2019t be complete without the kid who idolizes the hero. It would be easy and hip to write off Joey as an \u201cannoying\u201d character, but I don\u2019t think he actually is. Yes, he\u2019s a child who doesn\u2019t fully understand the world around him, but, as far as kid characters from 1950s movies go, he\u2019s really not that bad at all. De Wilde was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars (no! I\u2019m not joking\u2026 look it up yourself!).<\/p>\n

THE VILLAINS:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Emile Meyer as Rufus Ryker<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Rufus Ryker is the head of a group of cattlemen who\u2019re lusting after the Starretts\u2019 land. He\u2019s one bad dude for sure, but he\u2019s not the type to go around shooting people in person. No, he doesn\u2019t roll that way, instead hiring goons and gunslingers to do his dirty work for him. He may be the head honcho, but he\u2019s not the most memorable baddie in Shane. That \u201chonor\u201d would go to\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jack Palance as Jack Wilson<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Jack, played by Jack, is a gunman without conscience (sort of a dark reflection of the main character) who\u2019s hired by Rufus Ryker to scare off the local homesteaders so he can steal their land. In all honesty, he doesn\u2019t really do much, but he\u2019s Jack Palance, so you know that he\u2019s a volatile, mean son-of-a-bitch. Palance does a lot with a little, making his character one of the more memorable aspects of the picture. Hell, he even got nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards for his portrayal of a sociopathic killer here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ben Johnson as Chris Calloway<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

In an early role for Ben Johnson (though not his first\u2026 this man was in Mighty Joe Young [1949], and he rocked it), he plays one of Rufus Ryker\u2019s pieces of hired muscle. Barroom brawling is what he does best and he\u2019s not too fond of teetotalers. He doesn\u2019t appear to be a pleasant personality at first glance, but there may be more to this character than what first meets the eye\u2026<\/p>\n

[THE SEX AND VIOLENCE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alan Ladd takes off his shirt to help Van Heflin clear a tree stump (while majestic music plays in the playground, making you think that they were putting the finishing touches on the Panama Canal or something). Said tree stump becomes a sacred symbol of their \u2013 er \u2013 friendship. They keep the hunk of wood around, even bumping into it during a fist fight that they have.<\/p>\n

EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much of this sort of thing here. Sure, the wife character, Marian, doesn\u2019t do much except cook and cry when the heroes are about to go into battle, but this is pretty routine for a 1950s western movie, so I can\u2019t hold it against the film too much.<\/p>\n

MURDER BY NUMBERS: [ 4 ]<\/h3>\n

The first person to die in Shane is Frank \u201cStonewall\u201d Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.), a homesteader who eats Jack Wilson\u2019s (the Jack Palance character) lead. Eh, don\u2019t feel too sorry for him, because he\u2019s a proud neo-Confederate. Boo hoo. The next three fatalities are scumbags (including the slimy Palance) who get blown away by Alan Ladd during the final shootout. Alan Ladd isn\u2019t in great condition after the grand finale, but it\u2019s left ambiguous as to whether he dies of his wounds or not.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not really any blood in this movie, but characters do end up pretty battered and bruised from in-you-face fist fights. Shane was apparently one of the first films to use wires to jerk actors backwards after they were \u201cshot,\u201d which is a nice touch. According to Wikipedia (never wrong), director Sam Peckinpah said \u201cWhen Jack Palance shot Elisha Cook Jr. in Shane, things started to change.\u201d The guns are sometimes as loud as shit here, thanks to the sound effect being a large-caliber firearm being blasted into a garbage can.<\/p>\n

MOST SATISFYING ASS-KICKING AND\/OR DEATH:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As far as the action in this movie goes, it\u2019s hard to beat the barroom melee that starts as a one-on-one scrap between Alan Ladd and Ben Johnson. After beating the tar out of Johnson, Ladd finds himself facing down multiple thugs and \u2013 HOLY SHIT, IT\u2019S VAN HEFLIN WITH AN AXE HANDLE!!! The bar gets trashed and the homesteaders win some much-needed respect. Even though there\u2019s no explicit blood, it\u2019s interesting to see how bruised and beat-up the participants look.<\/p>\n

[THE BEST OF THE REST]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

EPIC MOMENT:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Back in Buckskin<\/span><\/h3>\n

When we first see Shane, he\u2019s riding the plains in a buckskin outfit that I guess symbolizes his old life as a gunfighter. After moving in with the Starretts, he gets some new duds and puts away his old costume \u2013 I mean, outfit. However, with the flick reaching its climax, ol\u2019 Shane must break out the old apparel and stop family man Joe from confronting the Ryker bunch. After knocking Joe\u2019s block off with a swift pistol-whipping, Shane sets off with to \u201ctown\u201d to put an end to the Ryker menace once and for all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It’s the dead of night, and young Joey and his dog are secretly watching the showdown unfold. After a tense standoff, Shane starts popping people. Jack Wilson, Rufus Ryker, and Rufus\u2019 brother Morgan (John Dierkes) all end up worm food. It\u2019s all over in the blink of an eye, but justice has been served. However, Shane doesn\u2019t manage to escape the fray completely unscathed\u2026<\/p>\n

BEST LINE:<\/span><\/h3>\n

It would be easy to choose the most iconic line of the movie for this category. As Shane leaves at the end, Joey cries out \u201cShane. Shane! Come back!\u201d This is a touching moment that was named the forty-seventh greatest quote from an American-made movie as part of the American Film Institute\u2019s AFI\u2019s 100 Years\u2026 100 Movie Quotes retrospective in 2005. However, we\u2019re going to go with something a little manlier.<\/p>\n

Right before riding off into the night, Shane briefly explains to Joey why he can\u2019t stick around. Shane has sacrificed his purity from lethal violence to save the day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shane (Alan Ladd): \u201cJoey, there\u2019s no living with\u2026 with a killing. There\u2019s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it\u2019s a brand. A brand sticks. There\u2019s no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her\u2026 tell her everything\u2019s all right. And there aren\u2019t any more guns in the valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supposedly, Brandon De Wilde (who plays Joey) was making faces at Alan Ladd throughout his moving farewell monologue. It started pissing off Ladd, who went to De Wilde\u2019s father and said \u201cMake the kid stop or I\u2019ll beat him over the head.\u201d Yup, Alan Ladd threatened to beat up children.<\/p>\n

[THE EXECUTION]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shane is not just one of the very best western films of all time, it\u2019s also one of the very best vigilante films of all time. There\u2019s no law in the area that the story\u2019s set in, so the heroes have to take it into their own hands to see justice. However, when it comes to the fatal stuff, only the guardian angel character (Shane, of course) who\u2019s already tainted by past killings, can do the dirty deed. Joe Starrett cannot lose his purity by going into town to do away with the Ryker clan\u2026that job must be done by a loner professional who is condemned to ride the plains by himself, fighting the good fight wherever it may be (sorta reminds me of The Magnificent Seven [1960] in a way). Shane is the outsider who can kill. It\u2019s not quite Death Wish (1974), as Charles Bronson was \u201cpunching down\u201d at poor muggers in that one, while our hero here is \u201cpunching up\u201d at a presumably very wealthy cattle baron. Going into a bar and shooting a bunch of people may be illegal according to Earthly law, but Shane is acting in accordance with a higher law. It provides interesting food-for-thought when thinking about morality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This motion picture is pretty wonderful, thanks to elements like its beautiful scenery, talented cast, and wholesome nature. This feels like a western that one could watch with almost the whole family. Remove some of the death scenes and some of the make-up from \u201cinjured\u201d actors during\/after the fight sequences, and it would come close to being a Disney production or something. That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing, even if its portrayal of the Wild West is a highly romanticized one.<\/p>\n

One of the best parts of Shane is its musical score, which was composed by Victor Young. He\u2019s not a name that gets thrown around too much when the greatest film score composers of all time are discussed, but his work here really elevates the product. This is a loud-and-proud, old-timey score, so, if you prefer your movie music subtle, you may be in for a bad time. However, I love it when \u201cchoreographed noise\u201d is boisterous and wearing its heart on its sleeve.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shane isn\u2019t really an action movie (just action-adjacent), but it does have some exciting physicality for fans of those types of films. It\u2019s hard to decide what this piece of cinema does better: shootouts or fist fights. The hand-to-hand brawls are certainly longer, getting more opportunities to show off neat choreography. That being said, it\u2019s hard to get the moments of gunplay, especially the finale, out of your head. Firearms-related moments are shorter, but thanks to the sound effects and the wire-work (both mentioned earlier), they still feel high-impact.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is one of those western classics that feels truly heroic. It could be considered to be cut from the same cloth as, say, the aforementioned The Magnificent Seven or High Noon (1952). Did thoughtful, selfless gunmen like Shane actually exist in the Old West? I\u2019m going to say \u201cno\u201d for now, but this doesn\u2019t hurt the 1953 movie at all. While this flick never drags, there are a few slightly slower moments (resulting in me giving it eight-outta-ten). At the end of the day, though, it\u2019s the courage, inner goodness, and violent benevolence of the title character that sticks with you. Shane is an excellent, timeless western that needs to be watched.<\/p>\n

[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vigilantism is only okay if you\u2019re a professional at it.<\/p>\n

[THE AOBG ACTION CHECKLIST]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

[ ] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d
\n[ ] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
\n[ ] Crotch Attack
\n[ ] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are
\n[ ] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket, Or A Towel
\n[ ] Factory\/Warehouse\/Castle
\n[ ] Giant Explosions
\n[ ] Heavy Artillery
\n[X] Improvised Weapon(s)
\n[X] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
\n[ ] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
\n[ ] Manly Embrace(s)
\n[ ] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting
\n[ ] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
\n[ ] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
\n[X] Shoot-Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)
\n[ ] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)
\n[ ] Stupid Authoritative Figures
\n[ ] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse
\n[ ] Torture Sequence(s)
\n[X] Unnecessary Sequel*
\n[] Vehicle Chase(s)
\n[X] Vigilante Justice
\n*A spin-off television series of the same title aired in 1966.<\/p>\n

[TOTAL: 6 outta 25]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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