The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962
Directed by John Ford
This is one of my favorite westerns of all time and even though both Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne are getting a little too old for their roles, this is a perfect film.
Lee Marvin, in typical Lee Marvin jackass fashion, is Liberty Valance, an outlaw who is killed after a gunfight with Stoddard (Stewart). Stoddard must deal with the notoriety that comes with having killed a man and does his best to make it in politics and get the girl as well.
In the past, I have been hard on Wayne for his wooden performances but he actually is spectacular in this film as a character who is slowly losing everything but still has a good heart. And you don't get a better bad guy than Lee Marvin; he is easier to hate than all the Real Housewives put together!
A brilliant film and one that needs to be seen by everyone. Sorry for the short review but I have about five of these to crank out and I want to catch up on all my blogs today.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
First time John Wayne calls someone pilgrim. Family guy anyone?
Filmed on a soundstage.
Was shot in black and white to hide Wayne's and Stewart's ages.
This is one of my favorite films of all time. I even wrote a paper on it in my first year of college. We were supposed to pick a film dealing with race or class relations. While most people picked Grease or West Side Story (some ballsy kid even picked Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) I chose this classic. Of course, no one in my class had ever heard of this movie and kept referring to it as The Seekers. Sigh.
But this movie should be watched by everyone at least once. This is by far the best western I have ever seen.
John Wayne plays Ethan, who is a Confederate soldier home from the war. He visits his brother's home, and it is quite clear early on that he is in love with his sister in law, Martha. Ethan then goes out to help a neighbor find his cattle and when he returns, he finds that the Comanche tribe has killed his brother's family and kidnapped his two daughters. Ethan begins a quest that lasts for years to find his nieces, though his intentions may not be as noble as they appear.
Wow, where to begin. I almost prefer writing reviews on movies I hate; it seems easier than trying to explain all the wonderful things about this film is a paragraph.
First, we have John Ford, so, of course, the scenery shots are beautiful and iconic. As far as acting goes, I am not a huge fan of Natalie Wood and I know a lot of people think John Wayne is wooden. However, I think John Wayne is great in this film. Maybe it is because he plays a racist, cold, and emotionally detached hero and that is really just how he is in real life.
All westerns are pretty racist against Native Americans; that is just an unfortunate guarantee. However, this film at least starts to move in the right direction. For starters, one of the main heroes in this film, Martin is part Cherokee. For another thing….I am totally moving into spoiler territory. You will be able to figure it out yourself.
Damn, have I really written that much already? I should wrap it up. The questions posed in this film are great; I guarantee this is a movie that you will be thinking about for a long time afterwards. An absolute must see.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
Voted the Greatest Western of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
John Wayne named his son Ethan in tribute to this film.
Ward Bond would walk around his motel room naked with the windows open in hopes of attracting Vera Miles. He should really watch the Seinfeld episode about Good Naked vs. Bad Naked.
AFI's #12 greatest movie of all time.
Inspiration for Buddy Holly's song "That'll Be The Day".
You read that right, folks! In this film, John Wayne stars as Sean Thornton who falls in love with Mary Kate, a fiery red head. Every one said that her character had a temper to match his but she seemed like a pretty weak woman to me. Anyway, her brother does not want her to get married. Does that stop John Wayne from marrying her? No sir! Does that stop John Wayne from hitting her and throwing her sometimes? No sir!
So obviously, this film is a bit outdated. First of all, if my brother told me not to marry someone, I would simply say fuck you, and carry on with my business. There are also some notable cringe worthy moments, particularly in the way that John Wayne treats Maureen O'Hara.
Still, it is a decent romance complete with brawls and drinking. So an Irish romance. Just kidding! Oh wait, it is.
Decent but not really 1001 worthy.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
The movie Rio Grande was done so that Wayne, O'Hara, and Ford would have permission to do this film.
O'Hara broke her hand slapping Wayne but couldn't wear a cast because of filming.
Wayne and Ford put manure on the hill that O'Hara got dragged through. EWWWWWWWW!
I just finished watching this movie with my parents as they are avid Wayne fans. Yep, it is a Friday night and I was watching a movie with my parents. Shut up!
Anyway, when you look at this film objectively, it is just awful. We all know that John Wayne makes a better icon than an actor. There are also really random musical numbers sprinkled throughout this film. It also is extremely racist, with the Apaches being depicted more like demons than humans.
However, people tend to never look at westerns objectively. Westerns often remind us of parents or grandparents. This sentimentality we associate with westerns make us excuse all its faults and just have a good time with it. I am not saying this is a bad thing. On the contrary, I had a lot of fun watching this with my parents despite all its flaws.
I should mention that the stunts done with the horses are mind-blowing (I actually gasped a couple times) and the scenery is, of course, beautiful at times. Curl up with some relatives and enjoy the film. It actually would make a good Thanksgiving film; goes with the theme of mass genocide!
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Two stuntmen died during the river scene.
John Wayne considered this a parable for the Korean War.
First of five movies starring Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne.
One of three films from Ford's cavalry collection.
I really had to switch gears here with this movie; I have been watching mostly crappy romantic comedies. It is actually quite cleansing to watch a bout of horrible films. But we are back on track here with a good old fashioned Fordian western. This is another Henry Fonda and honestly, he gets handsomer each time I see him. The film centers on the Earp brothers as they seek vengeance on the killer of their brother and cows. Along the way, they meet Clementine and Chihuahua (they are, incidentally, not dogs but women who are complete opposites). No one does vengeance tales quite as well as Ford (perhaps Dumas could give him a run for his money). Still, this is probably one of my least favorite Fordian westerns. After you watch The Searchers, everything else pales in comparison. It is kind of hard to figure out what the secondary characters motives are throughout the movie. The characters are unsympathetic and not very interesting but the story is still timeless and fun. RATING: ***-- Interesting Facts: Fonda's first movie after returning from World War II. John Ford knew Wyatt Earp in his childhood and tried to recreate the gun scene as Wyatt had described it.
How Green Was My Valley 1941 Directed by John Ford Yikes. That was boring. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey boring. It is a film about Welsh miners. Enough said.
I have never been to Wales although I imagine it is nothing like what the movie portrayed it as. There were very annoying songs interspersed in the movie which brought film down from boring to just boring and ridiculous. I also found it a bit surprising how left wing this movie was considering how conservative John Ford was. Maybe he was just too scared to show that during the 40s.
Skip it.
RATING: *----
Interesting Facts:
Filmed in Malibu. I see he was going for authenticity.
Intended to be a glorious epic like Gone With the Wind.
Beat Citizen Kane for best picture. What??? Come on!
Grapes of Wrath 1940 Directed by John Ford I really don't want to talk about this movie. It was really long and really boring and I am tired. So...yeah.
RATING: *----
Stagecoach 1939 Directed by John Ford The first John Wayne on the list. This is quite the pivotal moment. I kind of love John Wayne. I know he was kind of a wooden actor. I also know that his views on certain...ahem...topics would ensure that we would not get along. Not to mention all the racism in almost every single one of his movies. Despite all that, he has always reminded me of a different time. He makes me think of my grandfather and always has me imagining my parents' childhoods. That being said, my favorite John Wayne is The Searchers, and when I watch his other movies, I feel like they pale in comparison. This movie is about a group of diverse people that share a stagecoach. The trip is endangered because (of course; this is John Wayne movie) of "Injuns". Actually, the Ford hired local Native Americans to play the roles of the Apaches which boosted the tribe's economy by huge amounts. Kind of a Catch-22 since they always play ruthless warriors. This film has excellent character development. It is the kind of movie that the younger male generation hates because there is not action every five seconds. Instead, it is a character study of a really different group of people. I liked it, but like I said, if you want an excellent John Wayne, go for The Searchers. RATING: ****- Interesting Facts: I think I am going to have trouble getting the next film too. These 30s films have been quite difficult to obtain. John Wayne's 80th film. Orson Welles watched the film 40 times during the filming of Citizen Kane. Full movie:
This movie is the ultimate southern cliche. You have the dumb, drunk Southerners, the submissive African Americans, and the die hard devotion to the Confederacy. I have rarely gone down to the South, myself. My family used to go down to Florida every year but we stopped doing that when I was still very young. I also have been down to South Carolina a couple times when I was really little. That and Gone With the Wind sums up my southern experience.
Anyway, this movie is really boring. The directing also really sucks. The cut aways were awful and people would weirdly transport from one area to another in between shots. I personally cannot stand Southern accents. It also was pretty offensive to both white and black people. Overall, completely pointless and a waste of time. I really don't have the faintest clue why this made it on the list.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
One of the actors also starred in The Birth of the Nation. Wow, these guys really are just the worst.
The Judge Priest had one of the most disturbing and racist lines I have ever heard. Blah, waste of tonight.
Audition and Funny Games both sucked and I made my best friend watch them with me for our Halloween movie marathon. Sorry, Mara!
