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Film Analysis: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a Western film directed by John Ford in 1962(The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), starring James Stewart and John Wayne as the lead characters, and Vera Miles who stars as their love interest. The movie opens with Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife, Hallie Stoddard (Vera) who returns to Shinbone. The citizens of Shinbone are very excited and surprised at this unexpected visit and the editor of the Shinbone Star wants an exclusive story on this unlikely visit. Ransom sits down with the editor and tells him the story of his rise to fame, the story of the man who really shot Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), explaining the true story of how he gained his power and fame. He takes the editor on flashback and explains how Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) played an enormous role in it and he elucidates that Tom is the reason for his return, as he is attending Tom’s funeral. The screenplay for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson (Nixon) in 1953 and it is a coming of age story about the mythological old west altering into a more civilised society, it is the age-old tale of the Eastern influence versus the obstinate West. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is structured as a flashback and the film is shot in black and white to create a sense of …show more content…

In still four, she has a very stern facial expression and has one hand on her hip, which shows that she is upset. The reason for these emotions are that Ranse was late for class and as he stated a teacher should never be late. In still fifteen Hallie’s eyes are teared up and she is touching the side of her face with her one hand which shows despair. Her body language represented her feelings because at that time she was worried about Ranse’s safety and was searching for help from

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