lawyer in man who shot liberty valance

by Rosanna Kiehn 7 min read

Who really shot Liberty Valance?

John Ford's 1962 film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, is an ode to the end of the classic western. It is a satiric look at the civilizing of the once wild American west where Ford deliberately uses stereotypical characters and situations to undermine and reexamine the very myths that he helped create.

Was Liberty Valance a real person?

There is no indication that the movie depicted the real life of someone named Liberty Valance. It was a work of fiction.

Who was the man who shot Liberty Valance?

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson. The supporting cast includes Vera Miles, Lee Marvin,Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John ...

Who sang the man who shot Liberty Valance?

The man who sang "Liberty Valance" Gene Pitney, pop singer whose hits were mostly in the 60's, died last night. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is one of my all-time favorite songs. My earliest memory of non-children's music was my dad singing along to that song as it played on the cabinet phonograph in the basement.

See more

image

Storyline

When Senator Ransom Stoddard returns home to Shinbone for the funeral of Tom Doniphon, he recounts to a local newspaper editor the story behind it all. He had come to town many years before, a lawyer by profession.

Did you know

John Wayne suggested Lee Marvin for the role of Valance after working with him in The Comancheros (1961).

Contribute to this page

By what name was The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) officially released in India in English?

Who killed Liberty Valance?

Liberty Valance surprisingly dies and the town assumes Ransom was the man who shot him. After receiving notoriety for saving the town, Tom tells Ransom that it was him who pulled the trigger. Knowing he was inexperienced with violence, Tom fired to save Ransom. Years later, Tom dies and the myth of Senator Stoddard saving ...

When was the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance released?

They would want a scandal they could report and investigate. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was released in 1962 and celebrity culture obsession, I would argue, was still relatively premature. However, it did occur. Granted it was nothing like today which is why the response to the press is unique in the film.

Why does the press feel strange when the press becomes involved in Ransom's business?

When the press becomes involved in Ransom’s business, it feels strange because the old town was very traditional in that your business wasn’t everyone’s business. Yet, in the present day, the reporter admits it’s his responsibility to uncover the reason Ransom and Hallie are in town.

Who shot Liberty in the shadows?

It was Doniphon, aided by his employee Pompey, who stood in the shadows with a rifle and timed a shot to match Stoddard's shots, and that it was Doniphon who shot Liberty. When Stoddard asks why Doniphon let him have the credit, Doniphon tells him that the people need him, and so does Hallie.

Who is Liberty Valance?

Liberty Valance is the main antagonist in the short story and feature film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance . He was a sadistic and violent Old West outlaw, a holy terror to the town of Shinbone, and the ruthless leader of an outlaw gang.

What does Liberty propose to the ranchers?

In the meantime, Liberty's sadism grows, as does his ambition, proposing to the large ranchers that they make him their representative for seeking statehood, so that it will occur under their terms, with a governor as ineffectual as Shinbone's Marshal.

Who pulled Stoddard aside?

Stoddard is immensely remorseful for having killed a man, so he almost refuses to join in the fight he started, until he is pulled aside by Doniphon. He reveals to Stoddard that all of his shaky shots at the showdown went wild, and never even touched Liberty. It was Doniphon, aided by his employee Pompey, who stood in the shadows with a rifle ...

Who beat Ransome Stoddard?

In an unnamed Western US territory moving towards statehood in the late 1800s, the stagecoach carrying Eastern lawyer Ransome Stoddard was robbed by a delinquent gang of troublesome hoodlums led by Liberty Valance, who also beat Stoddard within an inch of his life. Nursed back to health by a restaurateur and his family, Stoddard finds twin dilemmas: Shinbone, with an ineffectual marshal and large ranchers in effect making their own law, needs his services desperately, yet a man like Liberty Valance can only be taken down by the same sort of violence that is the outlaw's stock and trade.

image