Shane

A Perfect Western

Pure, great movie making. The protagonist, Alan Ladd, has committed past sins, which he never mentions, yet he behaves with humility and nobility. The family that he befriends, is decent, hardworking and honest. The villians range from weak to Jack Palances: cold reptilian gunfighter. The Direction, cinematography, and script are perfection. This movie would never be made today. There is a decency in the characters, that is foreign to Hollywood today. Shanes interactions with Jean Arthur, the farmers wife, are respectful, though a fondness is apparent.Their son idolizes Shane, yet he is very much a child, not an obnoxious brat. There is plenty of action, but the pacing is perfect. I can say no more except this is how movies should still be made.

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Perfect Performances By All

I first saw Shane when I was five; it has stayed with me ever since and I am now 51. For years I was drawn to Alan Ladd's magnetic performance. The secretive mystery that he conveyed. Ladd was born to play Shane and delivered the goods in a performance that should have been rewarded with an Academy Award. But it is when you see that Shane is a George Stevens movie that you begin to understand how sensitive a movie it is. With an Oscar for cinematography, precise and sharp editing,sweeping panoramas of the breathtaking Teton mountain range, a musical score that fits like a glove and captures the moment, all these elements provide a momumental film in the hands of the movie master Stevens. Shane benefits from an all-star cast who all reach down in their veteran past and somehow make you believe that they too knew at the time that they were involved in not just the greatest western ever made, but in my humble opinion the, arguably, greatest movie ever made. Note especially the perforances of Ben Johnson, a bad guy for once who is redeemed, Elisha Cooke Jr., and the child actor Brandon Dewilde(who would later star in Hud). The opening credits show Walter Jack Palance, who was nominated for an Oscar for his steely portrayal of the hired gun. I always tell people that seeing Shane is one of those things that are a must before they pass. Remember Henry Winkler, as Fonze, on Happy Days saying 'you've never seen Shane.' Finally I'd like to share that I always promised myself that I would stand in that valley by the Tetons where Shane was made, because the movie inspired me that much. Last summer, I got to do just that. Shane is an American movie legend that will never fade away.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I wish this movie would come out in Blu Ray. As westerns go, th

I wish this movie would come out in Blu Ray. As westerns go, this is definitely in the top 5. Great acting, great musical score, and great cinema. I was about 8 or 10 when seeing this movie with my folks in the theater in Germany as my Father was a soldier, and it had made a lasting impression on me throughout my life. My Father, after the movie, said to me that that was one of the best westerns he had seen, and that further impacted the way I wanted to grow up, being honest and hard working.....and I did just that!!!

Quiet Gunfighter on Western Range

Based on Jack Schaefer's short novel, Shane is the story of a gunfighter in buckskins who knows his time on the western range is passing. Alan Ladd - in the title role - is a man who seemingly wants to put his past behind him. He hires out to a farming family - doing odd chores - and puts away his buckskins. This is a story of simple people who want to live in peace on the Western range and of the cattlemen who think the land is theirs. The cattlemen make conflict and violence their weapon. The farmers are hard pressed to hold their own. Ladd's Shane is really closer to the violent ways of the ranchers than he is to those of the farmers. At film's end, he returns to the gun and to the life he formerly knew.

The Quintessential Western Bar None!

¿SHANE¿ -- The Quintessential Western bar none. This simply outstanding standard-setting western was rigorously imitated in plot and character decades later by a flick called ¿Pale Rider¿ starring Clint Eastwood, a good movie but not close to being in the same league as SHANE nor garnering the same performances. Alan Ladd is superb as Shane. Enough said. Van Heflin is great. Jack Palance is the epitome of a gunslinger-assassin. After first seeing this film in my youth, I could not forget the portrait of the purely evil gunman played by Palance. Years and years later, standing in line to convert money at Heathrow Airport in London, I bumped into Jack Palance and talked with him. His eyes blew me away and I could almost see him drawing down on Alan Ladd. This movie is a five star western of westerns. Don¿t miss seeing it, even three or four or five times.

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