Shane (1953)

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Why so much hype?

Really Surprised!

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

In itself, the movie is a good one. However it almost completely detracts from the original book, which is probably the greatest Western ever written. Sorry to say, but the movie is basically a dumbed down version for the masses, which rips the book apart and re-arranges and deletes many parts. Still a good movie to watch, but definitely not for people who fell in love with the book.

I liked: Jack Palance, Brandon de Wilde, Alan Laddthe settingsI didn't like: the overuse of musicthe length, 20 mins too longSPOILER ALERT plotting. Why did Chris betray his boss? Why didn't Shane at least tell Joe what was waiting for him (a "stacked deck")? This manoeuvring towards a finale was too obvious to be believable.Shane is absent for great chunks of the movie as the settlers and ranchers battle it out.This was once one of my favourite movies but it hasn't aged well. The callous violence makes it unsuitable for children.

ShaneThe reason you don't see old gunslingers is because greeters at Wal-Mart cannot be armed.Another reason, as this Western points out is that most end up dead.After the Civil War a weathered gunfighter, Shane (Alan Ladd), moseys into a Wyoming settlement where he befriends a farmer (Van Heflin), his wife (Jean Arthur) and their son Joey (Brandon deWilde). When Shane learns a greedy cattleman (Emile Meyer) and his henchman (Jack Palance) are strong-arming the settlers off their property, he agrees to help fight back. Admired by Joey for his prowess with a pistol, Shane cautions him on the way of the gun.Still one of the greatest films ever produced thanks to its poignant storytelling, compelling characters and ambiguous ending, this Technicolor adaption of the popular paperback is a gritty dissertation on obsolescence.Besides, the world still needs gunslingers to perform twice daily at Wild West theme parks.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

One of my all time favorite westerns. Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, and Jack Palance give fine performances in this classic. Jean Arthur is the wife trying to save her husband and Elisha Cook, Jr., is the heroic but outgunned homesteader. Heflin is the righteous husband who has the courage, but not the fighting skills, to confront his enemies.Palance steals the show as the vicious hired killer. His confrontation with Cook is riveting as he humiliates and then shoots him down in the street mud. Palance's every move is sinister He is so evil that even the dog slinks away from him. Jack meets his end at the hands of Shane in an epic gun battle. Shane challenges, baits him into drawing, and shoots first. His commentary on the dead man is "He was fast." Shane then blasts the rest of that evil family who is about to ambush him. The movie ends as Shane, wounded, rides off into the twilight, and little Brandon de Wilde, who has witnessed the battle, calls after him wistfully to no avail.