Session 021 - Shane
Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?
Monday, July 14, 2008
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4 comments:
Okay sorry it took so long to respond to this one, but I just needed to find time to do it.
Shane was voted as among the top 100 films according to AFI, its the 3rd best Western (once again AFI), and it has been deemed significant to the medium that it will be preserved for centuries from now...
And I just don't see why.
Perhaps this must have been the first Western ever because it follows most cliches that we have come to know from the genre. Good versus bad...lone savior...rotten men stealing land...beautiful majestic landscape....It has all been done before and better.
I didn't find Alan Ladd to be all that compelling. I thought he seemed miscast in the role that clearly John Wayne fit to a tee. He didn't have a believable enough build to pull off those punches and heroic acts. Granted he is more known for his aim than punches, but he does start a brawl and kicks some ass as much as I thought he would have been pummeled.
Jack Palance was given little to do for a role he was so famous for playing. Hell he was even nominated for it.
And that damn kid. Seriously he too was nominated. Many reviews I read on this film praised his performance. What performance. He was a brat. kept running around yelling "Shane" constantly. No wonder "Shane" was such a famous line from the film...its uttered like four hundred times from that twerp. There was no nuance or subtlety to his performance. He simply acted like a child actor would unfortunately, and I've see so much better.
As for subtlety, I didn't think any of the supposed "edgy" themes that it explores were subtle either. They simply are there to make it seem like there is more going on, but to me it seemed like lost sub-plots that weren't fleshed out. There is this attraction or connection between Shane and the wife played by Jean Arthur that is never really more than simple eye contact. Yes, we know it is the end of the gun slinging era and the beginning of the farming, but how does Shane feel about being among the last of his kind. Where was he going? Where did he come from? Why did he feel the need to stick up for this family? For being the central character, I felt Shane was a bit too one dimensional.
Now let me end on some positives.
Let me say that I did like the film. I would recommend it, but I just feel it is overrated. But there are some things I did really dig.
The ending is a cool concept, but I think that it is too ambiguous. He barely looks slumped over. It's only because he is in the graveyard that it thematically appears as if he has past. Still I do like the debate over the topic. Personally, I think he's dead.
I also really loved the sequence where Torrey was killed. That was a great scene where actual suspense took place. It was a pitiful death much likeKeith Carradine in McCabe & Mrs Miller. Oddly enough Ebert thought the same thing as I.
It also is well crafted. I wouldn't say it was poorly paced or edited. Good shots of the horizon, but sometimes it was too obvious they did some shots on a sound stage.
So all in all, I was really looking forward to seeing this film and and just left wondering why it is so highly praised. for me, I just thought it was a good Western, but certainly nothing I hadn't seen before. How did that make AFI's list and not a single Sergio Leone Western did. Not one. He should have at least got represented by Once upon a time in the West (Best Western Ever, Searchers is overrated too) or the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Oh and I forgot to say that I did also really dig the sound in this film, specifically when guns are fired. Steven's really emphasizes the power a gunfighter wields in their hand and that it truly isn't glamorous. That was something that really stood out for me as a new approach to the Western, but still not enough to make it a wholly unique experience.
Not only is it considered the third best western of all-time by the American Film Institute, but the Western Writers of America recently named Shane the best western ever made.
And I’m with you Ty, it doesn’t deserve it… even if I did like it quite a bit.
The film is just as embarrassingly earnest as I expected, and early on showed clear indications that this could be another A Christmas Story fiasco where I end up beating up on a beloved source of sentimentality for film lovers seemingly everywhere.
As you mentioned, the doe-eyed child who wanders around uttering “Shane!” and garnering Oscar nominations was one of my biggest issues as well. But it is his character that impresses an aww-shucks demeanor on the film, a wholesome incredulity which is one of the biggest distinguishing factors of Shane. The film struck me as a Frank Capra western, with Alan Ladd in the Jimmy Stewart role.
Undoubtedly the film is drowning in schmaltziness. Be it Starett and Shane working together to uproot a tree trunk that Starett hadn’t been able to do move previously, Shane teaching Starett’s son Joey to shoot, Shane’s numerous times standing up for and trying to protect Starett (including getting into a fistfight just to maintain Starett’s name and honor), all the way to that boy’s glazed-over expression as he yells “Shane!” and stares off into the distance, as our hero rides off. This film is trying to evoke a particular overly-romantic feeling... and either you buy into it, or you don't.
At times it comes off as phony, sure, and you’re 100% right about Alan Ladd not being the intimidating presence that is needed for that barroom brawl. Although the way it was staged, I didn’t feel like it called for too much of a suspension of disbelief. But, yes, a tougher-looking baby-faced man (similar to a John Wayne as you mentioned) probably would have allowed for the scene to work better.
Eventually though, the film’s pristine image of “good” and standing up for yourself won me over – even if I did end up feeling slightly manipulated afterwards.
And no, Shane doesn’t hold up to other classic westerns like Unforgiven, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Wild Bunch or The Searchers (thems fightin’ words Chach), but I still feel like it’s better than that other early 50’s western that is routinely overrated… High Noon.
Plus, check out some of these lines… for them alone, it’s worth the time.
Shane: A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.
A Taxi Driver influencer?
Shane: You speaking to me?
Chris Calloway: I don't see nobody else standing there.
Shane: There's no living with a killing. There's no goin' back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand... a brand sticks. There's no goin' back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her... tell her everything's alright. And there aren't any more guns in the valley.
And my personal favorite…
Shane: Do you mind putting down that gun? Then I'll leave.
Joe Starrett: What difference does it make, you're leaving anyway?
Shane: I'd like it to be my idea.
The Searchers would be a nearly perfect Western if not for the horrible comedic wedding sequences that completely stop any momentum the movie had. Great story, execution, acting, themes, etc. but the comedy doesn't work at all.
And I'm glad you had similar feelings to me on this one. And those are some good lines of dialogue you picked. Good stuff there. Haven't seen High Noon yet, so I can't comment, but I do want to check it out.
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