This 1962 film, directed by renowned John Ford, most famous for his westerns, was the first interaction between the stars James Stewart and John Wayne and also consisted of Lee Marvin and Vera Miles. This 2 disc set contains the original release shown in black and white and is masterfully directed to use the shadows and light to convey scene setting.
Stewart plays a senator Ransom Stoddard whom returns to a small town to pay his respects for a recently deceased friend, Tom Doniphon, played by Wayne. When Stoddard arrives in town, a reporter catches him for a story on why he is in town. When the editor of the paper learns of this, he questions Stoddard for the reasons of his visit, and this starts the recollection of the story of who Tom Doniphon was. Stoddard was a young idealistic lawyer fresh out of school looking to make his way out west. His stage coach was ambushed by a man by the name of Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) and Stoddard was beat and left for dead. After being rescued by Wayne, Stoddard tries to bring his philosophy of using the law instead of the stead fast law of the west, force keeps the peace. That in itself is the real struggle with the film, when is force necessary to keep peace.
The main disc does contain commentary from Director John Ford and actors James Stewart and Lee Marvin. The second disc contains a 7 part featurette documenting the style of John Ford and the ways of how the movie worked, then also the theatrical trailer and finally a host of galleries from the film. The 7 part featurette is lengthy at worst and semi-interesting at best but for fans of directorship, it’s probably a lot more interesting.
I found filming in black and white was an excellent choice being that the way Ford directed and used shadows to hide certain aspects and to bring a clear focus to the story and its forefront. A brilliant story and acted in only the fashion that Stewart and Wayne could pull off. For the first time on set together I found the chemistry was flawless. This film is a great credit to all who worked on it.
Reviewed by Michael Albaugh
