And as they swarm around the senator for details, Stoddard starts recalling the events leading up to that day and, the film cuts to a flashback. Stoddard's first confrontation with Doniphon reveals absolutely no understanding between them; they eye each other as if the other were a strange animal. Marvin enjoyed playing the larger-than-life Liberty Valance, which he did to the hilt, opposite iconic costars like Wayne and Stewart. Tom Doniphon and Ransom Stoddard are the two key characters in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, directed by John Ford and filmed in 1962. Wayne was Americas favorite cowboy, while Stewart, having graduated from the school of Frank Capra, withMr. Smith Goes to WashingtonandIts a wonderful lifeisits favorite idealist. In fact, hes severely whipped by Valance after a stage holdup. But in addition to drawing on Americana, Ford created it; the characters and situations in his westerns, from The Iron Horse to Stagecoach to Ford Apache to The Searchers to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, have become as much a part of American tradition as those on which Ford originally drew. Stoddard has none of this embarrassment. He asks if she wants to move back to the town when they retire, which makes her delighted as she states her heart belongs there. He then throws down a challenge to Stoddard: leave town or face him in a gunfight. After hearing all this, the newsmen decide not to print the story, as the mythology that propelled Stoddard has to be protected at any cost. Edmond OBrien Dutton Peabody His own conscience clear, Stoddard goes back into the hall and accepts the nomination; Doniphon goes home alone. Christ there was no place for me. Tom Doniphon tells him that without a gun in his hand and the experience to use it, he will sooner or later certainly be killed by Valance. Hes the individualistic strain in American history: the isolationist, the Randian, the pioneer who wants not to build a community, but his own private empire. But as he would come to reveal in Liberty Valance, he was just printing the legend all along, leaving out the hard facts. It was exacerbated by his failing health and his drinking problem, as the cantankerous Ford became even more of a misanthrope, thus alienating the big studios from hiring him. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | News | The Harvard Crimson Thirty years ago the swaggering, tough-talking leader of the Gambino crime family was found guilty of murder and racketeering after eluding prosecutors at three previous high-profile trials. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Doniphan is ready to kill Valance over spoiling his steak by tripping Stoddard, but does nothing while Valance oppresses his neighbors, and torments innocent people. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved. So Ford had to go back to his favorite son to get this picture made, and he didnt like it at all and neither did Wayne. Post-Liberty Valance, John Wayne would continued to be the most dependable American movie star of his times. Watching the film, we see that Ransom Stoddard is indeed the story true hero and protagonist, and at times, almost a Christ-like figure. When they confront each other in the restaurant, Ford cuts directly back and forth between close shots of the two of them, establishing the direct link between them and the instinctive understanding each one has of the other. Thus buoyed, Stoddard rushes off to become the heroic figure that will dominate the politics of the territory, and then state, for decades to come.