Shane (1953) (BD) [Blu-ray]

Shane is one of the best Westerns ever made. ALL the actors are topnotch. Van Heflin played a realistic farmer with family. The way he moved, spoke, to the detail, etc. as a caring homesteader farmer are so convincing. I don't think I ever saw him in a better role. All the pioneering neighbors were superb. You will see glimpses of Alan Ladd's son, as well. Jean Arthur, as Heflin's wife, was the perfect loving, hardworking pioneering spouse. Jack Palance was a real bad dude, and perfect. Nancy Culp from Beverly Hillbillies has a little part, as does Ellen Corby of Waltons fame. Emil Meyer was notable! Everyone was terrific. The scenes of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming are absolutely breathtaking. The color and clarity are beautiful. The hard, and sometimes violent action keeps one on the edge of ones seat, but there is so much beautiful sensitivity under all of the film. Brandon DeWilde as Heflin's young son is amazing. His expressions cannot be duplicated. How he idolizes Shane is so wonderful. And this is Alan Ladd's finest hour. Montgomery Clift, a fine actor, turned down the role. That was fate, because no one could have been as good as Alan Ladd. He is a tough guy, but, true to many of his roles, there is a sensitivity that lends to his dimensionality. He is dynamic, charismatic, and all he ever was in any of his characterizations. You also know, by the way Shane compliments the wife when she serves the meal, by his supper manners, and by the way he dances, that he must have been taught a bit of spit and polish; another reason to question Shane's origin. Also, yes, Joey gets on your nerves a bit. But what precocious kid does not. A bland child would not have brought anything to the film. There is also much talk about the ending. It can be interpreted several ways. For me, there is only one resolution as to what happened. But to each his own. I will not give it away. The character of Shane tugs at ones heart. No one should miss this Western. It is really so much the history of our country. It is a must see! It is one of the most highly rated Westerns to this day. Don't miss it, especially on Kino Lorber blu-ray. The commentary is a must listen.

very good movie. I will watch it again. Shane doesn't do anything until the end but still a good story and actors.the movie had perfect color and played well.

“Shane” is one of the greatest Westerns and has held that assessment since it first came out in 1953. It’s near the top of most lists along with films like “The Searchers” and “High Noon”. This is because everyone involved in it was at the top of their game and believed in the picture. Paramount gave it an enormous (for a Western) 1.5 million dollar budget and assigned its top people to the project. Director George Stevens, one of the greats of the classic era, was one of those versatile directors like Howard Hawks who could handle any genre. On the surface, a director known for thirties comedies and films like “Alice Adams”, Katharine Hepburn’s breakthrough film and “Swing Time” the greatest of the Astaire/Rogers musicals would not seem to be the guy to direct a Western, but he had the skill and did it superbly. The writers of the screenplay and the book it was based on were both steeped in the genre and both wrote major Western novels. The original novel by Jack Schaefer was an expansion of his three-part serialized story, “Rider From Nowhere”, published in Argosy magazine in the summer of 1946, which contained all of the essential characters and plot elements. It stood out from the beginning for its serious tone and language in what was basically a pulp magazine. Schaefer wrote over a dozen Western novels including “Monte Walsh”. A.B. Guthrie wrote the screenplay and was brought in just for the film. He was not normally a screenwriter but a well-known Western novelist who was known for “The Big Sky” and the Pulitzer Prize winning, “The Way West”. Guthrie’s novels were usually set in the Montana-Wyoming area and he lived on a ranch in Teton County, Montana. Alan Ladd was at the peak of his career at this time. He had spent many frustrating years in Hollywood until his agent and future wife Sue Carol got him a contract and his breakout role in “This Gun for Hire” (1942). He had to fight against the industry’s ideal of the tall, dark leading man as he was relatively short (5’7”) and blond. For this reason he was paired in seven films with the 5’2” Veronica Lake, with whom he also had great chemistry. He became a major star playing tough guys in noir and action films, aided by his deep and resonant voice and ability to play troubled characters. He brings strength, mystery and a kind side to Shane, a man with an unknown past that seems to have included being a gunfighter. He’s the man with no name - we never learn if he’s using his given name - one of the archetypes of Westerns and hero tales in general. Jean Arthur had been one of the queens of screwball comedy, so she seems an unlikely choice for a Western, but Stevens had directed her in two films and liked her. Though very subdued compared to her early performances, she’s warm and tender as Marian Starrett, a more complex character than the usual pioneer mother as she is obviously very attracted to Shane but also totally devoted to her husband and child. At one point she tells her son, “He’s a fine man. Yes, I like him too, Joey” with all the nuance that the boy can’t pick up but the audience can. This was her last film role. Van Heflin is Joe Starrett, husband and father and the man who sees good in Shane and allows him to stay with the family on their homestead. He played every type of role in the 1940s and after and is convincing as the kind of man who would bring his family to settle in 1880s Wyoming Territory. Fans may notice that once again he has to see his cinematic wife dance with another man as he did in 1949’s “Madame Bovary”, only this time under more pleasant circumstances. Their son, Joey is the teller of the story in the novel and contrary to the usual movie, here is a central character who develops a hero-worshiping relationship with Shane. This is a big part to entrust to a ten-year-old child, but Brandon deWilde came through with wonderful reactions and sincerely spoken lines, especially his famous last words. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his work (it was an honor being put in with the adults but I’d have preferred them giving one of those small statuettes they formerly awarded child actors without competition). Jack Palance had just gotten his big break in the previous year’s “Sudden Fear” and cemented his villainous image in “Shane”. He’s frightening as gunslinger Jack Wilson in his black hat as he slowly saunters into town and when he first enters the bar, even the dog gets up and leaves. He doesn’t overplay it either, being menacingly quiet much of the time and seems to find killing a game. He too was nominated as Best Supporting Actor. In a smaller role, Western stalwart Ben Johnson adds to the film as a bad guy with a change of heart. The story is set during the historic Range War known as the Johnson County War, a setting for several other films. It’s the frequently told conflict between farmer settlers and cattle barons and the issue was fences and water. (Historically this was the opposite of the usual in places from Ancient Rome to Medieval Europe where wealthy landowners increased the size of their holdings by enclosing public land with fences while here it was the farmers putting up fences, legally according to the Homestead Acts). This was a regional “war” going on in Montana and Wyoming with a mix of organized rustling gangs, wealthy and politically connected ranchers and European settlers who the ranchers didn’t mind being included with the rustlers when they began hiring gunslingers. It’s too long to go into here but eventually it even included President Benjamin Harrison sending in the cavalry to rescue gunmen who were trapped on the ranches by a posse of over 200 men sent by the State Legislature. The scope was narrowed, of course, because they wanted to make a dramatic film, not a documentary.Though the film takes the side of the homesteaders, who after all, were following the law and not hiring gunmen, it does give big rancher Morgan Riker a chance to explain the ranchers’ side, “We built the range”. A big part of the film is its magnificent location, and the cinematography by Lloyd Griggs, which was the only winner among the film’s six Academy Award nominations. It was the year of “From Here To Eternity” which won 8 of the 13 categories and was more Academy-friendly in the early 50s when Westerns were considered a lesser type of film). The jagged Tetons give the film a mythical aspect and they are almost always present in the background. They are as important here as John Ford’s Monument Valley. It’s a setting for gods and heroes, not mortal men. Finally there’s the wonderful score by Victor Young, one of his best known and most beautiful. Titled “The Call of the Faraway Hills” it’s in the earlier folk-based style of western music before “The Big Country” (1958) and “The Magnificent Seven” (1960) established Aaron Copeland-styled music as the sound of the film Western. It is open and beautiful and seems to flow all around you. It in fact, plays almost throughout the film at an almost unheard level, only asserting itself when necessary. The music absolutely soars during the tree stump scene and becomes a menacing, brassy and pounding march when Shane goes to town for the final showdown. For Marian he inserted a sweet Polish dance tune originally titled “La Varsovienne” and in 19th century America “Put Your Little Foot”, representing feminine warmth and domesticity. There is so much going on in this film and so many nice touches. It’s Joey who first sees Shane approaching while he is about to shoot a deer (we do not know yet that his rifle isn’t loaded and so are tense about it). Shane is shown to be a heroic, almost magical hero by the deer being “saved” by running away when it hears him approaching. The camera then shows Shane from Joey’s perspective in one of its most famous shots, looking up at a larger than life figure against a vast blue sky. When Shane begins to teach Joey how to handle a gun and shoot, he shows amazing dexterity with it, signaling as did his reaction to hearing Joey cock his rifle earlier, that he has far more familiarity and skill with it than even the average cowboy. Later in the scene he notes, “A gun is just a tool. A gun is as good as the man using it, Marian. No better or no worse than any tool, an ax, a shovel, anything. Remember that.” This is the only peek we get at his possible gunfighter past. It’s brought up again when Ryan tells him, “Gunfighter, your time is over.” To which Shane answers, “What about yours? The difference is I know it.” Shane is different from the homesteaders and can’t settle down with them. Within the film he feels that “There’s no living with a killing” But beyond that, as a mythic hero he’s done. He came where help was needed and now he must move on.

This is a must have DVD for any fan of the movie Shane. I have a 4K tv and a blue-ray dvd player and I can't see how the 4K dvd could be any clearer than the blue-ray. The 4K scan from the original film brings this classic western to life.

Great film from George Stevens, though it seems a little stilted to modern ears. Amazon has completely ruined Prime Video. Formerly there was an entire menu item called "free with Prime". That's gone. There is no way now to browse free content anymore. Furthermore, costly rentals/purchases/subscriptions are shoved to the front of the results for any and all searches. This process is called enshitification: getting subscribers hooked on free content, then taking it away and pushing expensive items and subscriptions instead. The final phase is selling user data to corporations.

I was fishing in flat creek,the legendary dry fly stream that flows through the elk refuge and around the fringes of Jackson Hole Wyoming ....the water was clear and cold..the sky was surreal blue..a september day to kill for,73 degrees,the grand tetons, distant, but watching..all i lacked was the entity i could not have..fish..cut throat trout,i could'nt buy a fish let alone catch one so i called it quits,walked back to the car with the intention of tucking tail and driving back to the hotel in Jackson Hole.A mile or two down the road,I stopped at the infamous Flat Creek Grocery,a catch all little place,which means "it's there if you can find it",hunting suppies,fishing supplies,hunters and fisherman buying supplies,coffee,a complete line of Spam and Vienna Sausage,bread,beer.all sizes of Miracle Whip,mustard and ketshup,soft drinks,hard drinks and water,the reason I was a cash paying customer in the first place..went to the appropriate freezer and grabbed an ice cold plastic bottle of Grand Teton Water,I was parched.Paid for the H2O,and was on my way,when I noticed the label on the water bottle had a pic of the town in "Shane" the movie.The little Hollywood town sat stark and small with the Grand Teton Mountains looming ominously in the black and white backgtound of the black and white still that had come to inhabit the label and was in fact the logo for Grand Teton Spring Water.It was an interesting image because I realized I was not far from where the town had been..Found myself at Jackson Hole's Welcome Center,standing front and center of the Info/Help desk..the guy man-ing the I/H desk said"no you're not crazy...people from all over the world hunt up the "Shane Sites",thousands a year.He gave me directions to a site or two,,,I was off,,,found the town site..a pile of weathered boards was all that was left....did'nt realize how close to the road it was...the graveyard was on a little hill over looking the town site...the ranch was located in an area called "Mormon's Row"..nothing remained...Somehow I was glad I was able to find the sites.it was detective-ey,kind of spooky,and sad.when you consider all those people who made "Shane" are gone..Flew home,hell-bent on buying and watching "Shane"...got my copy of "Shane" from Amazon...here's the ten reasons "Shane" is the best Western ever made 1)Cinematograohy..every frame framed by the master George Stevens..The Grand Teton's,the realism of the sets,every shot is perfect 2)The script and story,one of the best adaptations of a book ever penned by Hollywoodians("a gun is only as good as the person who carries it")(Shane,"the difference between you and me is I know I've outlived my time")(Shane,I guess I'm overdue for a new life myself") 3)Direction-Stevens sat at the helm of a legendary movie production that infected movie goers with a kind of sublimity that hardy ever happens..it's unforgeting,a value only a few directors have ever been able to send as a side effect of their film. 4)The editing---the final scene is argueably the best edited action sequence in the history of cinema. 5)The acting--the best 6)The Grand Tetons and the Teton Valley---as much a star in this flick as Alan Ladd 7)Alan Ladd--too short to be Shane,not actor enough to be Shane(they wanted Gary Cooper for the part)not enough presence to be Shane,the worst possible selection for the portrayl of Shane---well what can you say-Ladd no matter how miscast... was and became Shane. 8)the dog---how did they get him to jump in that stream...as he and DeWilda chased Shane. 9)Ben Johnson---probably the real Shane if the truth was known 10)The magic and beauty of it all,"Shane: translates it's message on aging,regret and the complexities of living and life as powerfully today as it did in 1950.

The DVD transfer is very good and the Technicolor is vivid and clean. The costuming is authentic and the sets are perfect. The outdoor locations are a wonder in color. If you think that a movie made over 50 years ago isn't worth your time, think again. No Western ever made is better. Trust me, I have literally hundreds of Westerns in my collection. The story begins with drifter Shane (Alsn Ladd) riding up to a farm where Joe Starrett (Van Heflin), his wife, Marian (Jean Arthur) and son Joey (Brandon De Wilde) toil to make a farm from nothing. At first, Shane is perceived as a villian and is told to ride on but when he comes back to aid the family in a confrontation with the antagonists, ranchers led by Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer), Shane is welcomed and hired to help with the farm. From there the story unfolds as both a struggle between factions, farmers and ranchers, and a study of a man seeking to escape his past. We are never told exactly what that past is but it becomes evident that Shane was a gunfighter. Shane joins the struggle as if the cause was his own. There is a growing attraction between Shane and Marian Starrett that stays as it should, just an attraction. Young Joey is anamored with Shane, his confidence and his prowness with a gun. When Shane goes into town to pick up fencing, he encounters the Rykers and walks away from a fight even after being insulted by Chris Calloway (Ben Johnson). The rancers continue to harass the farmers, driving one off and bringing doubt and debate to the rest of the group. When the farmers return to town together to pick up supplies, Shane answers Calloway's challenge with a rousing barroom brawl in which he and Joe seem to get the best of a larger group. The fight inspires the farmers to press on. One farmer, Frank "Stonewall" Torrey (Elisha Cook, Jr.), goes to the bar to drink whiskey. His new found courage, brought about by the victorious fight scene, leads him to challange a hired gun, Jack Wilson (Jack Palance). Frank is shot dead. The tension builds until Joe decides he must go to town to meet Ryker but Shane knows Joe cannot handle the gunfighter. Shane and Joe engage in one of the best fight scenes you will ever see in a movie. Shane wins but shakes little Joey's admiration when he hits big Joe with his gun. The final confrontation between Shane and the ranchers with the gunfighter is a classic with no wasted histrionics or undo hype. Director George Stevens crafted a masterpiece film which has stood the test of time. The ensemble cast could not be better and if there are highlight performances, they belong to Jean Arthur and Jack Palance. Highly recommended for all audiences except the youngest children.

A good movie with lots of action. One of the favorites.