Western RoundUp: Shane (1953)

Western RoundUp: Shane (1953)

Shane (1953), the classic Western directed by George Stevens, has just been released on 4K and Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Thanks to the Blu-ray I’ve revisited the movie for the first time since seeing it in 35mm at the Autry Museum of the American West back in 2011.

Regular viewers will know that I love some vaunted Western classics and am indifferent to a handful of others. For instance, I adore Rio Bravo (1959), which I wrote about here in 2021, but don’t especially care for High Noon (1952), as I wrote last year.

I’m firmly in the “thumbs up” category when it comes to Shane. Director Stevens may have done relatively little work in the Western genre, but he “gets” it, directing the film with a Fordian beauty, in terms of both story and visuals. At the same time, there’s a feeling of true authenticity to go along with the film’s moving story and gorgeous setting, from the barroom brawl to the mud-caked streets to the occasionally annoying little boy.

The plot, as many will already know, is fairly simple, organized around the classic “ranchers vs. farmers” theme.

Joe and Marian Starrett (Van Heflin and Jean Arthur) are raising their young son Joey (Brandon De Wilde) on their humble Wyoming homestead.

Older rancher Rufus Ryker (an almost unrecognizable Emile Meyer) wants his cattle to run free and resents the fences the Starretts and other farmers have brought to the valley to protect their crops. An ugly range war is gearing up, as Ryker intends to force out the settlers, and the peaceable farmers may not be able to withstand the violence of Ryker and his men.

One day a loner named Shane wanders into the valley and impulsively helps the Starretts when they’re being pressured by Ryker and his men. Shane befriends the Starretts and stays on to work for them; he is both a savior and a source of conflict, as Joey idolizes Shane and a very subtle, unspoken attraction grows between Shane and Marian.

Eventually Ryker summons a mean hired gun, Wilson (Jack Palance, billed as Walter Jack Palance), to town, and matters come to a head.

As is so often the case with great movies, including the aforementioned Rio Bravo, it’s a deceptively simple premise, but it’s what the filmmakers do with the story which matters. Layered on top of this basic plot are moments which make this film as rich as any great art. Shane is 118 minutes of pure Western movie magic.

The film’s beauty begins with the score by Victor Young and Loyal Griggs’ gorgeous location filming in Wyoming.

One of the back stories to the making of Shane I particularly love is that, while he didn’t film there, Stevens’ overall design of the film was inspired by my favorite town in the Eastern High Sierras, Bridgeport, California. Film noir fans may recognize Bridgeport as the setting director Jacques Tourneur chose for both Out of the Past (1947) and Nightfall (1957).

In an interview Stevens described Bridgeport as “very unlike other California towns” and went on to talk about how it impacted his vision of Shane: “There was the funeral on the hilltop, and there was the distance where the cattle grazed, and then there was the town at the crossing, a western gown like other western towns were. There were the great mountains that rose behind it. This was all arranged in one camera view… That worked its way into the picture from an idea that came to me in Bridgeport…”

Below is my photograph of Bridgeport, exactly as seen from the hilltop cemetery:

And here is a photograph of the meadow just beyond town, where the cattle from Hunewill Ranch are often seen grazing, with the mountains in the background:

I thought of these familiar scenes while revisiting Shane. Stevens really captures the Western atmosphere as he described it.

The Shane cast is topped by Alan Ladd in the title role, and while he may not have been the first choice — Stevens initially considered Montgomery Clift — he’s absolutely perfect. As my late friend Paddy once wrote, Ladd’s voice is “an amazing instrument,” and it’s hard to imagine Shane sounding any other way than with Ladd’s unique, low-pitched voice.

Contrary to his detractors, I also find Ladd an exciting actor; is there a greater moment than Shane spinning his gun back into his holster near the end, as the audience breathes a sigh of relief? I’d add I find comments about Ladd’s short height annoying in the extreme; the character Shane is all about attitude, and Ladd has it to spare. And going back to his breakout role in This Gun for Hire (1942), Ladd also had a particular ability to convey both lethality and loneliness, key attributes for Shane. He was perfectly cast in every way.

Jean Arthur had worked with George Stevens on the classic comedy The More the Merrier (1943) a decade earlier. Although she’s strangely stuck with a “mop” hairstyle which doesn’t look like any other woman in the film, Arthur’s performance is excellent. Arthur was older than her costars, but her looks fit a woman who has been working hard on the frontier. Like Ladd, Arthur silently conveys a woman who has deep longings but is ever honorable. These fully rounded, conflicted yet ultimately honorable characters — whose feelings are often communicated without words — are a part of what makes Shane special.

Van Heflin likewise does a great deal with his part; Joe is an ordinary guy but he’s determined to stand up for his right to work his land, and he takes a leadership role with the other farmers. He’s different from Shane, a settled and ostensibly less glamorous character, yet brave in his own way. And once again Heflin as Joe doesn’t always need dialogue to express his feelings.

There’s a well-remembered scene at a dance where Joe stands behind a fence and his face registers the recognition there’s something brewing between Shane and his wife; at the same time, as he later says, his wife is “the most honest and finest girl that ever lived” and he knows she would never act on this. And he’s practical enough to consider that if he doesn’t survive the range war, it’s likely Shane would look out for his beloved wife and son. The West wasn’t an easy place.

Shane’s relationship with the awestruck Joey, as he teaches young Joey things he’ll need to know as he grows, brings to mind for me a similar relationship between John Wayne and Lee Aaker in John Farrow’s Hondo (1953), released the same year as Shane. People like to make fun of “Come back, Shane!” but I’d suggest the very reason that scene is still remembered and joked about, decades later, is exactly because it’s so effective.

One of my favorite characters in the film is Chris, played by an all-time favorite Western actor, Ben Johnson. Chris starts out as a bully who faces off with Shane in an incredibly real-looking barroom brawl. While Johnson’s part was sadly cut down from what was originally planned, later in the film he wordlessly (there’s that term again!) conveys Chris’s disgust and guilt when the hired gun Wilson shoots one of the settlers (Elisha Cook Jr.). Johnson has a very nice final scene opposite Ladd, and I enjoyed that payoff, even as I wished we’d seen a little more of his character and his evolution.

Small roles are nicely played by a terrific cast which also includes Ellen Corby, Douglas Spencer, Edgar Buchanan, John Dierkes, Paul McVey, Nancy Kulp, and Beverly Washburn. Two of Ladd’s children, David and Alana, have bit roles.

Shane was written by A.B. Guthrie Jr., with additional dialogue by Jack Sher, based on a novel by Jack Schaefer

Kino Lorber’s 4K and Blu-ray print is from a new HD master from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. The print is absolutely beautiful. I love seeing films in 35mm, but this Blu-ray far surpassed the 35mm print I saw the first time I viewed this movie.

For both the 4K and the Blu-ray, Shane is presented as a Special Edition with a cardboard slipcase. The disc includes the trailer; a gallery of nine additional trailers of other Westerns available from Kino Lorber; an archival commentary track by George Stevens Jr. and Ivan Moffatt; and a brand-new commentary track by Alan K. Rode. As I wrote here last month, Rode has a forthcoming book on the making of Shane which will be published in the Reel West series from the University of New Mexico Press.

Both Shane and Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray (or 4K, for those who have a player) are highly recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

The photographs of Bridgeport are from the author’s personal collection.

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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns.  She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals.  Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.