Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

“Shane, come back!” could have been a Simon & Garfunkel lyric. Instead, the troubadours chose Joe DiMaggio, another icon of mid-Century American manhood. Yet, Shane endures as a cultural touchstone.

Thousands of baby boomers were christened with his clarion clear name, their parents having lionized the buckskin-clad stranger who rode on to a Jackson Hole homestead. Hanging just out of reach, Shane befriends the hardy family of Joe & Marian Starrett and 11 year old Little Joe, just as a range war begins. Of course the gunfighter becomes the ace-in-the-hole for the Starretts and other beleaguered sod-busters.

Two transcendent stars emerged from the supporting cast – Brandon De Wilde tenderly and briefly; Jack Palance menacingly and near permanently.

One of the best Westerns ever? AFI says yes. I suppose so, though three less-than-great leads cast doubt.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Jack Palance and Brandon De Wilde are far and away Shane’s most distinctive screen presences, even though they weren’t big stars like the three leads.

Alan Ladd underwhelms in the title role. “I have the face of an aging choirboy and the build of an undernourished featherweight. If you can figure out my success on the screen you’re a better man than I,” said the leading man.¹ He’s still the better man.

Screen queen Jean Arthur makes her final movie appearance in Shane and acquits herself quite well as a hardy settler woman, even though she’s famous as a comedienne, not a dramatic actress.

Van Heflin stolidly upholds his central role as a stubborn “sod buster” refusing to give up his homestead.

Brandon De Wilde is superb as his young son, Joey, he of the plaintive “Shane, come back!” line.

Jack Palance became a black hatted villain for the ages as the hired gunslinger brought into town to take out Shane’s white hat. The young Palance earned an Oscar nomination for the role. Interestingly he was billed as Walter Jack Palance even though his birth name is Vladimir Palahnuik. Ah, Hollywood.

Other notables:

• Ben Johnson as a bullying cowboy. Johnson’s acting Filmography in IMDb totals 102 titles.
• Edgar Buchanan’s voice will be recognizable to fans of certain age from Petticoat Junction. He was Uncle Joe.

¹ IMDb

Film - Great 4.0

Quintessential Rock ’em, Sock ’em Western, where even allies beat the tar out of each other. Violence is good, as it were.

Formulaic in that regard, Shane is cannily knowing in others, notwithstanding how chaste it is by modern standards. For instance, the sexual tension between a stranger and a yearning wife is well drawn, and both sides of the range war are shown to have understandable and mostly legitimate motivations.

Edge - Risqué 1.7

Reality - Glib 1.6

Loosely based on the Johnson County War, a small conflagration that spawned much Wild West mythology.

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