Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Corkin summarizes the film as telling the story of an aging western figure, now a U.S. senator,
Ransom Stoddard, returning to the town of Shinbone with his wife Hallie, for the funeral of an old friend
Tom Doniphon. When asked by a reporter why he would attend a pauper’s funeral Stoddard narrates a tale
about how he knew Doniphon. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is told in a flashback. Stoddard explains that
while he has gained fame for civilizing Shinbone, it was Doniphon that performed the act that earned
Stoddard his reputation. Throughout the film Tom Doniphon’s obscurity becomes a symbol of the passing
frontier, and Stoddard’s eminence illustrates the way modernity has taken root in formerly unsettled places.
It is important to note that Liberty Valance is filmed in black and white. Nearly all films made by this
time were in color. This anomaly exists for two reasons. The most obvious cause of the black and white
filming is the nostalgia inherent in the flashback. It is explaining an older time, and therefore uses an older
film technique. There is more to this choice than to serve as a simple flashback. Ford’s use of black and
white reflects implies Stagecoach, which was from a black and white era. This film is a mirror image of
Stagecoach. While Stagecoach was about constructing the myth of the individual embodied in the Ringo Kid,
Valance is about constructing the myth of the civilizing force of the lawyer, Ransom Stoddard. The culture
of rugged individualism that Ringo represented must be torn down in this film to relay the values of the
1960s. No longer is the law of the gun integral to society’s function. Civilization has been built; it is no
longer a fledgling institution in need of protection from the outside. Civilization now was structured around
obedience to law, the triumph of the other-directed man, and needed a man of law to keep it together. The
individuals, such as Tom Doniphon, who created the society no longer had a place in it. Lawmen such as
Ransom Stoddard were what civilization needed to flourish, and by constructing this film in black and white
Ford offers an elegiac vision of the transformation from an individualistic ethic to one of law and
community.
The film opens with a shot of a train coming through the wilderness. This will be the only scene
throughout the film that displays open area. Monument Valley, a key factor in the first two films, is notably
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