There are four major stories I want to talk about here.

First, there is the community against the corporation. This is a conflict dear to me, one that resonates in any setting. Be it a powerful lord, an evil empire, or a rancher, some potent force of greed and corruption seeks to take what is rightfully the people's, be they represented by peasants, a weaker nation, or farmers. The narrative point is to set up an underdog, because all humans are, alone, weak. We cannot hope to stand up to the forces of the universe or society that prey on us, and underdogs and their improbable victories sing to us. The theme can vary. Sometimes, it is collective strength, sometimes…

'Then we'll never see you again?'
'Never is a long time, Marian.'

My heart was broken by this masterpiece in the most heart-warming way ever. Shane is the ultimate parable of selfless goodness counterpoised by the coarse grittiness usually associated with the genre. The unconventional way the movie resolved this seemingly irresolvable anomaly and used the regular characteristics of westerns as a ladder to reach the true allegorical heights it aimed for, paved the way for its eternal message: no matter the impossible odds, goodness always triumphs in the end. The act of righteousness might involve taking just retribution on the wrongdoers and might therefore hurt the conscience of the selfless benefactor most, but one thing it can never do.…

With its layered narrative, archetypal characters, and handsome filmmaking, George Stevens' "Shane" easily stands as a Western great. Powered by clear themes, the film is a rich and riveting, soulful and striking piece of work.

The story is cut from classic cloth: a man with a mysterious past finds himself tangled up in a conflict between groups of people with different sets of values. The man grows close to the family with whom he has aligned himself, standing with them in the face of violence. The man is Alan Ladd's Shane, a gunfighter trying to leave violence behind him. The conflicting groups are ranchers and homesteaders, each holding on to their part of a heretofore unspoiled American dream.

"Shane" boast…

So this was Shane, huh? The movie that pops up on virtually every “The 10 Greatest Westerns of all Time” list. All I can say to that is: You have got to be shitting me!

No wonder a lot of people think Westerns are kinda silly if they go after lists like that. This is so very sentimental and corny, it’s basically Nicholas Sparks with guns.

Emotionally as flat as the desert, it desperately tries to make up for it via a super obtrusive score that’s clearly supposed to tug at our heart strings. I mean, the music does not stop.

And it’s all so play-pretend.

So Alan Ladd is "a weary gunfighter", huh? Don’t look weary to me. In…

The stuff of legends, right here. Mythical meets the method. Good versus bad; Bad versus evil; The ugly, blotchy greys in the middle. Gun to gun as eye is to eye. Shoots wide with its sweeping portraits of the Wyoming landscape, capturing its mountains and valleys in all their glorious grandeur, magnificent and weathered with its gentle glow of shimmering sunshine and the prospective passage into blackened clouds and mud like melted chocolate, as they breathe life into its barren frames; and its textbook ideals of the West.

Zooms in with its characters. Character is key. Character is the emotional core. Character dominates said landscape. Convincingly novelistic in its characterisation and images with an ending that’s nothing if not emblematic.…

Shane (1953)

Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin

Director: George Stevens

Synopsis: A former gunman settles down with a family of farmers to spend the rest of his life peacefully. But when a conflict escalates between farmers and ranchers, the gunslinger has no choice but to use his violence once more.

Review:

I had heard a lot about the film Shane and most people described it to me as one of the classics of the Western genre. Now that I've seen it, I understand clearly why this film is praised by many.

In a corner of Wyoming, an old gunslinger named Shane (Alan Ladd) meets the Starrett family, consisting of the father Joe (Van Heflin), the mother Marian (Jean…

Last night I dreamt that an old friend came to my parents house to consult with me on some important thing that was going on in our lives. In the course of the conversation, they looked at me and said: "You know, you taught me the greatest lesson about mothering, and it came from some old Western I've never seen." When I asked what movie, they told me: Shane.

I have no idea what that says about me, my friend, or my relationship to this movie -- a movie I haven't seen in almost 10 years, but that I remember primarily for its heavy sentimentally and deep homoerotic subtext. I don't know what advice I gave to my friend, and…