Liberty Valance

I have not really talked about most of the movies that I've had to watch for my Hollywood Westerns class, but I feel compelled to make a comment about The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I didn't particularly like the film...I have been a fan of only one film we have seen (High Noon...which I previously hated, however, compared to other Westerns, its completly amazing). Liberty Valance really should have been a really good movie, it had everything going for it...but it just didn't work...mainly because of the lazy script and over done characters. Seems to be a problem with all of John Ford's films...I guess I like my movies to not have things they don't need...like tons of annoying/extraneous characters. And I really dislike John Wayne...I know. I'm not really sure why I wanted to mention that I didn't like Liberty Valance, maybe I just wish that Western films could be better. They really do have a lot to work with, but they either seem to be really "run-of-the-mill shoot em ups" or "look while I try to be weird and intellectual but just end up with a crowded script that drags on for almost an hour more than it should". They do tend to be really beautiful looking movies...I just wish there was more there. I really expected to come out of this class loving Westerns...it hasn't happened yet. Oh well.

Filed in: western film John+Wayne