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Subject: Re: Don't come back, Shane
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:27:32 -0500
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On 2/11/2025 1:52 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> I first saw Shane (1953) in junior high English class. The
> literature-appreciation curriculum loved teaching the kids about
> "perfect" story structure, so everybody reads The Lonliness of the Long
> Distance Runner.
> 
> We were also taught to write the highly-structured three-three essay.
> 
> As a tv viewer, there's nothing wrong with structured story telling. The
> audience expects developments to occur at certain points; the writer of
> the teleplay should meet those expectations. This doesn't interfere with
> good writing, but it doesn't enhance it either.
> 
> It's just structure.
> 
> As a kid, I really never liked the movie all that much. It has its
> merits: gorgeous scenery, excellent performances from Van Heflin and
> Jean Arthur and the supporting cast, and the iconic performance of Alan
> Ladd's career.
> 
> But the story is simplistic and the characters serve the needs of the
> plot. Van Heflin and the nice settlers in the valley are barely eeking
> out a living. The evil Ryker family wants to expand their cattle ranch
> onto land they don't own if only they could drive away the settlers.
> 
> This is the movie in which the womenfolk are stampeded and cattle raped.
> 
> Everybody else but Van Heflin wants to move because, well, the Rykers
> are murderous. Van Heflin keeps talking them into staying which
> predictably gets them killed because he has no plan.
> 
> Jack Palance, excellent in an early role and also nominated, is the
> henchman hired by the Rykers who flat out murders Elisha Cook in a
> famous scene. (Quick: Come up with more than three roles in which Cook
> isn't murdered on screen or killed off screen.)
> 
> The tall dark stranger rides into the valley, but he's blond and average
> height Shane as played by Alan Ladd and we really have to suspend
> disbelief about the men he's killed in backstory.
> 
> Shane's motivation is less Truth Justice and the American Way but that
> he's in love with Jean Arthur.
> 
> Then you've got the infuriating performance from the kid Joey
> (Oscar-nominated Brandon deWilde). The kid is SUPPOSED to be annoying.
> Success! But he doesn't work as a point-of-view character. For the kid,
> it's all self indulgence and instant gratification. Well, at that age,
> we might believe it but there's nothing natural about the performance,
> and even if he were a better actor, that he's got zero respect for his
> father throughout much of the picture makes the audience kind of dislike
> him, impatient with him because he never learns to understand.
> 
> Nor is it a coming of age story. The kid goes through hero worship
> phases, things don't go the way he wants them, and he hates his hero.
> Then a responsible adult tries to explain the situation to him. He
> claims to understand, forgives his hero then goes right back to hero
> worshipping him.
> 
> We get better performances from several of the well-trained dogs than
> the kid.
> 
> My opinion is in the minority. This is one of the most popular Westerns
> both at initial release and viewers over the decades who think it's
> stood the test of time.

Also fun to see Metacritic's 17 reviews, bookended by two luminaries: 
Bosley Crowther, who's overawed, and Pauline Kael, who's unimpressed.

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shane/critic-reviews/