Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 18, 2013

John Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Paramount Pictures UK. There are no supplemental features on this release. In English, with optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

"Now, what kind of man are you, dude?"

The film begins with the end. Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder), a famous senator, and his elegant wife, Hallie Stoddard (Vera Miles, Psycho, The Searchers), arrive in Shinbone, a sleepy town somewhere in the West, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon (John Wayne, Rio Grande). In the tiny room where Doniphon’s coffin is placed, Stoddard decides to reveal to the editor of the local newspaper how his political career started and why he is still remembered as “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”.

Quite a few years earlier. Now Stoddard is a young and ambitious lawyer who is stopped right outside Shinbone, robbed and brutally beaten by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin, The Dirty Dozen) and his boys. He is found unconscious by Doniphon and transported to Hallie’s house, where he recovers and vows to bring the outlaw to justice. Soon after, he begins educating the illiterate residents of Shinbone and urges them to stand up for their rights.

Meanwhile, Valance and his boys frequently visit the town. And each time the obese marshal hears their voices, he immediately disappears. Only Doniphon occasionally confronts Valance, but the two men always end up heading in different directions.

Valance manages to publicly humiliate Stoddard a couple of times before he finally confronts him in a duel. Everyone in Shinbone predicts that the lawyer will end up in a coffin, but somehow he turns out to be the better shooter and kills the outlaw on the spot.

Stoddard’s miraculous shot immediately complicates his relationship with Doniphon because Hallie falls in love with him. The brokenhearted Doniphon promptly burns down the house he has been building for Hallie and then tries to kill himself, but Stoddard saves his life. Sometime after that “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” is sent back to the East Coast, where he came from, to represent the people in Washington.

This film has it all. It is incredibly smart, thought-provoking, brilliantly directed and acted. It is undoubtedly one of the all-time greatest Hollywood westerns, and director John Ford’s best film.

The film is interpreted differently by a lot of different people. For some it sums up perfectly what the Old West was – a place where the good and honest ones would always find a way to prosper, a place where ordinary people could become heroes. I think that before John Ford directed The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance he also genuinely believed that the Old West was such a place.

But I also think that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the one and only film Ford directed where it clearly shows that at some point he realized that his vision of the Old West was too naive. The final third of the film, where Stoddard earns the nomination, effectively undermines what countless classic westerns promote – that in the Old West truth and honor meant everything.

I think that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has plenty in common with Michael Cimino’s Heaven's Gate. Both films have protagonists who are idealists and come from the East, both films focus on the clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing (and in both films the powerful barons are behind the oppressors), both films also chronicle the end of an era.

Heaven’s Gate, however, chronicles the end on a much bigger scale. Its finale also makes it clear that the idealists have lost. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a nostalgic film which isn’t determined to make such a bold statement. The truth is in it, but you can easily ignore it and instead focus on the glamor.

Note: In 1963, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance earned Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Edith Head).

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Paramount Pictures UK.

The main menu of this disc can be set in one of the following languages: English, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, and French (for Benelux territories).

The high-definition transfer used for this release clearly comes from a high-quality scan. Additional restoration work appears to have been performed as well. Needless to say, the basics we address in these reviews are indeed solid. Detail is consistently pleasing. Close-ups with plenty of light look particularly good (see screencapture #5). Some of the nighttime footage looks marginally softer, but clarity remains very pleasing. Contrast levels are stable. The blacks and whites are well balanced and there is a good range of nuanced grays. There are no traces if excessive degraining corrections. However, some partial corrections whose goal was to remove dirt and noise have been performed. Problematic sharpening adjustments have not been applied. Furthermore, overall image stability is very good. Even frame transitions in areas where time has clearly had an effect on the film are very good. There are no large cuts, damage marks, debris, or warps, but a few minor scratches that could not be removed without affecting the integrity of the film remain. All in all, there is some room for minor improvements, but the overall quality of the presentation is indeed very pleasing. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are six standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0, German Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0, French: Dolby Digital 2.0, and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Paramount Pictures UK have provided optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for the main feature.

The English Dolby Digital 2.0 is described as English Restored Mono on the disc's menu, and it certainly sounds very good - depth and especially clarity are excellent. But I would have preferred to have a lossless mono track instead of a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. Dynamic levels on the 5.1 track are elevated, but there are sequences where overall balance seems unnatural. On the the other hand, anyone expecting a dramatic expansion in the surrounds will be disappointed. My preference here remains the mono track. For the record, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of the all-time greatest Hollywood westerns. In my opinion, it is also the legendary director's best film. Currently, the film is only available on Blu-ray in various European countries and Australia, but I think that it is only a matter of time before it is released in North America. Let's hope that our local release will come with plenty of supplemental features. RECOMMENDED.