The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance/Recap

The film opens with the return of Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife, Hallie (Vera Miles), to the small frontier town of Shinbone. Stoddard is an influential and well-liked political figure, but nowhere is he more revered than in Shinbone, the place where his career started. On this sad day, however, Ransom has returned to pay tribute to an old friend, Tom Doniphon (John Wayne), who has died. Initially, he intends to slip in and out of Shinbone with little fanfare, but, when a newspaper reporter corners him, he decides to reveal the true story about how his life in politics began, and why his most famous appellation, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," was not really true.

We see in flashback when years earlier, Ransom arrives in Shinbone broken, bruised, and bloodied after being robbed and beaten by the notorious outlaw, Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin, dripping malice and paranoia). With the help of Hallie and her parents, he recovers his health and vows to bring Valance to justice. For Ransom, a book-learned attorney with little knowledge of the real world, "justice" means "arrest and jail." But in Shinbone, where the marshal (Andy Devine) is completely spineless and almost everyone else is afraid of Liberty, justice is a bullet. This is the lesson that Tom tries to impress upon Ransom, that in Shinbone, enforcing the Law requires a gun, not a book. Tom is one of the most respected men in Shinbone because of his prowess with a gun and because he is the only one who can, and will, stand up to Liberty and make him back down. The two become rivals for Hallie's affections, but each earns the other's grudging respect.

In the film's pivotal scene, Ransom is forced to confront Liberty in a duel, and seemingly kills the outlaw. Shortly thereafter, Ransom is elected territorial representative, the first step on his long and successful political career.

Now we return to the beginning of the film as Stoddard tells the reporter the true story. We learn that the man who really shot Liberty Valance was Tom Doniphon! Hallie went to find him and Tom showed up in the opposite alleyway. Watching the encounter from that secluded spot, Tom used a rifle to shoot Valance before the outlaw could kill Ransom. By timing his own accurate shot to coincide with Ransom's wild one, Tom was able to create the illusion that Ransom had done it. He accepts no glory then or later, recognizing that Ransom can do better with the reputation than he could, and when he dies, only a handful of people know the secret. When Ransom finishes disclosing the truth to newspaper reporter Scott, the reporter lists all of Ransom's accomplishments -- getting statehood, governing with honor -- and declines to print the truth... insisting instead to print the legend.


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