Directed by:
John FordCinematography:
William H. ClothierComposer:
Cyril J. MockridgeCast:
John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan, John Qualen, Willis Bouchey (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
In 1910, Sen. Ranse Stoddard and his wife, Hallie, arrive in the small town of Shinbone to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon. A reporter questions him about his unannounced appearance, and Ranse tells about his early days as a young lawyer in Shinbone, when he opposed the ruthless rule of Liberty Valance, a notorious gunfighter. The only other two men in the town who were unafraid of the outlaw were Dutton Peabody, a drunken but courageous newspaper editor, and Tom Doniphon, a respected rancher in love with Hallie, who was then a young waitress. Valance became outraged when Ranse was elected delegate to a territorial convention and taunted him into a duel. Hallie knew that Ranse could not handle a gun and pleaded with Tom to save Ranse; but Tom, sick of Ranse's foolhardy bravery, refused. Late one night, Ranse and Valance faced each other on the darkened main street of the town. Several shots were fired, and although Ranse was wounded, Valance was the one who lay dead. Ranse became known as "the man who shot Liberty Valance" and was nominated to run for Congress. Unable to face a career built on a killing, he decided to refuse the nomination. Tom then appeared and confessed that it was he who, out of love for Hallie, fired from the shadows that night. Tom, in effect, became Ranse's conscience, the force that carried him to the U. S. Senate and a brilliant career in Washington, while Tom died a pauper. Ranse's story finished, the reporter decides not to print it because in the old West the legend had become fact. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
John Wayne
USA
Best movies:
The Longest Day (1962)
El Dorado (1966)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
James Stewart
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Rear Window (1954)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Vera Miles
USA
Best movies:
Psycho (1960)
The Wrong Man (1956)
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Lee Marvin
USA
Best movies:
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The Big Heat (1953)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Edmond O'Brien
USA
Best movies:
The Longest Day (1962)
White Heat (1949)
La Horde sauvage (1969)
Andy Devine
USA
Best movies:
Lonesome (1928)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Ken Murray
USA
Best movies:
John Carradine
USA
Best movies:
Captains Courageous (1937)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Jeanette Nolan
USA
Best movies:
Psycho (1960)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Big Heat (1953)
John Qualen
Canada
Best movies:
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Casablanca (1942)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Willis Bouchey
USA
Best movies:
From Here to Eternity (1953)
The Big Heat (1953)
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1968)
Carleton Young
USA
Best movies:
North by Northwest (1959)
Spartacus (1960)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Woody Strode
USA
Best movies:
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Spartacus (1960)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Denver Pyle
USA
Best movies:
Maverick (1994)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997) (TV movie)
Strother Martin
USA
Best movies:
Butch Cassidy et le Kid (1969)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The People Against O'Hara (1951)
Lee Van Cleef
USA
Best movies:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
High Noon (1952)
O.Z. Whitehead
USA
Best movies:
The Lion in Winter (1968)
A Song Is Born (1948)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Robert Donner
USA
Best movies:
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
El Dorado (1966)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Anna Lee
UK
Best movies:
The Sound of Music (1965)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Chuck Roberson
USA
Best movies:
The Big Country (1958)
El Dorado (1966)
Spartacus (1960)