"Shane" Film Review

Shane (1953)

Director: George Stevens

USA

Running Time: 118 minutes

Awards: 10 Oscars

Summary:

Shane takes place in post Civil War Wyoming and focuses on the difficulties faced by homesteaders, especially in the struggle between the farmers and free-range ranchers. Farmers were pitted against these ranchers due to their desire to cultivate and develop the land. By fencing off the portions given to them by the U.S. government in the Homestead Act, farmers got in the way of the ranchers who had run their cattle in the area on the open range for years before they showed up.

The film begins with Shane, a “gunslinger,” passing peacefully through the Starrett’s homestead. He is seeking to leave behind his past and start a new life. The family is suspicious of him and asks him to leave their property.

Shortly after the family’s encounter with Shane, the audience is introduced to the rising tensions between Rufus Ryker, the rancher, and Joe Starrett, the patriarch of a small family of homesteaders. Ryker and his men show up on the Starrett land, informing Joe that they will be seeking to drive them and the rest of the “pig farmers” out of the area so that they may return to grazing their cattle on the land. Starrett is unmoved by their threats and makes up his mind to never give up his family’s farm, stating that to remove him, they’ll have to do it with him “in a pine-wood box.” Shane decides to help the family in their conflict.

Later Shane accompanies the Starrett family and a group of the other homesteaders into town as Starrett’s hired man. As the group purchases supplies at the general store, Shane goes to the saloon. He is met with hostility from Ryker’s men and a fight soon breaks out. As Shane handles the first of the men, the rest soon join in. Starrett jumps in to help Shane against the overwhelming odds and Ryker and his men are defeated by them. As they leave Ryker promises, “From now on when we fight them, the air will be filled with gun smoke.”

Ryker calls in Wilson, a gunfighter from Cheyenne, to help with the troubles he faces from the homesteaders. He soon makes good on his promise of violence when Wilson kills one of the farmers, Stonewall Torrey, in town.

After the incident with Torrey many of the homesteaders decide to abandon their dreams of developing the frontier for agricultural purposes. They are soon revitalized in their purposes, however, when Joe Starrett gives a rousing speech at Torrey’s funeral, stating that they are raising families, not homesteads or cattle such as Ryker.

The violence from Ryker continues as he begins to burn homesteads. He tries to recruit Shane and Starrett to his cause and as his partners, but to no avail. He invites Starrett into town to meet at the saloon and talk about things. Starrett knows it’s a trap but decides to go anyway to shoot it out. Joe’s wife tries to stop him from going and is joined by Shane. Joe and Shane begin to fight and Joe is knocked out. Shane then goes to town in his place, followed by Joey, Joe’s young son who idolizes Shane.

Shane walks into the saloon to face Ryker and Wilson. A gun battle soon follows, in which Shane kills both Ryker and Wilson. Joey, who is watching from underneath the saloon door, warns Shane of one of Ryker’s men hiding. The final gunman is killed but not before he injures Shane.

After the fight, Shane realizes that he will never be able to change who he is and decides to leave the area in peace, telling Joey, “there are no more guns in the valley.” As he then rides away, Joey is left calling after him, “Shane! Shane, come back!”

Analysis:

Scratching a living out of the land on the frontier was no easy task. There was always work to be done. A feud with those who preferred the status quo on top of that made it nearly impossible. The struggle seen in the film was not consolidated to just Wyoming, but all throughout the western frontier. It seems that the perceived attitude held common toward farmers (such as described by Chaucer) (Kinkead, Funda, and McNeill, 43) was abandoned when survival and self-interest is at stake. Naturally, those who had acquired a good living off the wild and unsettled frontier, like Ryker, preferred the status quo when their interests were threatened by the “newcomers,” no matter the stability and development they brought with them. The rousing speech given by Starrett at the film’s climax represents this notion. He speaks of the homesteaders as the embodiment of Chaucer’s plowman. They’re struggles on the frontier were for the purpose of raising their families, whereas Ryker only sought out his own self-interest and prosperity. A deeper meaning in his words may be that he and his peers had the purpose of bringing stability and development to the region, that through them future generations would be set up for greater success. If the homesteaders overcame the problems they faced there would be no need for their offspring to struggle as they did. The wounded Shane riding away to leave “no more guns in the valley” illustrates this notion best. The frontier was slightly less wild and dangerous, and could be faced with greater certainty. Because of these early pioneers, people can enjoy the comforts of modern times without having to produce their own food from the land. Much is owed to them.

Sources:

Kinkead, Joyce, Evelyn Funda, and Lynne McNeill. Farm: A Multimodal Reader. Fountainhead Press, 2014.

Shane. Dir. George Stevens. Perf. Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin. Paramount Pictures, 1953. VHS.