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.
