Shane has been called the greatest Western motion picture ever made. The film was released in 1953. The famous Western author A. B. Guthrie, Jr., adapted the screenplay from Shane (1949), a novel by the Western writer Jack Schaefer.
Shane starred Alan Ladd as a mysterious retired gunfighter known only as Shane. Shane comes to the aid of homesteading farmers threatened by ruthless cattle ranchers who want the farmland for their cattle. George Stevens directed the movie, which co-starred Van Heflin as Joe Starrett, the leader of the homesteaders, and Jean Arthur as his wife, Marian. Brandon de Wilde played Joey, their young son, who comes to idolize Shane. The story is largely told through Joey’s eyes. Jack Palance gained recognition as Wilson, a cool and vicious killer hired by the cattle ranchers to defeat the homesteaders.
Shane takes place in Wyoming, and the film won praise for its beautiful color photography of the majestic Wyoming landscape. Cameraman Loyal Griggs received an Academy Award for his photography.
Shane is basically a version of the familiar Western story about the conflict between farmers who fence in their land and ranchers who need wide-open rangeland for grazing. However, the film is paced more slowly than the typical Western and develops its characters with more depth and sensitivity. After winning a gun battle at the end of the film, Shane rides off alone. The grief-stricken Joey cries out “Come back, Shane,” which has become one of the most familiar phrases in motion-picture history.
See also Guthrie, A. B., Jr. ; Palance, Jack ; Westerns .
