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A Disappointing Continuation

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

In itself, the movie is a good one. However it almost completely detracts from the original book, which is probably the greatest Western ever written. Sorry to say, but the movie is basically a dumbed down version for the masses, which rips the book apart and re-arranges and deletes many parts. Still a good movie to watch, but definitely not for people who fell in love with the book.

It is considered one of the best films of all time. And once again, I'm too stupid to figure out why... Average tra-la-la western story. It is not bad for a western, although it is not much above the average in the genre, and within the entire history of the film, I'm not giving it a crumb above the six.6/10

I liked: Jack Palance, Brandon de Wilde, Alan Laddthe settingsI didn't like: the overuse of musicthe length, 20 mins too longSPOILER ALERT plotting. Why did Chris betray his boss? Why didn't Shane at least tell Joe what was waiting for him (a "stacked deck")? This manoeuvring towards a finale was too obvious to be believable.Shane is absent for great chunks of the movie as the settlers and ranchers battle it out.This was once one of my favourite movies but it hasn't aged well. The callous violence makes it unsuitable for children.

Copyright 27 March 1953 by Paramount. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 23 April 1953. U.K. release: 24 October 1953. Australian release: 25 September 1953. 10,718 feet. 118 minutes. NOTES: Winner of The Picturegoer Seal of Merit. Second to From Here To Eternity in The Film Daily annual poll of American film critics and second to Julius Caesar as the Best American Film of 1953 in the National Board of Review awards. For his performance in the title role of this movie, Alan Ladd won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best Actor of 1953. (Available on an excellent Paramount DVD). COMMENT: What can one say about this perfect western that has not already been said in countless reference books and reviews? The point I was going to make was the effective contrast Stevens presents between God's scenery and man's brutality. And yet this is not a simple God's guys versus the bad guys epic. The good guys are somewhat flawed too and the bad guys through their spokesman, Emile Meyer, offer a quite convincing argument in favor of their violent reaction. Ultimately, of course, they overstep the bounds. But after all that climactic action, perhaps it is the hero (played by stoic Alan Ladd in a perfect bit of casting) that misses out. What does he get for coming to the rescue? What's his reward? Stevens very effectively conveys by purely visual means exactly what the hero expects and what he ultimately receives.