Shane
Encyclopedia
Shane is a 1953 American Western
film from Paramount. It was produced and directed by George Stevens
from a screenplay
by A.B. Guthrie Jr., based on the 1949 novel of the same name
by Jack Schaefer
. Its Oscar-winning cinematography was by Loyal Griggs
. The film stars Alan Ladd
, Jean Arthur
(in her last film after a thirty-year career) and Van Heflin
, and features Brandon De Wilde
, Elisha Cook Jr.
, Jack Palance
and Ben Johnson
.
Shane was listed #45 in the 2007 edition of AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies list and #3 on AFI's 10 Top 10 in the category Western.
A stranger who calls himself Shane (Alan Ladd
) drifts into an isolated valley in the sparsely settled territory of Wyoming
. It soon becomes apparent that he is a gunslinger
, and he finds himself drawn into a conflict between simple homesteader
Joe Starrett (Van Heflin
) and powerful cattle baron Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer
), who wants to force Starrett and every other homesteader in the valley off the land. Shane accepts a job as a farmhand, but finds Starrett's young son Joey (Brandon DeWilde) drawn to him for his strength and skill with a gun. Shane himself is uncomfortably drawn to Starrett's wholesomely charming wife, Marian (Jean Arthur
).
When Shane and the rest of the homesteaders go into town, Shane gets into a fistfight with Ryker's men. With Joe's help, they beat up Ryker's men, and the shopkeeper orders them out. Ryker then declares that he and his men will kill the next time Shane or Joe return to the town.
As tensions mount between the factions, Ryker hires Jack Wilson (Jack Palance
), a skilled gunslinger. After Wilson kills ex-Confederate Frank 'Stonewall' Torrey (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a hot-tempered Alabama homesteader who had stood up to him, the homesteaders have a funeral for him with many planning to leave afterwards. Once the funeral is over, the homesteaders see a fire burning in the distance. Ryker's men have set fire to the house of one of the homesteaders, Lewis. The homesteaders then resolve to keep fighting and they promise to help rebuild the house despite fears that the same will happen to them. Joe Starrett decides to take it upon himself to kill Wilson and Ryker and save the town; however, one of the cowpunchers, who declares that he's "quitting" Ryker, tells Shane that Joe is "up against a stacked deck." Shane stops Joe, and the two men fight over who should go on to face Wilson. Shane regretfully uses his gun to hit Joe over the head and knock him out, knowing this was the only way to prevent Joe from facing Ryker and getting killed. Joey yells at Shane, and then turns to his father. Shane saddles up and rides to the town.
At the town, Shane walks into the saloon. He faces Wilson first; they both draw their guns and Shane shoots Wilson several times. Shane turns swiftly to his left and guns down Ryker. Shane turns to leave. Joey, having followed Shane from the farm, warns Shane of danger. Ryker's brother is on the staircase with a Winchester rifle, and is able to fire first. He shoots Shane in the back, but then Shane returns fire and the rifleman collapses from the staircase onto the floor.
Joey runs up to Shane; Shane asks Joey to take care of the homestead and to watch over his family. The wounded Shane gets onto his horse and rides away. He is upright (looking down at the ground at night) with his left arm hanging to one side. He rides past the grave stones on Cemetery Hill, symbolically appearing to sink down amongst them.
The film does not explicitly indicate whether Shane survives the wound he received in the shootout. This has led to sometimes heated discussions among fans of the film, as depicted in the 1998 film The Negotiator
.
's Johnson County War
. The physical setting is the high plains near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and many shots feature the Grand Teton
massif
looming in the near distance. Other filming took place at Big Bear Lake
, San Bernardino National Forest
, the Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth
and at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California.
Director George Stevens originally cast Montgomery Clift
as Shane, William Holden
as Joe Starrett; when they both proved unavailable, the film was nearly abandoned. Stevens asked studio head Y. Frank Freeman
for a list of available actors with current contracts. Within three minutes, he chose Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jean Arthur, though Arthur was not the first choice to play Marian; Katharine Hepburn
was originally considered for the role. Even though she had not made a picture in five years, Arthur accepted the part at the request of George Stevens with whom she had worked in two earlier films, The Talk of the Town (1942) and The More the Merrier
(1943) for which she received her only Oscar nomination. Shane marked her last film appearance (when the film was shot she was 50 years old, significantly older than her two male costars), although she later appeared in theater and a short-lived television series.
Although the film was made between July and October 1951, it was not released until 1953 due to director Stevens' extensive editing. The film cost so much to make that at one point, Paramount negotiated its sale to Howard Hughes, who later pulled out of the arrangement. The studio felt the film would never recoup its costs, though it ended up making a significant profit. Another story reported that Paramount was going to release the film as "just another western" until Hughes watched a rough cut of the film and offered to buy it on the spot from Paramount for his RKO Radio Pictures
. Hughes' offer made Paramount reconsider the film for a major release.
Jack Palance had problems with horses and Alan Ladd with guns. The scene where Shane practices shooting in front of Joey required 116 takes. A scene where Jack Palance mounts his horse was actually a shot of him dismounting, but played in reverse. As well, the original planned introduction of Wilson galloping into town was replaced with him simply walking in on his horse, which was noted as improving the entrance by making him seem more threatening.
, a format that Paramount invented in order to offer audiences something that Television could not—a panoramic screen. Paramount, in conjunction with the management of Radio City Music Hall, installed a screen measuring 50 feet wide by 30 feet high, replacing the Hall's previous screen, which was 34 feet wide by 25 feet high. Although the film's image was shot using the standard 1.37:1 Academy ratio
, Paramount picked Shane to debut their new wide-screen system because it was composed largely of long and medium shots that would not be compromised by cropping the image. Using a newly cut aperture plate in the movie projector
, as well as a wider-angle lens, the film was exhibited in its first-run venues at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Just before the premiere, Paramount announced that all of their films would be shot for this ratio from then on. This was changed in 1954, when the studio changed their house aspect ratio to 1.85:1.
The film was originally released with a conventional optical soundtrack
in April 1953, but the success of the film convinced the producers to re-mix the soundtrack in May with a new three-track, stereophonic soundtrack, which was recorded and played on a 35mm magnetic full coat reel installed by Altec, in interlock on another dubber in the projection booth. This process was new to the general public, only having been debuted in New York City with This is Cinerama
and nationally with Warner Bros. picture, House of Wax
.
The film was also one of the first films to attempt to re-create the overwhelming sound of gunfire. Warren Beatty
cited this aspect of Shane as inspiration during the filming of Bonnie and Clyde
.
In addition, Shane was one of the first films in which actors were attached to hidden wires that yanked them backwards when they were shot from the front. The director George Stevens was in World War II and saw what a single bullet can do to a man.
In the mid to late 1970s, the Welsh television station HTV
Cymru/Wales broadcast a version dubbed into the Welsh
language.
on April 23, 1953. According to Motion Picture Daily, "opening day business at the Music Hall was close to capacity. The audience at the first performance applauded at the end of a fight sequence and again at the end of the picture.
Bosley Crowther
, after attending the premiere, called the film a "rich and dramatic mobile painting of the American frontier scene" and noted:
Crowther called "the concept and the presence" of Joey, the little boy played by Brandon De Wilde
, as being key to "permit[ting] a refreshing viewpoint on material that's not exactly new. For it's this youngster's frank enthusiasms and naive reactions that are made the solvent of all the crashing drama in A. B. Guthrie Jr.'s script."
Shane ended its run at Radio City Music Hall on May 20, 1953, racking up $114,000 in four weeks at Radio City.
Nearly 50 years later, Woody Allen
called Shane "George Stevens' masterpiece" and said it is on his "list of great American films, which include, among others, ... The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
, White Heat
, Double Indemnity, The Informer and The Hill
by Sidney Lumet.... Shane...is a great movie and can hold its own with any film, whether it's a western or not."
Nominations
Other
American Film Institute
recognition
pays tribute to Shane with a similar plot and similar ending. The movie Nowhere to Run (1993) with Jean-Claude Van Damme
and Rosanna Arquette
was loosely based on Shane. The 1965 comedy western Cat Ballou
spoofs Shane in various ways. Its buckskin-clad "good" gunfighter Kid Shelleen and black-clad villain Tim Strawn are obviously patterned after Shane and Jack Wilson, respectively, though in Cat Ballou the two adversaries turn out to be brothers. The McBain family funeral scene in the Sergio Leone
epic Once Upon a Time in the West
(1968) is borrowed almost shot-for-shot from the funeral scene in Shane.
The 1984 album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
by British musician and Pink Floyd founder member Roger Waters references the movie Shane extensively. Mainly in the track "5.01AM" where audio samples from the movie are used to punctuate verses of the song.
It is also speculated that the animated hit "Cowboy Bebop" based its final episode loosely off the ending to "Shane". In homage of the Western Hit.
The 1966 television series Batman
featured a cowboy-themed villain called "Shame" played by Cliff Robertson
. The storyline that introduces Shame also riffs on the film's famous catchphrase, featuring a young boy calling "Come back, Shame!"
involving the expiration of its copyright
in Japan. First Trading Corporation had been selling budget-priced copies of public domain movies, including Shane, as Japanese law only protected cinematographic works for 50 years from the year it was published—which meant that Shane fell into the public domain in 2003. In a lawsuit filed by Paramount, it was contested that Shane was not in the public domain in Japan due to an amendment which extended the copyright term for these works from 50 to 70 years, and came into effect on January 1, 2004. It was later ruled that the new law was not retroactive, and any film produced during or before 1953 was not eligible for the extension.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film from Paramount. It was produced and directed by George Stevens
George Stevens
George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...
from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by A.B. Guthrie Jr., based on the 1949 novel of the same name
Shane (novel)
Shane is a 1949 western book by Jack Schaefer. It is often considered his greatest novel.-Plot:Note: This description is a combination of the movie and the book, and is not representative of the novel itself....
by Jack Schaefer
Jack Schaefer
Jack Warner Schaefer was a twentieth century American author known for his Westerns. His most famous work is Shane, which was made into a critically acclaimed movie, and the short story "Stubby Pringle's Christmas" .-Biography:Schaefer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of an attorney...
. Its Oscar-winning cinematography was by Loyal Griggs
Loyal Griggs
Loyal Griggs, A.S.C. , was an American cinematographer.Griggs joined the staff of Paramount Pictures in 1924 after graduating from school and initially worked at the studio's process department...
. The film stars Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
, Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
(in her last film after a thirty-year career) and Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
, and features Brandon De Wilde
Brandon De Wilde
Andre Brandon deWilde was an American theatre and film actor. He was born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, De Wilde became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding and was considered a child...
, Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
, Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
and Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson (actor)
Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.-Personal life:...
.
Shane was listed #45 in the 2007 edition of AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies list and #3 on AFI's 10 Top 10 in the category Western.
Plot
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
) drifts into an isolated valley in the sparsely settled territory of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
. It soon becomes apparent that he is a gunslinger
Gunslinger
Gunfighter, also gunslinger , is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun...
, and he finds himself drawn into a conflict between simple homesteader
Homestead principle
The homestead principle in law is the concept that one can gain ownership of a natural thing that currently has no owner by using it or building something out of it...
Joe Starrett (Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
) and powerful cattle baron Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer
Emile Meyer
Emile Meyer was an American actor usually known for tough, aggressive, authoritative characters in Hollywood films from the 1950s era, mostly in westerns or thrillers...
), who wants to force Starrett and every other homesteader in the valley off the land. Shane accepts a job as a farmhand, but finds Starrett's young son Joey (Brandon DeWilde) drawn to him for his strength and skill with a gun. Shane himself is uncomfortably drawn to Starrett's wholesomely charming wife, Marian (Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
).
When Shane and the rest of the homesteaders go into town, Shane gets into a fistfight with Ryker's men. With Joe's help, they beat up Ryker's men, and the shopkeeper orders them out. Ryker then declares that he and his men will kill the next time Shane or Joe return to the town.
As tensions mount between the factions, Ryker hires Jack Wilson (Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
), a skilled gunslinger. After Wilson kills ex-Confederate Frank 'Stonewall' Torrey (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a hot-tempered Alabama homesteader who had stood up to him, the homesteaders have a funeral for him with many planning to leave afterwards. Once the funeral is over, the homesteaders see a fire burning in the distance. Ryker's men have set fire to the house of one of the homesteaders, Lewis. The homesteaders then resolve to keep fighting and they promise to help rebuild the house despite fears that the same will happen to them. Joe Starrett decides to take it upon himself to kill Wilson and Ryker and save the town; however, one of the cowpunchers, who declares that he's "quitting" Ryker, tells Shane that Joe is "up against a stacked deck." Shane stops Joe, and the two men fight over who should go on to face Wilson. Shane regretfully uses his gun to hit Joe over the head and knock him out, knowing this was the only way to prevent Joe from facing Ryker and getting killed. Joey yells at Shane, and then turns to his father. Shane saddles up and rides to the town.
At the town, Shane walks into the saloon. He faces Wilson first; they both draw their guns and Shane shoots Wilson several times. Shane turns swiftly to his left and guns down Ryker. Shane turns to leave. Joey, having followed Shane from the farm, warns Shane of danger. Ryker's brother is on the staircase with a Winchester rifle, and is able to fire first. He shoots Shane in the back, but then Shane returns fire and the rifleman collapses from the staircase onto the floor.
Joey runs up to Shane; Shane asks Joey to take care of the homestead and to watch over his family. The wounded Shane gets onto his horse and rides away. He is upright (looking down at the ground at night) with his left arm hanging to one side. He rides past the grave stones on Cemetery Hill, symbolically appearing to sink down amongst them.
The film does not explicitly indicate whether Shane survives the wound he received in the shootout. This has led to sometimes heated discussions among fans of the film, as depicted in the 1998 film The Negotiator
The Negotiator
The Negotiator is a 1998 drama-thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. It takes place in Chicago and was released on July 29, 1998. The original music score was composed by Graeme Revell.-Plot:...
.
Cast
- Alan LaddAlan Ladd-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
as Shane - Jean ArthurJean ArthurJean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
as Marian Starrett - Van HeflinVan HeflinEmmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
as Joe Starrett - Brandon De WildeBrandon De WildeAndre Brandon deWilde was an American theatre and film actor. He was born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, De Wilde became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding and was considered a child...
as Joey Starrett - Jack PalanceJack PalanceJack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
(credited as Walter Jack Palance) as Jack Wilson - Ben JohnsonBen Johnson (actor)Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.-Personal life:...
as Chris Calloway - Edgar BuchananEdgar BuchananEdgar Buchanan was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s...
as Fred Lewis - Emile MeyerEmile MeyerEmile Meyer was an American actor usually known for tough, aggressive, authoritative characters in Hollywood films from the 1950s era, mostly in westerns or thrillers...
as Rufus Ryker - Elisha Cook, Jr. as Frank 'Stonewall' Torrey
- Douglas SpencerDouglas SpencerDouglas Spencer was an American film actor. Starting in the mid 1930's and going through the 40's, he appeared in dozens of films as an extra, then cameo roles and uncredited roles. He worked as a Stand-In and in Production Departments...
as Axel 'Swede' Shipstead - John DierkesJohn DierkesJohn Dierkes was an American character actor present in several classic films.-Life and career:Dierkes was born on February 10, 1905 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Brown University and subsequently went to work as an economist for the United States Department of State. In 1941 he joined the Red...
as Morgan Ryker - Ellen CorbyEllen CorbyEllen Corby was an American actress. She is most widely remembered for the role of "Grandma Esther Walton" on the CBS television series The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards...
as Mrs. Liz Torrey - Paul McVey as Sam Grafton
- John MillerJohn Miller-Politics:* John Miller , Governor of North Dakota, 1889–1891* John Miller , Governor of Missouri, 1826–1832; U.S. Representative from Missouri, 1837–1843...
as Will Atkey, bartender - Edith EvansonEdith EvansonEdith Evanson was an American film actress.-Career:Her first film role came in The Man Who Wouldn't Talk in an uncredited role. In the 1940s she was in supporting roles mostly as a maid, a busybody, landladies, or middle-aged secretaries...
as Mrs. Shipstead - Leonard Strong as Ernie Wright
- Nancy KulpNancy KulpNancy Jane Kulp was an American character actress best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the popular television series The Beverly Hillbillies.-Early life:...
as Mrs. Howells
Production notes
Although the film is fiction, elements of the setting are derived from WyomingWyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
's Johnson County War
Johnson County War
The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River, was a range war which took place in April 1892 in Johnson County, Natrona County and Converse County in the U.S. state of Wyoming...
. The physical setting is the high plains near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and many shots feature the Grand Teton
Grand Teton
Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, and a classic destination in American mountaineering.- Geography :...
massif
Massif
In geology, a massif is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole...
looming in the near distance. Other filming took place at Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake is a reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. At a surface elevation of , it has an east-west length of approximately 7 miles and is approximately 2.5 miles at its widest measurement, though the lake's width mostly averages a...
, San Bernardino National Forest
San Bernardino National Forest
San Bernardino National Forest is a federally-managed forest covering more than 800,000 acres . There are two main divisions which are the San Bernardino Mountains on the easternmost of the Transverse Range, and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains on the northernmost of the Peninsular...
, the Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth
Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California
Chatsworth is a district of Los Angeles, California, United States; in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. The district is bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and unincorporated Los Angeles County lands to the north, Porter Ranch to the northeast, Northridge to the east, West Hills, Canoga...
and at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California.
Director George Stevens originally cast Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
as Shane, William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
as Joe Starrett; when they both proved unavailable, the film was nearly abandoned. Stevens asked studio head Y. Frank Freeman
Y. Frank Freeman
Young Frank Freeman was an American film company executive for Paramount Pictures. Freeman graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1910. In addition to his work with Paramount, he also worked with banking, higher education, and athletics.He was the first winner of the Jean Hersholt...
for a list of available actors with current contracts. Within three minutes, he chose Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jean Arthur, though Arthur was not the first choice to play Marian; Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
was originally considered for the role. Even though she had not made a picture in five years, Arthur accepted the part at the request of George Stevens with whom she had worked in two earlier films, The Talk of the Town (1942) and The More the Merrier
The More the Merrier
The More the Merrier is a 1943 American comedy film made by Columbia Pictures which makes fun of the housing shortage during World War II, especially in Washington, D.C.. The picture stars Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn, Stanley Clements and Richard Gaines. The movie was directed by...
(1943) for which she received her only Oscar nomination. Shane marked her last film appearance (when the film was shot she was 50 years old, significantly older than her two male costars), although she later appeared in theater and a short-lived television series.
Although the film was made between July and October 1951, it was not released until 1953 due to director Stevens' extensive editing. The film cost so much to make that at one point, Paramount negotiated its sale to Howard Hughes, who later pulled out of the arrangement. The studio felt the film would never recoup its costs, though it ended up making a significant profit. Another story reported that Paramount was going to release the film as "just another western" until Hughes watched a rough cut of the film and offered to buy it on the spot from Paramount for his RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
. Hughes' offer made Paramount reconsider the film for a major release.
Jack Palance had problems with horses and Alan Ladd with guns. The scene where Shane practices shooting in front of Joey required 116 takes. A scene where Jack Palance mounts his horse was actually a shot of him dismounting, but played in reverse. As well, the original planned introduction of Wilson galloping into town was replaced with him simply walking in on his horse, which was noted as improving the entrance by making him seem more threatening.
Technical details
Shane was the first film to be projected in a "flat" widescreenWidescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
, a format that Paramount invented in order to offer audiences something that Television could not—a panoramic screen. Paramount, in conjunction with the management of Radio City Music Hall, installed a screen measuring 50 feet wide by 30 feet high, replacing the Hall's previous screen, which was 34 feet wide by 25 feet high. Although the film's image was shot using the standard 1.37:1 Academy ratio
Academy ratio
The Academy ratio of 1.375:1 is an aspect ratio of a frame of 35mm film when used with 4-perf pulldown. It was standardized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the standard film aspect ratio in 1932, although similar-sized ratios were used as early as 1928.The Academy ratio is...
, Paramount picked Shane to debut their new wide-screen system because it was composed largely of long and medium shots that would not be compromised by cropping the image. Using a newly cut aperture plate in the movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
, as well as a wider-angle lens, the film was exhibited in its first-run venues at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Just before the premiere, Paramount announced that all of their films would be shot for this ratio from then on. This was changed in 1954, when the studio changed their house aspect ratio to 1.85:1.
The film was originally released with a conventional optical soundtrack
Sound-on-film
Sound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track,...
in April 1953, but the success of the film convinced the producers to re-mix the soundtrack in May with a new three-track, stereophonic soundtrack, which was recorded and played on a 35mm magnetic full coat reel installed by Altec, in interlock on another dubber in the projection booth. This process was new to the general public, only having been debuted in New York City with This is Cinerama
This is Cinerama
This is Cinerama is a 1952 full-length film designed to introduce the then-new widescreen process Cinerama, which broadens the aspect ratio so the viewer's peripheral vision is involved...
and nationally with Warner Bros. picture, House of Wax
House of Wax (1953 film)
House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
.
The film was also one of the first films to attempt to re-create the overwhelming sound of gunfire. Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
cited this aspect of Shane as inspiration during the filming of Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
.
In addition, Shane was one of the first films in which actors were attached to hidden wires that yanked them backwards when they were shot from the front. The director George Stevens was in World War II and saw what a single bullet can do to a man.
In the mid to late 1970s, the Welsh television station HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
Cymru/Wales broadcast a version dubbed into the Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
language.
Reception
The film opened in New York City at Radio City Music HallRadio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
on April 23, 1953. According to Motion Picture Daily, "opening day business at the Music Hall was close to capacity. The audience at the first performance applauded at the end of a fight sequence and again at the end of the picture.
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
, after attending the premiere, called the film a "rich and dramatic mobile painting of the American frontier scene" and noted:
Crowther called "the concept and the presence" of Joey, the little boy played by Brandon De Wilde
Brandon De Wilde
Andre Brandon deWilde was an American theatre and film actor. He was born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, De Wilde became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding and was considered a child...
, as being key to "permit[ting] a refreshing viewpoint on material that's not exactly new. For it's this youngster's frank enthusiasms and naive reactions that are made the solvent of all the crashing drama in A. B. Guthrie Jr.'s script."
Shane ended its run at Radio City Music Hall on May 20, 1953, racking up $114,000 in four weeks at Radio City.
Nearly 50 years later, Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
called Shane "George Stevens' masterpiece" and said it is on his "list of great American films, which include, among others, ... The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 American film written and directed by John Huston, a feature film adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, in which two Americans Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin during the 1920s in Mexico join with an old-timer, Howard , to prospect for gold...
, White Heat
White Heat
White Heat may refer to:In film:* White Heat , a British film directed by Thomas Bentley* White Heat , an American film* White Heat, a 1949 film starring James CagneyIn music:...
, Double Indemnity, The Informer and The Hill
The Hill (film)
The Hill is a 1965 film directed by Sidney Lumet, set in a British army prison in North Africa in World War II. It stars Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Ossie Davis, Ian Hendry, Alfred Lynch, Roy Kinnear and Michael Redgrave.-Plot:...
by Sidney Lumet.... Shane...is a great movie and can hold its own with any film, whether it's a western or not."
Awards and honors
Wins- Academy Award for Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
, Color, Loyal GriggsLoyal GriggsLoyal Griggs, A.S.C. , was an American cinematographer.Griggs joined the staff of Paramount Pictures in 1924 after graduating from school and initially worked at the studio's process department...
; 1954.
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Brandon De Wilde; Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Jack Palance; Best Director, George Stevens; Best Picture, George Stevens; Best Writing, Screenplay, A.B. Guthrie Jr.; 1954.
Other
- In 1993, Shane was selected for preservation in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Film RegistryNational Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
- Shane was listed at #69 on the original AFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesAFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesThe first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
list in 1997. When the list was revisited in 2007, it rose to #45.
- In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Shane was acknowledged as the third best film in the western genre.
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesAFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesThe first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
#69 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
:- Shane, Hero #16
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesAFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesPart of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
#47- "Shane. Shane. Come back!"
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 CheersAFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers100 Years…100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies is a list of the most inspiring films as determined by the American Film Institute. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series, which has been compiling lists of the greatest films of all time in various categories since 1998...
#53 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #45
- AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
#3 Western
Homages
Clint Eastwood's western Pale RiderPale Rider
Pale Rider is a 1985 American western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the lead role. This movie has plot similarities to the classic Western Shane , including in its final scene, as well as previous Eastwood films featuring his Man with No Name character and his 1973...
pays tribute to Shane with a similar plot and similar ending. The movie Nowhere to Run (1993) with Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...
and Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lauren Arquette is an American actress, film director, and producer.-Early life:Arquette was born in New York City, the daughter of Brenda Olivia "Mardi" , an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor and director. Her paternal...
was loosely based on Shane. The 1965 comedy western Cat Ballou
Cat Ballou
Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy/Western film which tells the story of a woman who hires a famous gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, but finds that the man she hires is not what she expected...
spoofs Shane in various ways. Its buckskin-clad "good" gunfighter Kid Shelleen and black-clad villain Tim Strawn are obviously patterned after Shane and Jack Wilson, respectively, though in Cat Ballou the two adversaries turn out to be brothers. The McBain family funeral scene in the Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
epic Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone for Paramount Pictures. It stars Henry Fonda cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader with a...
(1968) is borrowed almost shot-for-shot from the funeral scene in Shane.
The 1984 album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking is a 1984 concept album and the first solo album by English musician Roger Waters. The album was certified gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 1995.-Concept history:...
by British musician and Pink Floyd founder member Roger Waters references the movie Shane extensively. Mainly in the track "5.01AM" where audio samples from the movie are used to punctuate verses of the song.
It is also speculated that the animated hit "Cowboy Bebop" based its final episode loosely off the ending to "Shane". In homage of the Western Hit.
The 1966 television series Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
featured a cowboy-themed villain called "Shame" played by Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
. The storyline that introduces Shame also riffs on the film's famous catchphrase, featuring a young boy calling "Come back, Shame!"
Copyright status in Japan
In 2006, Shane was the subject of a major legal case in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
involving the expiration of its copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
in Japan. First Trading Corporation had been selling budget-priced copies of public domain movies, including Shane, as Japanese law only protected cinematographic works for 50 years from the year it was published—which meant that Shane fell into the public domain in 2003. In a lawsuit filed by Paramount, it was contested that Shane was not in the public domain in Japan due to an amendment which extended the copyright term for these works from 50 to 70 years, and came into effect on January 1, 2004. It was later ruled that the new law was not retroactive, and any film produced during or before 1953 was not eligible for the extension.
External links
- Shane at Filmsite.orgFilmsite.orgFilmSite.org is a website operated by Tim Dirks since 1996, and owned by AMC since 2008. It contains over 300 reviews of what Dirks judges to be the "greatest films" of all time. In some cases, the review is scene-by-scene. It also contains many other pages offering an introduction to cinema...