Lists
- ranked 45 in BBC 100 Greatest American Films
- ranked 95 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- ranked 97 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- ranked 100 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 178 in The IMDb Top 250
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of Guardian 1,000 films to see before you die
- one of Images Journal's 30 Great Westerns
- one of Rosenbaum's Alternate 100
Big city lawyer Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) moves to the dusty wild West town of Shinbone, only to find that the only law the locals will recognize comes from the barrel of a gun. Local desperado Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) does as he pleases, resisted only by Tom Doniphon (John Wayne), the only man tougher.
Stoddard represents civilization, and his arrival spells doom for the old West of Valance and Doniphon. This is all spelled out quite explicitly and with typical patriotic fervour, so strongly as to even approach the clumsiness of, say, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. More moving by far is the other side of the film, mourning as it does the end of the age.
Stewart was perhaps miscast, but Wayne is for once inoffensive, and the rest of the cast, particularly the minor characters, outstanding. It's great stuff.