The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Paramount presents one of the world's greatest Westerns in a crisp new black & white mastering. After being ambushed by stagecoach robbers, Eastern greenhorn Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) finds himself being rubbed the right way by the local homespun beauty (Vera Miles), and the wrong way by "the most dangerous man in them parts," Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Enter Tom Doniphon (John Wayne), who, despite losing the town's best (only?) girl to Stoddard, befriends the tenderfoot, and helps him take a stand against Valance. I've never been that big a Western fan, but even I found it impossible to resist this 1962 bittersweet story and classic teaming (Stewart, Wayne and the genre's best director, John Ford). Highly recommended. (S. C. Sickles)[DVD Review—May 12, 2009—Paramount, 2 discs, 123 min., not rated, $16.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD, 1962's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Centennial Collection) features a nice transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. DVD extras include audio commentary by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich along with his archival interview recordings with director John Ford and star James Stewart; a select scene commentary with an introduction by Dan Ford (John's grandson) together with his archival recordings with Ford, Stewart, and costar Lee Marvin; the seven-part production featurette “The Size of Legends, The Soul of Myth” (51 min.), various stills galleries, trailers, and a booklet. Bottom line: a fine release of a classic Western.]