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Westerns

Shane

Shane

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A true American classic!
Review: Forget about Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, they don't make 'em like Alan Ladd and Van Heflin anymore. This is a must-see for everyone, and true actors like these will never grace the screen again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A classic western
Review: Shane is one of my favorite movies of all time,A battle between two groups of people and just one person to stand in the gap. A classic story for great western.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best westerns ever made.
Review: In this classic tale of farmers vs. ranchers, Alan Ladd portrays a gunman known only as Shane. By chance he is befriended by a farmer and attempts to leave his outlaw life behind by becoming a farm hand. However, the farmer (Van Heflin in a strong supporting role) is the leader of a group of settlers who are in conflict with the local rancher (Emile Meyer). As the ranchers use increasing violence against the farmers, Shane is faced with the moral dilemma: run, or take up his gun again. This is unquestionably one of the best westerns ever made. Ladd's low-key performance as Shane is complemented by Heflin's emotional, passionate portrayal of the courageous farmer, Joe Starrett; the chemistry between the two is superb. Brandon de Wilde is also excellent as Starrett's son Joey, who is fascinated by the wandering gunman. The movie is well-acted throughout, with fight scenes shown with unusual honesty for the period. An absolute must-see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: miscast but still legendary
Review: SHANE is among the most renowned westerns in motion picture history, inspite of the miscasting of Alan Ladd in the title role. many other more accomplished actors come to mind of whom could have assumed the role, and many of these were offered the role. however it was Alan Ladd who was awarded the role.

Ladd was a formidable actor and delivered a fine performance inspite of the other more accomplished actors who may have given better performances.

regardless of Ladd in the role of SHANE, the movie was legendary and considered a true classic to this day. the other actors, which include: Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Brandon De Wilde, Emile Meyer and Jack Palance all gave stellar performances. however it was George Stevens, a director whose name is synonymous with great filmmaking who was solely responsible for the renowned success of this truly legendary western classic. a true masterpiece.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Revisionist History as Entertainment
Review: A lone rider approaches a family ranch. He observes a gang riding up to order the owner off his land. There is an economic conflict between a big land owner and small ranchers who are bringing in Jersey cows and working the land for agriculture. The big land owner wants to eliminate competition from small businesses; his government contract shows his political connections. The film shows the use of barbed wire, the invention that put an end to the open range. The settlers go into town for supplies. A barroom brawl occurs when Shane is attacked; Joe Starrett joins in to help his hired hand. Tavern owner Riker sends to Cheyenne for a hired gun, Jack Wilson, for a final solution to the homesteader problem.

The settlers gather for a July 4th celebration. They hear of Riker's hired gunfighter. That evening Riker show up to make a final offer to Starrett: join him for a good price, and abandon the other small ranchers. This offer is refused. The next day the gunfighter insults Torrey to force a duel, and kills him. Joe Starrett announces he will go into town next, without waiting for the other settlers. The question is: shall the people be oppressed and swindled by a rich powerful landowner? (Most of the large ranches were owned by corporations from back East.) Some of the small ranchers decide to abandon their claims. Yet they have the right to settle and farm the land. "This country wasn't made for just one man." The burning of one home makes the settlers decide to hang on for a while.

Riker makes an offer to draw Starret to his place (for an ambush). Calloway turns up to warn Shane of this trick. Starrett's wife argues for giving up and moving out now. (Credible?). Shane tries to stop Starrett, and they fight in the dark (to hide their body doubles?). Shane wins and leaves to keep the appointment, and force a final showdown. Shane successfully resolves the problem of Jack Wilson, then Riker, and moves on to new territory. [This avoids any retribution by Riker's allies.) {This film uses the dime-novel fantasy of a "fast-draw", which did not occur in historical records.]

This story is loosely based on the Powder River war. In reality, the settler's militia drove off the armed gang hired by the large landowners. The large ranchers tried to get rid of small ranchers by passing a law that gave them sole rights to all cattle in the state! Read the chapter in William Weir's "Written With Lead" for more details. "Unhappy are the people who want a hero."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Movie, But DVD Issue
Review: Although the theatrical aspect ratio of this movie was 1.66:1, while the DVD aspect ratio is 4:3, this is not a "Pan&Scan" DVD. In other words, almost none of the original theatrical image has been removed for exhibition on a 4:3 television screen. The film negative aspect ratio was 1.37:1 (almost 4:3), and for theatrical exhibition, the image was "matted" (partially covered from the top down and bottom up) to produce a 1.66:1 image. For exhibition on a 4:3 television screen, the "mattes" have simply been removed. So the DVD exhibition actually shows 17.5 percent more image than the theatrical exhibition. For a movie made in this fashion within the last 15 to 20 years, I would guess that the movie was likely filmed this way so that the theatrical image wouldn't be butchered on television by the "Pan&Scan" process, and because the filmmakers didn't foresee the current state of the home video market, where consumers prefer movies presented in their theatrical aspect ratio, rather than in a ratio in which the image will fill up their 4:3 television screen (if there is a difference). However, with "Shane", I recall an article in a DVD magazine which stated that the film was originally intended to be shown in theaters in the 1.37:1 ratio, but the 1.66:1 ratio was substituted after the film was shot, so that the film could have the added draw of being a "widescreen" movie, which was a relatively new thing in 1953, but which was becoming a major audience drawing point. This DVD presents the movie in the aspect ratio in which the filmmakers shot the movie and originally intended it to be shown in theaters, but it does not present the movie in the aspect ratio in which it was finally seen upon original release in a movie theater (for that, the DVD would have to present the movie in a "matted widescreen" format). If you're okay with that, enjoy!


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A movie about ourselves
Review: At the outset I must state that I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The DVD transfer is strikingly beautiful (a few minor hazy spots) with general sharpness throughout.

It struck me that in Joey we see reflected the audiences' adulation for the heroes of western movies through the years. He worships Shane as we worshipped John Wayne and the other icons of that great genre, the western. When we see the fistfight with in the background Joey munching away on a piece of candy, we see ourselves, munching away (probably on popcorn).

Quite a timeless movie, and should be at home in any DVD library, to be returned to time and again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Heart Felt Western
Review: I first read Shane the book in High school and I too took a liking to Shane the character just like the boy Joe did in the book. In the opening of the movie we see Shane riding down into the Teton Valley and the majesty of those mountains is breathtaking. This movie was one of the most realistic and original westerns I have ever seen. With its mysterious yet appealing and friendly character portrayed to perfection by Alan Ladd. He is slow to anger, thinks before he acts and only uses violence as a very last resort. Anyone who has been at the receiving end of a bully's abuse can feel for Shane when he is ridiculed and harassed by Ryker and his men. Also, we feel for the boy Joey who probably has few friends living on a big ranch and whose father is busy working that ranch most of the time. Then Shane comes along and slowly, reluctantly gets involved with the problems that the homesteaders are having with the cattle rangers (Ryker). In that respect it is also a history lesson. We learn of the problems that went between these two ways of making a living in the west. The scenery of the Grand Tetons, which acts as a background to the Starrett family's homestead in the foreground, is totally realistic and absolutely gorgeous. In fact it WAS real, filmed almost completely on location. For the first time in a western we see a real western town with buildings only on one side of the street. Westerns always used buildings on both sides of the street sometimes to hide modern buildings in the distance. The attention to life like detail in this movie is extraordinary from the buildings to the clothes they wear. We see the characters walk through the mud in the street after a heavy rain. The true danger of guns is displayed when Shane teaches young Joe how to shoot. And we get both view points of gun control in a scene right after that. Interesting how these arguments in a movie from 1951 are still being made today over 50 later. If you don't like Westerns, which I generally don't, I think you'll like this one. An interesting change is when the first guy that ridiculed Shane and fought with changes sides and respects Shane. This is real life. I have had that happen many times where the person who ridiculed me at first and I thought was me enemy becomes my friend later on. And sometime those who were your friend at first turn against you later on. At the end of the movie, when the young Joe says to Shane, "We want you.", we feel the same way. We all want a hero like Shane not to leave and to be our friend and help us out now and then. In the end Shane rides off continuing in the same direction he was going in the beginning of the movie with young Joe calling out to him pleading with him to stay. We feel heart broken and tears swell up in our eyes as we feel the boy's loss, but as grown ups we somehow know that Shane must continue on to where he was going before.

The extra of this movie is exceptional. It is commentary during the entire length of the movie by the director's son who worked on the movie at age 17 and the assistant director. It is absolutly facinating. The picture quality is very good and the techincolor very well done.

This is a heart felt movie that extremely well done and is a must see for everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best westerns ever made!
Review: Alan Ladd made of this role his timeless landmark as the mysterious stranger who helps a group of homesteaders against a crowd of cattlemen . The soft tenderness and the suggested poetry lay behind the unavoidable duels.
Once more the essential myth of the hero without any known origin and birthplace and no apparent reason to act in a conflict totally improper to him , the experience takes its place through the fight and finally the cycle has been made the hero vanishes without leaving no traces .
A classic tale!



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: shane
Review: una excelente pelicula, la vi hace mas de 15 años por televisión abierta.

nececitop una original en dvd


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