Shane (film)

Shane
Theatrical poster
Directed by	George Stevens
Produced by	George Stevens
Written by	Story Jack Schaefer Screenplay A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Starring	Alan Ladd Jean Arthur Van Heflin Brandon De Wilde Jack Palance
Music by	Victor Young
Cinematography	Loyal Griggs, ASC
Editing by	William Hornbeck Tom McAdoo
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	April 23, 1953 (USA)
Running time	118 minutes
Language	English

Shane is a 1953 western film made by Paramount Pictures. 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. The cinematography was by Loyal Griggs, the music score by Victor Young and the costume design by Edith Head.^[1]

The film stars Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur and Van Heflin with Brandon De Wilde, Elisha Cook Jr., Jack Palance and Ben Johnson.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Background and production 2.1 Technical details 3 References in other media 4 Cast 5 Awards and nominations 6 Footnotes 7 External links

Plot

A mysterious gunslinger named Shane (Alan Ladd) drifts into a quiet western valley, and quickly finds himself drawn into a conflict between simple homesteader (sodbuster) Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) and powerful cattle baron Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer), who wants to force him and every other homesteader in the valley off his 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).

As tensions mount between the factions, Ryker hires Jack Wilson (Jack Palance), a cold-blooded and skilled gunslinger. After Wilson cold-bloodedly murders another homesteader (played by Elisha Cook, Jr.) who stands up to him, Joe Starrett decides to take it on himself to go kill Wilson and Ryker and save the town; however, he is stopped by Shane who insists on going himself. Starrett and Shane get in a fist fight where the winner will go on to face Wilson and 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 getting killed. Shane then goes to take on Wilson in a climactic showdown, killing him and Ryker, but being wounded in the shootout. After urging young Joey to grow up strong and take care of both of his parents, Shane leaves for parts unknown.

When Shane rides away, Joey calls after him, "Pa's got things for you to do! And Mother wants you. I know she does." The movie closes with Joey shouting "Shane! Shane! Come back!"

Background and production

Shane tells the story of a gunfighter who comes to a recently-settled farm area near a quiet town and fights for the rights of homesteaders against the long-entrenched hard-bitten open-range cattlemen who control the majority of the land.

Although the film is fiction, elements of the setting are derived from Wyoming's Johnson County War^{[citation needed]}. 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, and William Holden as Joe Starrett. When they both proved unavailable, the film was nearly abandoned. Stevens asked studio head Y. Frank Freeman to see a list of available actors with current contracts. Within three minutes, he chose Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jean Arthur.

Although the film was made between July and October 1951, it was not released until 1953 due to director George 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. In fact, the film ended up making a significant profit. Another story reported that Paramount was just 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 immediately made Paramount reconsider the film for a major release.

Jean 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, although she later appeared in theater and a short-lived television series.

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.

The film opened in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on April 23, 1953 ^[2]. 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.^[3]

Shane ended its run at Radio City Music Hall on May 20, 1953, racking up $114,000 in four weeks at Radio City^[4].

Technical details

Shane was the first film to be projected in a "flat" widescreen format that Paramount invented in order to offer audiences something that Television could not-- a panoramic screen ^[5]. Paramount, in conjunction with the management of Radio City Music Hall, installed a screen measuring 50 feet wide by 30 feet high. ^[6], replacing the Hall's previous screen, which was 25 feet high by 34 feet wide ^[7]. 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 largely comprised 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 with this ratio in mind from then on^[8].

Originally released with a conventional optical soundtrack in March of 1953, the success of the film financially 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^[9]. 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 recreate the overwhelming sound of gunfire. Warren Beatty cited this aspect of Shane as inspiration during the filming of Bonnie and Clyde (from the documentary "George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey").

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.

References in other media

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007)

• Samuel L. Jackson's character in The Negotiator mentions that, though he rarely likes westerns, he listed Shane as one of the few he enjoyed; he and Kevin Spacey get in to an argument as to whether or not Shane dies.
• A sample of Joey calling out to Shane at the end of the movie was used in the hit single The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking by Roger Waters. Scenes from the movie were used in the video clip of that song.
• In the episode "Synchronized Swimming" (Season 4, episode 5/Original air date: Oct. 16, 1999), Arnold and the gang of Hey Arnold! create a routine based on the film, with the name changed to Wayne. They finish the routine with a unison chanting of the spoofed final line, "Wayne! Wayne! Come back, Wayne!"
• Cliff Robertson played a gunfighter-themed guest villain called "Shame" in the 1960s Batman episode "Come Back, Shame".
• Clint Eastwood's 1985 western Pale Rider contains many thematic and plot references to Shane.
• In Goodfellas, right before Joe Pesci's character starts shooting at Spyder's feet, he asks,"Hey, what's that movie with Bogart?" Robert De Niro's character jokingly responds, Shane! -- at which Pesci smiles and begins to fire.
• Roger Waters on his solo album The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking during the song "5:01AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Part 10)," asks in reference to the movie, "Do you remember Shane?"
• Bill Hicks on his album Arizona Bay compares the United States during the First Gulf War to Jack Palance from Shane.
• WWE CEO and Owner Vince McMahon is reportedly obsessed with the movie Shane. He's named his son Shane after that movie and he even named his production company "Shane Productions" when he made No Holds Barred. He even has tried to buy the rights to this movie.
• Croatian rock band Haustor recorded one of their most popular songs, "Šejn" (Croatian transcription of Shane), on their third album from 1985.
• The 2008 film, The Dark Knight, ends with an allusion to Shane in which Commissioner Gordon's son calls after Batman as he rides away.
• The 1978 Battlestar Galactica episode, "The Lost Warrior" is quite similar to Shane.
• An episode of the 1960s animated series Roger Ramjet called "Hi Noon" parodies the ending to Shane, in which a boy calls after Roger when he rides out of town after defeating the story's villain.
• Gigi Morasco, a character on the US soap opera One Life to Live, named her son Shane after the main character of the movie. She says that Shane's father, Rex Balsom, reminds her of Alan Ladd.
• In the episode "A Taxing Problem" (1990) (Show - 0415) of the series Married with Children, Al walks out the door with his suitcase and then comes back in and says, "Very nice. Very nice. No 'Oh Dad, please don't go'? No 'Oh Al, yes I'll cut my hair'? Not even a 'Shane, Shane, come back'?"
• In the episode "Dodgeball City" (1999) of the series Recess, the end has gus walking into the sunset and as he does so, a kindergartener walks up and says, "Gus come back, school's not over yet."

Cast

• Alan Ladd as Shane
• Jean Arthur as Marian Starrett
• Van Heflin as Joe Starrett
• Brandon De Wilde as Joey Starrett
• Jack Palance as Jack Wilson
• Ben Johnson as Chris Calloway
• Edgar Buchanan as Fred Lewis
• Emile Meyer as Rufus Ryker
• Elisha Cook Jr. as Frank 'Stonewall' Torrey
• Douglas Spencer as Axel 'Swede' Shipstead
• John Dierkes as Morgan Ryker
• Ellen Corby as Liz Torrey
• Paul McVey as Sam Grafton
• John Miller as Will Atkey, bartender
• Edith Evanson as Mrs. Shipstead

Awards and nominations

Wins

• Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, Color, Loyal Griggs; 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 States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

• Shane was listed at #69 on the original AFI's 100 Years... 100 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.^[10][11]

Footnotes

External links

• Watching Movies With...Woody Allen: Coming Back To Shane, an August 2001 article from The New York Times
• Shane at Filmsite.org

v • d • e Films directed by George Stevens The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble • Kentucky Kernels • Hollywood Party • Bachelor Bait • Laddie • The Nitwits • Alice Adams • Annie Oakley • Swing Time • Quality Street • A Damsel in Distress • Vivacious Lady • Gunga Din • Vigil in the Night • Penny Serenade • Woman of the Year • The Talk of the Town • The More the Merrier • On Our Merry Way • I Remember Mama • A Place in the Sun • Something to Live For • Shane • Giant • The Diary of Anne Frank • The Greatest Story Ever Told • The Only Game in Town

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