A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it
This is a believable, exciting story. The scenery is beautiful and the movie is just well-done all the way around. Alan Ladd, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson and the rest are outstanding. A gunslinger who is trying to make a new start in life thinks he's escaping to a peaceful area. Then he discovers that conflict is there too. He does his best to avoid involvement, but realizes that he is the only one who can defend the defenseless. He eventually embraces his role as a sheepdog of sorts and goes to battle the wolves. American Indians are only mentioned in passing when a character brags about a Cheyenne arrow that's still stuck in his shoulder from when he was one of the first settlers in the territory. I highly recommend.

Shane
I received the DVD, Shane, in excellent timing and condition. I will most certaintly be ordering from you again. I like your professionalism.

dead man riding
'shane' is my favorite western. it's just about perfect and ,i think, everything that could be said about this film has been said. i would only like to add why ,imho, shane didn't respond to joey's cries of "come back, shane!" i believe that shane didn't want to die in front of joey.
shane was gut shot by palance, and if you watch closely as shane rides off, just before the film ends, you can see shane's hand stiffen up. he's dead.
that's my observation, although some others believe that shane couldn't return because he had fallen in love with jean arthur.
unlike another western classic 'red river,' this movie had a great ending.
believe what you will, but i really think shane died in the saddle.

TAMING THE WILD WEST!!
The film opens with the Grand Tetons in the background and Shane (Alan Ladd) riding up to a farmer (Van Heflin as Joe Starrett) working outside his home and asking permission to cross his land. The farmer's young son is playing with a gun and the noise causes Shane to react strongly. We can see that in his world he is used to watching his backside. As Shane is leaving, a group of open range ranchers ride up to intimidate Starrett and his wife (Jean Arthur as Marion Starrett) with whom they have an ongoing battle in the valley. Shane returns and with his gun and presence resolves the situation. He ends up staying and working for Starrett as a hired hand. We become more involved in the ongoing war between the community of farmers who have settled here and the ranchers who want them off the land. On the surface, it seems a classic good versus evil battle. Shane and his white hat against the hired gun of the ranchers(Jack Palance as Jack Wilson) in his black hat. But there is a lot more going on than that at different levels. Who is Shane? Where did he come from? Will the subtle but obvious chemistry between him and Marion develop into anything? How will this dispute be settled when the law "is three days away" from this remote little town with a saloon, general store, hotel and cemetery stuck in the middle of nowhere? These are people who have left everything behind (somewhere) to begin a new life, a harsh, difficult life. Sociological studies have shown that those who became 'pioneers' were often people on the fringes of society - loners, criminals, etc., people who didn't want or need the law to solve their problems. More often that not, the 'gun' became the law and those most skilled in the use of the gun were the winners. More than just a good vs. evil western, this is an entertaining look at the settling of the western frontier and the people who were involved. www.lusreviews.blogspot.com.

Come back, Shane!
Anybody who has seen this film, can never forget those words, nor the scene nor the music that goes with them. These days, they are even more poignant. Our land is being taken over, not by grasping cattle barons, but by . . . well, if you don't know who by now, you'll probably never know--until it's too late.

I wonder about people today watching this film for the first time. Do they think that these were just dream characters, mythic creatures who never really existed? Do they realize that the majority of Americans in the 1940s and 1950s were like this--men of integrity, courage, conviction, who were willing to stand up for their convictions, act on them, fight for them? Yes, with guns, since everything else had been tried and had failed.

The Old West is gone, but a New West is upon us, and the challenges it presents are every bit as urgent, every bit as crucial as these presented in "Shane." Then, it was farms. Today, it is homes, and schools and clinics, and . . . just about everything else. Are there enough Shanes to do the job now, enough Starrets and Toreys? And do the Joeys of today look up to people like Shane? Or is it Wilson who wins their admiration?

These are questions we'll soon see the answer to. And when we do, we'll all be crying, "Shane! Come back, Shane!"