Shane

In 1953, George Stevens (1904–1975) directed the classic Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) Shane. The movie was a critical and popular success in its own time, but over the years its place in popular culture has grown even stronger. The film has an enduring ability to tap into Americans' nostalgia for a simpler, less complicated time, in which good and evil were black and white and the little folks could win out over the big guys.

The film's title character, played by Alan Ladd (1913–1964), is among the most symbolic of Western heroes. He is individualistic and self-sufficient, arriving alone and ultimately leaving alone. He is a friendly and well-mannered buckskinned gunslinger. He does not quite fit into society but is still able to walk the border between the wild and civilization. Although not a lawman, over the course of the film Shane becomes a force for moral justice who acts because the law cannot.

Shane was among the first of a new kind of Western that emerged in the 1950s, the "adult" or "psychological" Western. Simply put, these films concentrate on the psychological and moral conflicts of the hero and his relationship to society. Shane presents a dirty and unrelenting portrait of the harshness faced by settlers in the American West. This view is perhaps best highlighted by a scene in which the evil Wilson shoots down the inexperienced Torrey. Moviegoers heard Wilson's laughter and saw the overmatched Torrey falling dead face first in the mud. They could not help but think that this was a much more likely scenario for a gunfight than the cleaned-up versions of shootouts presented in earlier Westerns.

Shane wins out in the end, protecting the values of civilization against brutality, but he gets shot. As he rides off into the distance, viewers do not know whether he'll live or die. The young boy Joey Starrett cries out after him, "Shane, come back!" It is a mythic ending, but it is also tinged with tragedy. The self-sufficient and nonconformist Shane simply does not fit in the society he has helped to protect. Shane's departure signals the death of a part of America's collective past; like Joey, audiences are left hollow, lamenting his passing and longing for his return.

—Robert C. Sickels

For More Information

Countryman, Edward, and Evonne von Heussen-Countryman. BFI FilmClassics: Shane. London: BFI Publishing, 1999.

Hine, Robert V. The American West: An Interpretive History. 2nd ed. Boston: Little Brown, 1984.

Stevens, George, director. Shane (video). Hollywood: Paramount Home Video, 1979.