Review of Shane (1953) by Alan L — 30 Jun 2008

So this is the famous Shane? Not too shabby.

What I will compare this movie most to is To Kill a Mockingbird. Mockingbird is one of my favorite movies of all time. The vibe of Shane (and perhaps many of the themes) are similar. Sure, Scout was significantly less annoying than the kid in this movie, but that can be forgiven. The tie that I see between both of them is the innocence of youth on a larger than life adult situation. In Mockingbird, the central view was racism. Shane has to deal with the power of big business and the importance of humility at the proper time.

Jon Stewart hosted the Oscars a few years ago and showed a clip of famous "gay cowboys." I had no idea how many clips were from Shane. I can't really say that there are gay overtones in Shane (I ran out of things to say about this movie a long time ago. Bear with me.) but there is a very interesting relationship that Shane shares with this homesteader family. The best part is that George Stevens doesn't really let us in on the background of the title character. That would have been what most movies would have done. But nothing that the director could have told us would match up to child's or the family's expectations of Shane's background.

I do have to address the fact that the movie is called Shane. Yes, Shane is a major player in this movie, but I think most of the burden and stake of this movie falls on the patriarch of the family. Shane may have an emotional investment in the outcome of this movie, but the patriarch has emotional and financial attachment in this movie. He's also one who develops an almost equal relationship that his son does with Shane. He sees him as a brother. Sure, he doesn't get to be involved in the big showdown at the end, but he fights all he can to be involved and save his brother's life because its his fight. That's the kind of sh*t I like in movies. This could have easily been a slugfest movie, but it wasn't. That's probably the strongest choice of this movie. It's all about character and I'll take that any day over the razzle dazzle western.

I won't say it's the best western (hotel) that I've ever seen, but it is mighty solid. I do understand why it is a classic, but I don't think this will ever be my absolute favorite movie. I do enjoy it and will probably watch it quite a few times in my own collection.