Last night for the first time I saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and I can only wish I had waited longer. How this steam in' heap of bloated confusion ever made it to the top of anybody's movie list, except perhaps as a Guantanamo torture film.
For starters, nothing about the setup makes any sense. This guy has been in the Senate for 25 years and nobody back in Tinytown remembers how he got his start? Not the editor? Not even the old marshal? And who made that lunkhead marshal to begin with? And why did they let him stay in the job? And wouldn't somebody have wanted to clean up the debris of the incinerated old house?
But I guess my real problem is the prating busybody bullyboy John Wayne who reminds me of so many of the guys who used to make my life so miserable when I was a kid. I guess I'm glad that he did (so it seems) indigent and alone. But if he was such a law and order guy, why didn't he just take out Lee Marvin in the same reel and save the whole town its heartache? Surely "looking like the Joker in a bad Batman remake"ought to be a capital offense even in the most raucous frontier town.
None of this, I admit, has anything much to do with the larger political message, supposed to give the film its heft and dignity. So just remember children: your nation is run by apron-wearing pantywaists who are the helpless pawns of gun-toting thugs.
For starters, nothing about the setup makes any sense. This guy has been in the Senate for 25 years and nobody back in Tinytown remembers how he got his start? Not the editor? Not even the old marshal? And who made that lunkhead marshal to begin with? And why did they let him stay in the job? And wouldn't somebody have wanted to clean up the debris of the incinerated old house?
But I guess my real problem is the prating busybody bullyboy John Wayne who reminds me of so many of the guys who used to make my life so miserable when I was a kid. I guess I'm glad that he did (so it seems) indigent and alone. But if he was such a law and order guy, why didn't he just take out Lee Marvin in the same reel and save the whole town its heartache? Surely "looking like the Joker in a bad Batman remake"ought to be a capital offense even in the most raucous frontier town.
None of this, I admit, has anything much to do with the larger political message, supposed to give the film its heft and dignity. So just remember children: your nation is run by apron-wearing pantywaists who are the helpless pawns of gun-toting thugs.
1 comment:
"So just remember children: your nation is run by apron-wearing pantywaists who are the helpless pawns of gun-toting thugs. "
Makes perfect sense to me. For example, just substitute the NRA for "gun-toting thugs" (not a huge substitution) and "Congressmen with their eye on the next campaign" for "apron wearing pantywaists," and it all works out perfectly.
Yours crankily,
The New YOrk Crank
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