The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence

The three men in the movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Tom, Liberty, and Rance, do not fit Matheson’s description completely. Her understanding of a Western is very specific and has too many guidelines which do not appear in the movie. For example, she states that John Wayne (Tom) was the “icon of American manhood” (Matheson 888). In the movie, although Wayne’s character appears to be the alpha male in most situations, he does not carry that aura throughout the entire movie. For example, when the trouble with Liberty Valence began, I expected Tom to be the character who kills him because they are supposed to be the two opposite extremes – good cowboy versus bad cowboy. Instead, in the scene of Liberty’s death, you are made to believe that Rance kills Liberty, and even when Tom admits that it was him, the truth remains untold. Secondly, Matheson also states that Wayne is “one of the great defenders of the American nuclear family” (Matheson 888). I do not agree with this statement at all because John Wayne tries to steal away Hallie, Rance’s love, but ultimately does not win her over, which does not seem like the behavior of someone who defends nuclear families, nor like the behavior of a “typical” cowboy who is not supposed to care that much about women.
Another description of John Wayne’s characters which seems incorrect is that his “persona is an antisocial loner who functions in a world peopled with sociopaths” (Matheson 891). Throughout the movie, Tom is constantly surrounded by numerous men, and the houses he enters are never empty. He even travels around with a companion. In fact, he was with Poppie, the black slave, when he tried to kill himself because he had seen Hallie with Rance. Ironically, the alpha male was then saved by the slave. I do, however, admit with Matheson that Wayne’s characters “can be counted on to act in good faith, however grudgingly” (Matheson 899). Wayne shows this characteristic when he shoots Liberty, making it seem like it was Rance. However, this scene is unusual because cowboys are supposed to take the applause for every bad guy they take down.
Matheson also makes a claim, that “in noir films, the world is ultimately corrupt and corrupting. Thus, decent, normally law-abiding citizens tend to find themselves enmeshed in situations that require them to become criminals” (Matheson 896). This fits the description of Rance well. At the start of the movie, he is a very good citizen, almost too nice to be considered a “real” man. However, he soon realizes that in order to be taken seriously, he must take vengeance for Liberty’s attempt to kill the newspaper writer. He then stands up to Liberty with a gun, which is the ultimate sign of manhood.
The third character, Liberty, also does not fit the standard description of a Western villain. Rather than being “the law” (Matheson 896), Liberty shows up to town meetings, tries to win votes, and leaves when he does not get his way. Also, in most westerns, the alpha cowboy and the villain usually fight their battles until the end of the movie, when the villain is finally killed. In “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence,” Liberty is killed significantly early and it is not by the alpha male. His death is not made out to be a very big deal, and the movie focuses on the relationship between Tom and Rance for the rest of the run time.