The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

In The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, we are given a view of three male figures. The first, Stoddard, is an aspiring lawyer from the east. He is strong willed, but new to the west, and not built in the mold of the typical cowboy. The next, Doniphon, is a surly, older cowboy. He seems to care for justice and is inclined to doing the right thing, but at the same time is incredibly rough. The last, Liberty Valance, is a despicable, ruthless villain. He seems to lack any morals, and is quick with a gun. When looking at Matheson’s article, we clearly see that Doniphon and Liberty clearly match the hardboiled male belief, while Stoddard is obviously representative of changing times.
According to Matheson, the western setting is similar to a film noir setting. In film noir, the streets are dark and grimy, which reflects the dirty lifestyle that the characters live in. While the visuals in The Man who Shot Liberty Valance don’t quite reflect the ruthless world in which the cowboys live in, the world is still a dark and dangerous place. This is shown early in Stoddard’s flashback, where his stagecoach is robber by Valance. Stoddard witnesses an attempted robbing of an old lady, and is himself left for dead. This harsh world is exemplified by its criminals. Matheson talks about how callous and ruthless the criminals are, which is obvious in Valance. During the shootout scene between Valance and Stoddard, Valance tricks Stoddard, and gets in a quick shot before Stoddard realizes what is happening. This trickery goes along with Matheson’s belief that the best gunfighter might not always win, because it is the ruthless that survives in the harsh environment. In this sense, Matheson is completely correct in her assessment of villains, by how ruthless and merciless Valance is.
In the article, Matheson downplays the heroic nature of the alpha male. Matheson claims that the alpha male can’t always be the knight in shining armor, and must instead be as ruthless as the villains. Using this film, I completely agree with this assessment. Simply by looking at the shootout scene again, we see truth in this argument. Valance played a trick on Stoddard in order to get a cheap shot at him, and gain an advantage. This ruthlessness is expected from criminals. However, Doniphon also gets a cheap shot at Valance. By hiding in the dark, he gives Valance no chance. Doniphon doesn’t challenge him like Stoddard does. Stoddard tried to be honorable rather than ruthless, and that would have resulted in his death.
In the film, I do not believe that Stoddard is an alpha male. This is why he is not hardboiled. Stoddard is an idealist, believing that the west can be contained, and that law will prevail. He is also an idealist when it comes to morals. He challenged Liberty straight up to a fight, even when he knows he may lose. This may make him a good person, but it doesn’t guarantee his survival, like being ruthless would.