tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post1597781448994388377..comments2024-03-28T16:17:20.965-05:00Comments on Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Forgotten Films: Shanemybillcriderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-55597203757360180932011-10-04T19:22:33.929-05:002011-10-04T19:22:33.929-05:00The problem with SHANE is the same problem with al...The problem with SHANE is the same problem with all Alan Ladd movies: All of the shoot-arounds and camera tricks that have to be used to disguise the fact that Alad Ladd was shorter than most of the other actors. When watching even a really good Alan Ladd movie (and this is probably his best role), I keep noticing the staging and set-ups. It would be another decade before Dustin Hoffman made it OK for a leading man to be shorter than the actors around him.Debnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-43078804892346327602011-10-04T18:38:59.509-05:002011-10-04T18:38:59.509-05:00I'll never forget driving an editor around Jac...I'll never forget driving an editor around Jackson Hole and having him say in a tone of awe, "This is where they filmed SHANE."<br /><br />I think it's a great movie. Definitely one of my favorites.James Reasonerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18049917964433932612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-79155369627818637362011-10-04T15:26:10.886-05:002011-10-04T15:26:10.886-05:00It's a shade too deliberate for my tastes, but...It's a shade too deliberate for my tastes, but thee's some good stuff thar.Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-27274479132732155702011-10-04T13:14:07.186-05:002011-10-04T13:14:07.186-05:00I like anything with Jean Arthur in it. And I lov...I like anything with Jean Arthur in it. And I love the fight between Ladd and Ben Johnson. But the shooting of Elisha Cook, Jr. where the force of the bullet hitting him is portrayed in a realistic manner unusual in westerns of the day. <br /><br />The director George Stevens said in interviews that showing the reality of violence was one of his aims. "In most westerns, everybody shoots and nobody gets hurt. One thing we tried to do in Shane was reorient the audience to the horror of a pistol. We used gunplay only as a last resort of extreme violence," Stevens told Joe Hyams. "The principal terms of a Western are violence, but the results of violence are usually glossed over. In Shane a right-hand punch hurts. It can knock a man down and a bullet destroys."Richard Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770090814220403413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-34140058691343787902011-10-04T12:56:22.074-05:002011-10-04T12:56:22.074-05:00It gripes me that they couldn't have Shane say...It gripes me that they couldn't have Shane say, "Your dad is something I could never be - a leader." Because, to me, the dad is the real hero of the movie.<br /><br />Instead the boy is left idolizing a gunfighter and drifter (even if he is a nice guy).Graham Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01775285782385634486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-5196746807877872802011-10-04T12:14:31.775-05:002011-10-04T12:14:31.775-05:00Watch the dog in the saloon when Palance arrives a...Watch the dog in the saloon when Palance arrives and then before the final shootout.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-29774447049025497292011-10-04T08:41:35.197-05:002011-10-04T08:41:35.197-05:00The perfect Western. I always find something new ...The perfect Western. I always find something new in it, everytime I watch it again. Check the looks that Emile Meyer, John Dierkes, and Jack Palance exchange when they're sitting in the saloon, Palance having just arrived in "town," and Elisha Cook is blowing off steam at the bar. Right there you know Cook is going to be a goner.Fred Blosserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07307848103704970189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-697789150996545962011-10-04T08:06:50.490-05:002011-10-04T08:06:50.490-05:00I worked in a used bookstore in the mid-80s and Sh...I worked in a used bookstore in the mid-80s and Shane was the "Jaws" of westerns. Every box of books that came in had a copy of Shane.Dan_Lufthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05096055160420981482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-51942057424502754492011-10-04T07:43:29.352-05:002011-10-04T07:43:29.352-05:00Great movie altho I've never been a Alan Ladd ...Great movie altho I've never been a Alan Ladd fan. Remember reading that Ladd often had to stand on a box when opposite his leading ladies becvause he was so short.<br /> Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider is pretty much a carbon copy of Shane.Steve Oerkfitznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-90897025220934872752011-10-04T07:29:21.722-05:002011-10-04T07:29:21.722-05:00No doubt about it, SHANE is one of the all-time gr...No doubt about it, SHANE is one of the all-time great Westerns --- both as a book and a movie.wayne d. dundeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12468818760811792020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-29075958844770884562011-10-04T06:59:58.667-05:002011-10-04T06:59:58.667-05:00I like this movie a lot and would certainly rate i...I like this movie a lot and would certainly rate it high among westerns. Not that I am claiming an expertise in this, but I watched most of them as a kid because my Mom loved them.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-7798888079576040432011-10-04T06:50:27.123-05:002011-10-04T06:50:27.123-05:00Or, even, Jack Schaefer's novel.
I think you ...Or, even, Jack Schaefer's novel.<br /><br />I think you can make a case for Brandon DeWilde as unjustly overlooked actor, too...maybe less so for SHANE than much of his later work...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-20348651690026017892011-10-04T06:48:12.195-05:002011-10-04T06:48:12.195-05:00And, of course, Schaeffer's novel and the film...And, of course, Schaeffer's novel and the film (and perhaps more driven by the film) also got a good YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS parody, and two interesting-enough answer films in the '80s (an Australian original and a US Lifetime-channel remake starring Amanda Donohoe) involving a female motorcyclist stranger in town helping to make things less wrong, all called SHAME.<br /><br />It's not as if westerns have gone away...it's just that there aren't nearly as many as there were...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.com