OK western.

There is a good movie here but it suffers from some of the worst casting I've ever seen. No one feels right besides Ben Johnson, who is always great. Shane should've been more dark and threatening but instead it's this smiling pussy that is the antithesis of badass. The kid was so terrible and the fact that he got an Oscar nomination is unbelievable to me. It's not awful, but it's not a must see. Would benefit from a remake, imo.

I never thought this film was the classic others thought it was. It is too slow, overly sentimental, and pretentious and obvious in many of its directorial touches. I have to admit, though, that Jack Palance is wonderful in this.

One of the best and most iconic westerns I've ever seen.

266

what the fuck!

The theme of a changing west is nicely portrayed in Shane,the Homesteaders and the Ranchers.The acting is pretty stiff and lacks any real emotion and drags this film down a bit.The bar fight and the gunfight at the end were my favourite parts.

#266

I love some great landscapes, and lordy! Talk about mountains with some personality! The story itself does an incredible job of juggling several dynamics, oftentimes in the same scene. Strangely enough, the film remains so uniquely compelling to me specifically because of little Joey. It's almost as though you can channel your own childhood through him and understand that to him, he's watching gods do battle. How else can myth make sense in real life than through the innocent eyes of youth?

Shane rides into town as a man who has seen these conflicts before. He knows that trouble is everywhere, no matter how long you try to hide from it. Still, he tries to go straight. It's a lesser classic thanks to the story, but the acting style shows its age. The boy particularly; modern child actors are just more natural. Ladd's performance is strong though, holding a certain subtle unease that hints to troubles beneath the surface until the final scene at the bar lets loose his dark past.

85.125

Man, that kid was retarded.

A well-filmed story that is equal parts awesome and unintentionally hilarious.

This is one of the most irritating movies I've ever seen. The dialogue is awful, the music is overblown and intrusive, Alan Ladd is smirky, Jean Arthur is whiny, and the kid is annoying beyond endurance. The whole thing is cringeworthy.

Ladd was good as the secure and noble Shane who realizes a little too late that he chose the wrong profession. The problem I have w/ the movie is what happens right in the middle. Why pick a (bar) fight over a minor slite? To impress an 8 year old kid? That tainted the character, but w/e...Stevens directs Shane with the utmost care. A master class in composition. The gunfights are every bit as good as Leone's vaunted squint fests, but more modest and w/ actual emotional heft.

I wanted to like this, but found it a bit of a slog to get through in one sitting. Positives include Jack Palance as the anti-Shane - a malevolent gunslinger decked out all in black, a personification of pure evil in the mould of Anton Chigurh. The photography is good, too, but the domestic scenes are too melodramatic and sentimental for my liking. Ladd seems miscast - he should be moodier and meaner instead of effete and homely. And by god, that kid is excruciatingly bad.

What a disappointment. The story's not bad but nothing in the entire picture rises above ok. I'm not sure what the character of Shane is supposed to be like, but it really feels like Ladd is miscast since his character doen't really seem dark at all. Everything else is pretty typical western stuff and when you add an annoying kid into the mix it's pretty hard to stay interested.

# 247