The Psychopath, the Libertarian and the Civilized Man
Who really killed Liberty Valance
Watching classic movies closely, deeply, gives one an insight regarding the human condition. How is that so? Because classics hold our attention again and again, no matter how many times we’ve seen them. They hold our collective attention over the generations.
Classic movies become so because they speak to us on a meaningful level. Classic movies have staying power because they are our modern mythology splashed out across a screen. We see something of ourselves in the characters that people the story because the characters are archetypes.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a golden example of archetypes. The namesake of the movie is a demon writ large. A true psychopath who gets pleasure in hurting people. Tom Doniphon is the ultra libertarian; a man who struggles with himself when it comes to the woman he loves, his eternal question being, should he or shouldn’t he, settle down with Hallie? Hallie is the young woman who is smart, yet has no book learning. And then there is Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard, a greenhorn come out West to make something not only of himself, but of the territory as well. Ranse is the civilized man. The townspeople run the gamut of a scared, silly sheriff; the two professional men, the doctor and the newspaper publisher, who are drunks; the immigrant couple that own the restaurant, and Pompey, the black man who is Tom’s hired hand.
The town, Shinbone, is a new town in the middle of a Western territory, that seems like Arizona, since the town has a sizable community of Mexicans. The citizens are not particularly brave, except they did choose, for whatever reason, to come out West. That takes a certain amount of courage, to inhabit what is wild and nomadic, and try to make a life.
Liberty Valence bullies the entire town. Except for Tom. Ranse, on his way to Shinbone, is robbed, and beaten, by Liberty. Therefore, Ranse has a reason to detest Liberty. Unlike so many of the town’s people, Ranse will not willfully sit down to a game of cards with the psycho. Ranse has the moral code of a civilized man.
Tom’s code is that morality is enforced by violence because there is no reasoning with a psychopath. Nonetheless, the moral code that forces one to tolerate such a being is, I would suggest, a broken code. Neither leader, Tom nor Ranse, can effectively deal with Liberty until Ranse pushes the envelop to the edge. Finally, the libertarian will have to deal with the situation when the psycho forces a shootout with the civilized man.
Let's take a side road here to question Tom's reluctance to deal with Liberty. The sheriff's refusal is a no brainer. Silly and scared, he is the ideal sheriff for a town that isn't quite ready to grow up. Tom represents that town, because Tom isn't quite ready to grow up. Indeed, Tom is the flip side of the coin, Liberty being the other. Both take pleasure in bullying. Tom bullies both Hallie, when he orders her to stop going to Ranse's school, and Ranse, when he shoots the paint pails off the post, laughing at Ranse as the paint spills all over his suit.
I suggest Tom, the introvert, is an edgy guy with one foot in the sociopathic life. Tom represents a failure, among the town people as well as himself, to take matters into their own hands when it comes to Liberty Valance. Tom assumes that Hallie is his girl. But then Hallie meets a real man of courage when she meets Ranse, the civilized man of learning. The scene that takes place after Ranse shoots Liberty is quite telling. John Ford was excellent in portraying a woman's true feelings without the usual sex we get in today’s movies. We see it in The Quiet Man, too. Beautiful scenes that portray true depth of feeling between a man and a woman.
In the end, when things come to a head with Liberty, Ranse decides to not run away, but meet the challenge head-on. The shoot-out, however, isn’t only about Liberty and Ranse,, it is also about Tom and Hallie. Since courage is contagious, once Tom learns of Ranse’s determination to meet Liberty, Tom too, hidden in the side street shadows, decides to shoot Liberty.
Liberty’s death symbolizes the death of the West as a wild, lawless territory.
It took the courage of an educated man, who would not tolerate a psychopath, to end the rule of this lawless individual and his cohorts. Because there are times when a law-abiding citizen needs to shoot the rabid coyote in the street.
Tom loses Hallie to Ranse because women love a courageous man. Courage, the real deal, is as about as sexy as it gets. Tom may be Mr. Tough Guy, but Ranse puts his life where his mouth is. Tom equivocated over Hallie. Just as he did in dealing with Liberty. He would not kill him in cold blood, there’s that, but what stopped him from marrying Hallie? I suggest Tom is the archetype of the all show and no go, guy. He wasn't decisive. About Hallie or the town's future. Recall, it is after Liberty is dead that Tom throws the two sidekicks out of the saloon. At that point, Tom understands that it is over between him and Hallie. Wayne's acting here is beautifully done, because you read it in his face.
Ransom Stoddard involves himself in the quest for statehood. He wins office, and remains in politics for about 30 years. His archetype is the leader. Like Charlemagne, he is educated, reasonable, and wants to build. It really doesn't matter if Ranse really killed Liberty or not. The important aspect here is this; he showed up to take on the devil when it counted.
In our high tech world, Liberty's body would be taken to the morgue where a forensic team would determine which bullet killed him. Being that both men shot simultaneously with intent to kill, Ranse could plead self defense, and maybe Tom would be tried with second degree. However, a wise DA, in our highly civilized world, would look the other way. A civilized society need not concern itself with who killed a demon. It’s when leaders don’t destroy evil that we need to worry.