Shane (1953) on Netflix
A drifter named Shane takes a farmhand's job with homesteader Joe Starrett, hoping to settle in a Wyoming valley. Cattle baron Rufus Ryker's hired men are pushing the settlers out.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.6/1048,300 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
Joe Starrett and his wife Marian farm a homestead in an isolated Wyoming valley, where they are raising their son Joey. A drifter called Shane turns up and takes a job as their farmhand, and Joe tells him about the trouble: settlers who filed legal claims on the land are being harassed by men in the pay of the cattle baron Rufus Ryker, who wants the valley cleared of them. Shane rides to town for supplies at Grafton's store, steps into the saloon next door, buys a soda for Joey, and takes the jeers of Ryker's man Chris Calloway without a word. On a later visit he beats Calloway in a fight, then he and Joe brawl with the rest of Ryker's crew. Ryker warns that the next fight will be settled with guns.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Shane (1953)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director George Stevens originally wanted Montgomery Clift and William Holden for the Shane and Starrett roles; when both proved unavailable, he asked Paramount executive Y. Frank Freeman for a list of actors with current contracts, and within three minutes chose Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Jean Arthur.
- Alan Ladd disliked and was uncomfortable with guns, and Shane's shooting demonstration for Joey required 116 takes. A careful review of the scene shows Ladd firing with his eyes closed.
- Stevens wanted to show audiences the horrors of violence, so he made a cannon-like sound effect by firing a large-caliber weapon into a garbage can and had Palance and Elisha Cook Jr. rigged with hidden wires that jerked them violently backward when shot. Film historian Jay Hyams calls this the beginning of graphic violence in Westerns.
- Jack Palance was nervous around horses and had great difficulty mounting and dismounting. After very many attempts he finally executed a flawless dismount, which Stevens then used for all of the Wilson character's dismounts and, run in reverse, his mounts as well.
- Asked if he enjoyed the movie, Shane author Jack Schaefer replied, "Yeah, I did, all except for that runt", meaning the 5 ft Ladd. In 1989 Schaefer said his Shane was meant to be a "dark, deadly person" he had hoped George Raft would play.
- Every time Ladd spoke his lines of farewell, deWilde crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, making Ladd laugh. Finally Ladd called to the boy's father, "Make the kid stop or I'll beat him over the head." DeWilde behaved.
- Two Japanese companies began selling budget-priced copies of Shane in 2003, when Japanese law protected films for 50 years. After the term was extended to 70 years in 2004 Paramount sued, but a Japanese court ruled the amendment was not retroactive, leaving the film in the public domain there.
- Paramount picked Shane to debut its wide-screen system because it was composed largely of long and medium shots that would not be compromised by cropping. For the premiere the studio replaced the 34-by-25-foot screen in Radio City Music Hall with one measuring 50 feet wide by 30 feet high.
