Let's be realistic.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A strange film. Clumsy direction, dated style, curiously over-aged cast, yet a consistently compelling watch. Before reading some other reviews I didn't really notice how old the cast were, especially as the time frame varied. What fascinated was the theme that history gets faked. And the press is complicit. It strikes me that this is especially true of the history in this film. The pointer in the script was the phrase that all men are created equal, stumbled over by Woody Strode. All men are obviously not created equal, in any practical sense, and rarely treated equal. It is obvious to anyone who thinks twice that the basic aim of the Revolution was to preserve US slavery as long as possible, and to eliminate, or ethnically cleanse, the Native Americans, so as to grab their land. The demonisation of constitutionally powerless, good-natured and mentally disturbed King George III as a tyrant was, and is, ludicrous. The British Royal family have had no political power since 1714. So much for no taxation without representation. The land-hungry colonists made not the slightest attempt to seek representation in Britain, which would have scuppered their drive to get possession. So the fiction became fact, and this film seems to recognise the truth of this untruth. The story could have been better written, and the direction could have been more subtle and realistic, but the message is powerful. Print the legend. Make America great, whatever the means or method. The real representative of the pioneer spirit was Lee Marvin. Liberty ? Was that a joke ? Violence and guns are essential. No votes from America.

No doubt that this is one of the best movies ever made pitting good against evil and showing the struggles in making honorable decisions when making dishonorable ones would be much easier.

In John Ford's worst Western, artificially filmed almost entirely on sound stages, John Wayne plays Tom Doniphon. Doniphon has a ranch outside of Shinbone, a town terrorized by Liberty Valance. As befitting a character played by John Wayne, Doniphon talks tough: "Liberty Valance's the toughest man south of the Picketwire ... next to me," he boasts. But on the two occasions when Doniphon has verbal confrontations with Liberty Valance, Doniphon is backed up by his "boy" Pompey, an imposing black man aiming his rifle right at Liberty. I hate to say this about John Wayne, but Tom Doniphon is a coward. For all his tough talk, he doesn't face Liberty Valance in a fair fight. Instead, he hides in the shadows and bushwhacks him. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance more accurately Ambushed him. Then he Executed him. The one thing he didn't do was Face him. Or Outdraw him. Or Outgun him. Or Outfight him. In fact, in one embarrassing scene, the mighty Tom Doniphon couldn't even muster enough breath to blow out a match. In another scene equally embarrassing, a pacifist lawyer who Doniphon provoked punches Doniphon in his mouth and knocks him on his ass. So much for being the toughest man south of the Picketwire. Then there's John Wayne's performance. He was always more of a movie star than an actor, but in this film he was reduced to a caricature: John Wayne sounding like he's impersonating Rich Little impersonating John Wayne. Add to that the casting of the annoying Andy Devine as comic relief where none was needed, and O. Z. Whitehead, age 51, incredibly playing an elementary school boy who sucks lollipops, and in one scene, is seen skipping, and James Stewart and John Wayne both 20 years older than the characters they were playing. Honestly, if this had been John Ford's only Western, no one today would remember his name.

This is a fine story of the west wild as it was and true to life in its start-up. You will see how gunfights settle scores and was the only law people understood. Marshalls could only do so much and were always being killed so the rules of the west prevailed for some time until there was law and order depicted well in this movie. You got really good "good" guys and really bad "bad" guys making the point of good versus evil throughout the flick. You get butterflies when bad takes a turn and you feel good when good appears. This is raw, well-presented entertainment and what many Westerns relied on to capture not only your interest but to tell the tale as well. Add some shoot em ups, a love interest, horses of course, and plenty drinking at the bar in the local saloon. One thing that always captures my interest in any movie is food scenes as I like to see what people eat, how they eat and what the food looks like. In this movie, I was thrilled. Why? Nice large cuts of fresh steak cooked to order with a side of spuds and beans with bread and deep dish apple pie with hot coffee to wash it all down with. Man, not a bad way to dine! Enjoy Andy Devine, James Stewart, John Wayne and Lee Marvin and many well known others as they act out this little gem that will produce a tear or two. Good movie to eat dinner with, dessert and a tasty drink of choice