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  • Adaptation Displacement: Most people had no idea there was a book.
  • Award Snub: It received six Academy Award nominations and won for Best Cinematography, but Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur weren't nominated.
  • Awesome Music: The main theme, "The Call Of The Faraway Hills". It goes a long way to ramping up the feels, especially in the ending.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Jack Wilson. He's only in a few scenes, and even in those few scenes he seldom speaks... but is nevertheless remembered as one of the creepiest villains in movie history, with the role being enough to warrant Jack Palance an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
  • Evil Is Cool: Jack Wilson for reasons mentioned above. There's a reason various viewers find him more threatening than the Big Bad Rufus Ryker.
  • Funny Moments: When Joey is tucked into bed, he remembers to say goodnight to Shane, who is sleeping out in the stable:
    Joey: Night, Ma!
    Marian: Goodnight, Joey.
    Joey: Night, Pa!
    Joe: Night, son.
    Joey: NIGHT, SHANE!!
  • Moral Event Horizon: If Ryker hasn't already crossed it when he has Torrey killed and Lewis' homestead burnt, he definitely crosses it when he attempts to have Starrett killed.
  • Narm:
    • Mrs. Starrett has her moments, whenever she gets upset over something.
    • Joey's acting can also get pretty cringe-worthy at times.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Jack Palance's role as Wilson is both brief enough, and unforgettable enough to qualify as this.
  • Parody Displacement: What's supposed to be a final line to the film's bittersweet ending ("Shane! Come back!") has become a single most famous joke, because of the Gainax Ending from the legendarily bad game The Town with No Name that parodies it.
  • Questionable Casting: Jack Schaefer, who wrote the original novel, thought that the diminutive Alan Ladd was miscast as Shane, whom he envisioned as a dark and deadly character.
  • Tear Jerker:
    • "Shane...! Come Back!!!"
    • "Bye, Shane!"
  • Values Dissonance: Let's just say that a Lost Causer Confederate like Stonewall might not garner the same sympathy these days, nor would Wilson mocking General Lee, Stonewall Jackson and the Confederate side as 'trash' be seen as a sign of wickedness.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The discussion between Shane and Mrs. Starrett about guns can result in this reaction. Shane's speech about how a gun is a tool is NRA gold—and Marian's insistence that there should be no guns at all can come across more as irrational stubbornness than anything else, especially considering the events of the movie.

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