Trivia / The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

• Actor-Shared Background: James Stewart (from Pennsylvania) as an Easterner who moves out West, and John Wayne (born in Iowa, raised in California) as a Western native.
• All-Star Cast: The mere fact of having John Wayne and James Stewart in the same film would probably qualify it, but in addition we have Lee Marvin and Vera Miles among the leads and Lee Van Cleef, John Carradine, Andy Devine, Woody Strode, and Edmond O'Brien among the supporting cast. Not to mention legendary director John Ford at the helm. Whew!
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Sort of. This is the movie where John Wayne uses the sarcastic nickname of "Pilgrim", in this case to his friend/rival Ransom. Aside from that, we'd hear him use it again in McLintock!...but that's pretty much it. Wayne didn't use the moniker nearly as often as the Memetic Mutation would have you believe.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: Averted, since the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance", a big hit for Gene Pitney, wasn't included in the film. There are differing accounts about whether it was actually written for the film, or just "inspired by" it. One story has John Ford listening to a demo of the song and rejecting it flat. Pitney himself said that Paramount paid for the recording session, but in the middle of it, he learned that the film had already been released!
• Dawson Casting:
  • Played with. John Wayne, James Stewart and most of the others are playing characters well younger than the actors, but it's justified by most of the movie being a flashback. For reference, Jimmy Stewart was an actor in his 50's playing a young man just out of law school. Wayne was of a similar age but the character of Doniphon was also supposed to be in his 20's.
  • OZ Whitehead, playing a teenager, was actually 50 years old.
• Executive Meddling: According to Lee Van Cleef, John Wayne was cast at the insistence of the studio and against John Ford's wishes. "He didn't want Duke [Wayne] to think he was doing him any favors".
• Hostility on the Set: John Ford was at his worst during production, bullying and needling John Wayne.
  • Woody Strode recounted that Ford "kept needling Duke about his failure to make it as a football player", comparing him to Strode (a former NFL running back), whom he pronounced "a real football player". (Wayne's football career at USC had been curtailed by injuries.) He also ridiculed Wayne for failing to enlist during World War II, during which Ford filmed a series of widely praised combat documentaries for the Office of Strategic Services, and was wounded at the Battle of Midway, and James Stewart served with distinction as a bomber pilot (which makes it all kinds of Hilarious in Hindsight that Wayne played the rough and tumble leatherneck while Stewart played the soft-spoken Nice Guy tenderfoot, since in real life Stewart was far more badass than Wayne). "How rich did you get while Jimmy was risking his life?" he demanded. Wayne's avoidance of wartime service was a major source of guilt for him in his later years.
  • Actor Ken Murray was terrified of Ford, calling him an ogre.
  • James Stewart related that midway through filming, Wayne asked him why he, Stewart, never seemed to be the target of Ford's venomous remarks. Other cast- and crew-members also noticed Stewart's apparent immunity from Ford's abuse. Then, toward the end of filming, Ford asked Stewart what he thought of Woody Strode's costume for the film's beginning and end, when the actors were playing their parts 25 years older. Stewart replied, "It looks a bit Uncle Remussy to me." Ford responded, "What's wrong with Uncle Remus?" He called for the crew's attention and announced, "One of our players doesn't like Woody's costume. Now, I don't know if Mr. Stewart has a prejudice against Negroes, but I just wanted you all to know about it." Stewart said he "wanted to crawl into a mouse hole"; but Wayne told him, "Well, welcome to the club. I'm glad you made it."
  • Much of Ford's abuse was aimed Wayne. As a result, Wayne took his frustration out on Strode, who was playing his sidekick. While filming an exterior shot on a horse-drawn cart, Wayne almost lost control of the horses, and knocked Strode away when he attempted to help. When the horses did stop, Wayne tried to pick a fight with the younger and fitter Strode; Ford called out, "Don't hit him, Woody, we need him." Wayne later told Strode, "We gotta work together. We both gotta be professionals." Strode blamed Ford for nearly all the friction on the set. "What a miserable film to make," he added.
  • Lee Van Cleef later said that he had no fond memories of Wayne while making the film.
• No Stunt Double: Woody Strode frequently performed his own stunts, partly because he was such a good athlete and partly because it was hard to find a black double to match his build and looks. In the scene where Doniphon sets fire to his house, Strode had to race in and drag him out of the building. John Wayne was using a double but the 47-year-old Strode wasn't. John Ford told his star, "Duke, Woody is an old man, and he's got to carry you and he doesn't need a double!" Wayne decided to do the scene without one.
• Referenced by...: In a third season episode of Treme, Terry is told by another detective about a shooting that happened at the corner of Liberty and Valance. Terry gets it, and does a John Wayne imitation.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: According to Frank Baker, John Ford substantially improvised on the scenario from day to day.

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