YMMV / The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • What if Tom Doniphon was a coward? Consider he shot Valance in secret and claimed the credit in private, not to ease Stoddard's conscience over killing Valance, but to saddle him with a lifetime of guilt. Stoddard was the one who put his life on the line.
  • Rance Stoddard. Did he come to mourn an old friend to whom he owed much, or is he merely fulfilling an obligation to his wife? Note how he makes no offer to pay for a better coffin or funeral for Tom. Reviewers have also noted his condescending attitude towards Pompey in these scenes and towards Hallie in the flashbacks, suggesting that Rance doesn't necessarily practice what he preaches about equality.
  • Is Hallie still in love with Tom? The first place she wants to go is to see Tom's old house and she laments that he never finished his addition. She brings back a cactus rose and places it on his coffin, which causes some tension with Rance when he asks about it. There is clearly some distance between them on the ride home. Is it because Rance was a workaholic career politician who had little time for his wife, as their conversation suggests. Or is it because she has known the truth all along and resented him for it? They both look thoroughly disgusted when the conductor says, "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Vallance."
• Award Snub: It received one Academy Award nomination - for Best Costume Design (Black and White).
• Ho Yay:
  • Valance's sidekick Floyd seems to toady up to Liberty a little too much. John Ford himself described the character as "a sex psychopath".
  • Valance using a whip as a weapon invites certain interpretations about his character.
• Love to Hate: Liberty Valance is an evil son-of-a-bitch, but he's one hell of a memorable villain. Being played by Lee Marvin helps considerably.
• Memetic Mutation: This film is the reason that any John Wayne impression will inevitably include the word "Pilgrim."
  • Also, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
• Misaimed Fandom: The quote about "print the legend" is often seen by moviegoers and critics as John Ford's defense of the "noble lie". However, film historians note that this isn't Ford's intentions, since Ford in Liberty Valance showed the "making of the legend" and the consequences, lies, and evasions that go into it and what it means for Ransom to live that lie. As Peter Bogdanovich said, "Ford always printed the truth".
• Moral Event Horizon: Liberty Valance enters the film with a nasty reputation and violent history, and gets worse as the movie progresses. It's his beating of Peabody to within an inch of the editor's life that riles up Ransom enough to get him to call the gunman out for a duel.
• Retroactive Recognition: One of Liberty's gang is Lee Van Cleef.
• Vindicated by History: Contemporary critics treated the film as, basically, just another John Wayne movie, though it did well at the box office. Over the years it's become recognized as one of Ford and Wayne's best films.

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