Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
Abstract: In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, John Ford , the grand master of the genre, has infused his Western with the conventions of the previous decade’s noir style, almost reconceiving it. Shot in constricted, uncomfortably dark and angular interior settings, this decidedly black and white film used the familiar hallmarks of film noir to subvert the openness and even the optimism characteristically associated with Westerns. Shinbone may be at the river’s edge and now on the train line, but its ethos is as dark and anxious as that of noir films. Civilization, which was usually a dubious prospect in Westerns, is here undermined both by the compromises it requires and the prospects it offers. The energetic past is past and the present is without appeal. The paranoia and claustrophobia of film noir has infected the robustness of the larger host genre, more comprehensively and effectively than in any other major Western.
Western American Literature – The Western Literature Association
Published: Sep 3, 2011
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.