Shane

Shane (The Unknown; in Latin America, Shane the Unknown; in Spain, Raíces profundas) is a 1953 American film of the western genre based on the novel eponymous from 1949, written by Jack Schaefer. The film was directed by George Stevens, with Alan Ladd playing the lead and Jack Palance as the villain.

The film Shane was awarded the 1954 Oscar for Best Color Photography, and was nominated for five other Oscars. He also received the 1953 NBR Award for Best Director.

In 1993, Shane was included among the films preserved in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress, for being considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." ». It is part of the AFI's 10 Top 10 in the "Western" category, of the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies and its updated version, of the AFI's 100 Years... 100 inspirations. Shane is part of AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains (hero #16) and the phrase "Shane. Shane. Come back!" is one of AFI's 100 phrases.

Plot

Shane, a roving gunslinger, arrives at a farm where the Starretts and their son live. At first the couple receive him kindly, letting him drink water from their well, but when they see that other men on horseback are approaching, they believe that Shane is an outpost of an attacking group, so the husband, Joe Starrett, forces him to leave pointing the rifle with which his son was playing a few moments before. Shane leaves without picking a fight, but after a short time he returns and with his mere presence he intimidates the riders. Finally gaining Starrett's trust, he helps him remove an old tree root (hence the Spanish title, as well as various references in the script). Shane has long conversations with little Joey, especially about handling firearms, and tries to change his wandering life by becoming a farmer like Starrett, but for various reasons he can't change his fate.

The central theme of the film is the classic in the western genre: the struggle between a landowner who believes he has the right to take over all the land, and modest farmers who settle and parcel out small portions of land; one and the other fight in a war for the right to the land. Adding to this theme is the platonic love that develops between Mrs. Starrett and the wandering gunslinger, plus the adoration that little Joey, the Starrett's son, feels for him.

After a sequel of experiences, the film's climactic scene is a duel pitting landowner Rufus Ryker, his brother Morgan, and a fearsome hired gunman named Wilson (Jack Palance) against Shane. In a formidable final duel, in which Morgan, ambushed, wounds Shane, he is saved thanks to little Joey's warning and ends up killing Wilson, Shane, although victorious, understands that he must return to the roads again, and abandons the town riding slowly, wounded and with his left arm hanging at his side, as little Joey yells to hold him back, telling him that they all love and appreciate him and not to go.

Cast

• Alan Ladd: Shane
• Jean Arthur: Marian Starrett
• Van Heflin: Joe Starrett
• Brandon De Wilde: Joey Starrett
• Jack Palance: Gunman Jack Wilson
• Ben Johnson: Chris Calloway
• Edgar Buchanan: Fred Lewis
• Emile Meyer: Rufus Ryker
• Elisha Cook Jr.: Stonewall Torrey
• John Dierkes: Morgan Ryker

Comments

Shane is considered one of the classic westerns in film history, and the Argentine theorist Ángel Faretta considers it to be the first western > "self-referential", in which the characters already know themselves to be part of a particular mythology.

Clint Eastwood was inspired by this film for his film The Pale Rider.

The song The pros and cons of Hitch Hicking, by English musician Roger Waters, includes in the final moments the famous cry of Joey trying to hold Shane back.