This is the kind of movie that, when you are younger, it makes you think, “yeah, this is the way the world should be.”
And then, as you get older, you watch it again and again just to remember what it was like to think and to feel that way.
In the end though the name of the game is power. Back then. Here today. Who can enforce the way they think things ought to be. This can be done politically through the laws of a legislature, religiously through the laws of Scripture or personally through the laws of the jungle. But you rarely escape for long the brute facticity of political economy.
IMDb
“In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens had the dog’s trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave, and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to play ‘Taps’ spontaneously, the crew was so moved by the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave before remembering the dog’s trainer was still there.”
“According to the commentary on the DVD, during the scene where Shane and Joe are fighting in the corral, the tied horses were supposed to panic. To instill hysteria in the horses, the director had two men dressed in a bear’s costume to scare them.”
“In the scene where Alan Ladd practices shooting in front of Brandon De Wilde, it took 119 takes to complete.”
SHANE [1953]
Directed by George Stevens
[b]Joey: Somebody’s comin’, Pa!
Joe Starrett: Well, let him come.
…
Shane: You were watchin’ me down the trail for quite a spell, weren’t you?
Joey: Yes, I was.
Shane: You know, I like a man who watches things go on around him. It means he’ll make his mark someday.
…
Joe: Looks like your friends are a little late. What are the Ryker boys up to this time?
Shane: Rykers?
Joe: That’s what I said.
Shane: I wouldn’t know a Ryker from your Jersey cow.
Joe: Don’t forget to close the gate on your way out.
Shane: Do you mind putting down that gun? Then I’ll leave.
Joe: What difference does it make, you’re leaving anyway?
Shane: I’d like it to be my idea.
…
Ryker: I don’t want no trouble, Starrett. I came to inform you. I got that reservation beef contract…I’m gonna need all my range.
Joe: Now you’ve warned me, get off my place.
Ryker: Your place? You’ll have to get out before the snow.
Joe: Supposin’ I don’t?
Ryker: You and the other squatters.
Joe: Homesteaders, you mean.
Ryker: I could blast you outta here right now.
Joe: Listen to me. The time for gun-blastin’ a man off his place is passed. They’re building a penitentiary right to take care of…
Marian: Joe, that’s enough.
…
Ryker brother: Who are you stranger?
Shane: I’m a friend of Starret’s.
…
Joe [to Shane]: In case you wanted to know, that’s Ryker’s spread all over there. He thinks the whole world belongs to him.
…
Shane: That was an elegant dinner, Mrs Starrett.
…
Shane: Good morning, Joey.
Joey: How did you know it was me?
Shane: Well, I figured the cow couldn’t work that latch.
…
Shane: How much do I owe you?
Grafton: Now, let’s see…Pants, a dollar. Two shirts, 60 cents. Belt…Young man, you owe me two dollars and two bits.
Fred: What’s the matter, son? You look kinda pale.
Shane: Been a long time since I got store-bought clothes.
Fred: Money don’t go very far these days.
…
Ernie: I’m wore down and out. Tired of being insulted by them fellas. Called a pig-farmer. Who knows what comes next?
Joe: Well, don’t throw your tail up. Tell you what, we’ll all get together here tonight and figure out something.
Ernie: I don’t know about me.
Joe: I’ll get the word around. You tell Shipstead and Torrey.
Ernie: All right, but if we’re having a meeting, it’d better be more than pokin’ holes in the air with your finger.
…
Marian [in Grafton’s holding a jar used to preserve fruit]: My, my what will they think up next.
…
Shane: Joey…you let me take it in.
…
Joey: Shane, come on!
Shane: Joey, get out of here.
Joey: But, Shane, there’s too many.
Shane: You wouldn’t want me to run away, would you?
Joey: But there’s too many, Shane.
Shane: Go on, son, please.
…
Joey: When that chair came down on you, Shane, I thought you were a goner.
Shane: It was an easy chair, Joey.
…
Marian: This turpentine’ll hurt.
Joey: He wouldn’t say nothing. No matter how much it hurt. Would you, Shane?
Shane: I’m afraid I would, Joey, if it hurt bad enough.
…
Marian: Joey.
Joey: Yes?
Marian: Don’t get to liking Shane too much.
Joey: Why not?
Marian: I don’t want you to.
Joey: Is there anything wrong with him?
Marian: No.
Joey: Then what, Mother?
Marian: He’ll be moving on one day, Joey. You’ll be upset, if you get to liking him too much.
…
Joey: You wanna know something, Mother?
Marioan: What is it, Joey?
Joey [motioning to his mother to come to him]: Mother, I just love Shane.
Marian: Do you?
Joey: I love him almost as much as I love Pa. That’s all right, isn’t it?
Marian: He’s a fine man.
Joey: He’s so good. Don’t you like him, Mother?
Marian: Yes, I like him, too, Joey.
…
Joe: What’s the matter, honey?
Marian: Joe…Hold me. Don’t say anything. Just hold me tight.
…
Joey: They cut Mr Wright’s fence and Mr Shipstead’s, too.
Shane: They did?
Joey: Shane, what would you do if you caught them cutting our fence?
Shane: I’d ask them to please go around by the gate.
Joey: Aw, Shane!
…
Joey: Gosh! Is that what real gunfighters do?
Shane: No, Joey. Most of them have tricks of their own. One, for instance, likes a shoulder holster. Another one puts it in the belt of his pants. And some like two guns. But one’s all you need if you can use it…
…
Shane: A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.
…
Grafton: I want you to know I like Joe Starrett.
Ryker: Fool oughta listen to reason.
Grafton: Your reason?
…
Joe: You’ve made things hard for us, and we being in the right.
Ryker: Right? You in the right? When I came to this country, you weren’t much older than your boy. We had rough times. Me and other men that are mostly dead now. I got a bad shoulder yet from a Cheyenne arrowhead. We made this country, we found it and we made it, with blood and empty bellies. Cattle we brought in were hazed off by Indians and rustlers. They don’t bother you much any more because we handled 'em. We made a safe range out of this. Some of us died doing it, but we made it. Then people move in who never had to raw-hide it through the old days. They fence off my range and fence me off from water. Some of them plough ditches, take out irrigation water. So the creek runs dry sometimes and I gotta move my stock because of it. And you say we have no right to the range. The men that did the work and ran the risks have no rights? I take you for a fair man, Starrett.
Joe: I’m not belittling what you did, but you didn’t find this country. There were trappers here and Indian traders before you. They tamed this country more than you did.
Ryker: They weren’t ranchers.
Joe: You talk about rights.You think you got the right to say nobody else has got any.[/b]
How absurd would it seem to either one of them to raise the issue of rights for the Indians they stole the land from.
[b]Joe [looking at Wilson]: What do you make of him?
Shane: He’s no cow puncher.
…
Ryker: I like Starrett, too, but I’ll kill him if I have to. I’ll kill him if I have to.
Wilson: You mean I’ll kill him if you have to.
…
Joe: Torrey was a pretty brave man. We’d be doing wrong if we wasn’t the same.
Fred: Last time you argued that, Torrey was alive. You want us to stay for more of this?
Joe: We can have a regular settlement. We can have a town, and churches and a school…
Fred: Graveyards?
Joe: I don’t know. You’ve just got to, that’s all.
Shane: He wants you to stay for something that means more than anything. Your families. Your wives and kids. Like you, Lewis, your girls, and Shipstead with his boys. They’ve got a right to stay here and grow up and be happy. It’s up to you people to have nerve enough to not give it up.
Joe: That’s right. We can’t give up this valley and we ain’t gonna do it. This is farming country, a place for people to bring up their families. Who’s Ryker to run us away from our own homes? He only wants to grow beef, and we want to grow families, to grow them good and strong, the way they were meant to be grown. God didn’t make all this country just for one man like Ryker.
Fred: He’s got it though, and that’s what counts.
…
Chris: Shane.
Shane: Who is it?
Chris: Calloway. Chris Calloway.
Shane: Stay where you are. I can drill you.
Chris: Hold it, I got something to tell you.
Shane: What do you want?
Chris: Starrett’s up against a stacked deck.
Shane: Why are you telling me?
Chris: I reckon something’s come over me.
Shane: I don’t figure.
Chris: I’m quitting Ryker. So long.
Shane: Chris.Thanks.[/b]
I always loved this scene.
[b]Joey: Pa! Shane’s got his gun on. He’s coming!
…
Joe: What’s the idea?
Shane: This is my kind of game.
Joe: But it ain’t yours.
Shane: Maybe you’re a match for Ryker, maybe not, but you’re no match for Wilson.
…
Marian: You’re both out of your senses. This isn’t worth a life. Are you fighting for this shack, this ground and nothing but work? I’m sick of it, I’m sick of trouble. Let’s move, let’s go on, please!
Joe: Marian, don’t say that! That ain’t the truth. You love this place more than me.
Marian: Not any more.
Joe: Even if it’s true, it changes nothing.
…
Joey: Shane! You hit him with your gun! I hate you!
Shane [to Marian]: Walk him around when he comes to. Here, Marian [holding Joe’s gun] hide this. He’ll be all right. No one can blame him for not keeping that date.
Marian: Shane. Wait! You were through with gunfighting.
Shane: I changed my mind.
Marian: Are you doing this just for me?
Shane: For you, Marian…and Joe and little Joe.
Marian: Then we’ll never see you again?
Shane: Never is a long time, Marian. Tell him…Tell him I was sorry.
…
Shane: I came to get your offer, Ryker.
Ryker: I’m not dealing with you. Where’s Starrett?
Shane: You’re dealing with me, Ryker.
Ryker: I got no quarrel with you, Shane. You can walk out now and no hard feeling.
Shane: What’s your offer, Ryker?
Ryker: To you, not a thing.
Shane: That’s too bad.
Ryker: Too bad?
Shane: You’ve lived too long. Your kind of days are over.
Ryker: My days? What about yours, gunfighter?
Shane: The difference is I know it.
Ryker: So, all right. We’ll all turn in our six-guns to the bartender, and start hoeing spuds, is that it?
Shane: Not quite yet. We haven’t heard from your friend here.
…
Joey: Was that him? Was that Wilson?
Shane: That was him. That was Wilson, all right, he was fast, fast on the draw.
…
Shane: I gotta be going on.
Joey: Why, Shane?
Shane: A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mould. I tried it and it didn’t work for me.
Joey: We want you, Shane.
Shane: Joey, there’s no living with…with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand sticks. There’s no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her…tell her everything’s all right. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley.
Joey: Shane…
[Joey notices that Shane is wounded]
Joey: It’s bloody! You’re hurt!
Shane: [Shane starts to stroke Joey’s hair ] I’m all right, Joey. You go home to your mother and father and grow up to be strong and straight. And, Joey… take care of them, both of them.
Joey: Yes, Shane
…
Joey: Pa’s got things for you to do. And Mother wants you. I know she does! Shane! Shane! Come back![/b]