Shane

Few Westerns examine the depths of human feeling, but this film by George Stevens is one of them, and it has since become a cinematic landmark. [13 Feb 2020, p.29]

Among lovers of the genre, Shane is surely among the top five westerns ever made. [14 Jun 2003, p.D01]

Tries just a tad too hard to be a classic, with Ladd's Roy Rogers woodenness not quite getting the depths of author Jack Schaefer's fallen hero, but the support - Jean Arthur as the yearning farmer's wife, Ben Johnson as the conscience-struck bully - are excellent, and some scenes lodge forever in your memory.

Shane wears a white hat and Palance wears a black hat, but the buried psychology of this movie is a mottled, uneasy, fascinating gray.

Shane symbolized America during a time when the country was struggling to evolve from a nation of rugged individualism into a country of community and cooperation. [20 Aug 2000]

Although the film is often brutal, there is such a positive sense of morality displayed here that Shane should be seen by the whole family.

This George Stevens film is over-planned and uninspired: Westerns are better when they're not so self-importantly self-conscious.

The corrector of injustices, now unfounded in cowboy garb. There is nothing better than an old school western, and with what makes it typical: the tavern brawl, to go no further. Good option for a weekend.

A classic western movie with a good story and beautiful landscape. Also the ryker gang is very mean and their evil actions are more psychological than through killing. But the pace is sometimes too slow.

George Stevens' classic Western. All the archetypal themes are there ( good vs evil, nature vs civilization, justice and morality ) all beautifully written, photographed, and performed. Took me a few re watches to realize, the whole movie is from the point of view of the little boy. Which is why much of the movie is larger than life : Alan Ladd plays one of moviedom's greatest heros, and Jack Palance plays one of the meanest villains, and the sound effects of gunfire are so amplified and punched up. It's commonplace nowdays, but back in 1953, SHANE featured probably the first time in movie history, the explosive roar of gun blasts that shake the screen like true hand cannons.

A classic old school western, an unknown gunslinger rides into a new valley, solves its problems, and vanishes forever after. While entirely predictable plot and pacing wise, it was well performed and shot for its era.