The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence-MR

The film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, portrays two alpha male cowboys struggling to be the lone power, and a character who plays the role of a newcomer to the western frontier. Tom Doniphon, a seasoned veteran of the west, looks out for a young law graduate from the east, Ransom Stoddard. Doniphon attempts to teach Stoddard the harsh and sometimes uncivilized ways of the west. The other alpha male cowboy, Liberty Valence, is a ruthless criminal who immediatley teaches Stoddard in the opening scene of the film, the the law of the east is null and void on the western frontier. Sue Matheson's quote, "Only the fittest, strongest, and most ruthless survive in the noir frontier" applies directly to all three male characters in the film as Doniphon and Valence compete against one another to be the lone alpha male, and Stoddard struggles to survive in the west.

Tom Doniphon, the alpha male of town, has a unique role in the film. Not only does he serve as the unannounced gaurdien of the law and order of the town (due to the seemingly incoherrant sherrif), also serves as a teacher for the newcomer Stoddard. Sue Matheson, would categorize their relationship by placing Stoddard in the role of a "sidekick." Doniphon attempts to integrate Stoddard into the unfamiliar codes of western law. Although Stoddard is at first stubborn to accept "law of the gun," he eventually sees that Doniphon's teachings hold to be true. Matheson writes, "In the west, "a man who settles his own problems" is indeed the sum of his actions" (897) Stoddard eventually carries a gun, although he lacks the skill to use it, and attempts to abandon his eastern civilized values at the showdown with Liberty Valence. Stoddard does fail to take care of his own problems by failing to kill Liberty himself, but does succeed in winning the heart of Doniphon's desired wife.

Liberty Valence, serves as the object of the viewers hatred from the very beginning of the film. He also truly embraces the freedom that the west gives him, and harnesses that freedom to take advantage of others. His abush of Stoddards wagon, is Stoddards first lesson that muscle power and violence are harsh realities on the western frontier. Matheson points out Valence destroys everything a civilized culture places importance on. "Good posture, acceptable table manners, the sanctity of womanhood, law and order, freedom of speech, and most of all, the democratic process itself." (895) However, because it the town embraces Stoddards "civilized" values, Valence's behavior is amplified as being especially brutal. Although a showdown between Valence and Doniphon does not occur directly, Valence gives away the alpha male title by attempting to pick on the weaker man in Stoddard.