We continue our survey of the twenty greatest movies of the 1950s.
For a complete listing of the greatest movies of the 20, 30s and 40s, click here.
7. Shane, 1953.
The gunshots in Shane are unlike any other gunshots in Hollywood history. They are heart-stopping thunderbolts, from either heaven or hell.
Shane, a mysterious gunslinger, rides into an isolated valley in the post-civil war Wyoming territory and finds work on a struggling farm owned by Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) and his wife, Marian, Jean Arthur, in her last Hollywood role. Their young son, Joey (Brandon deWilde) is drawn to Shane and wants Shane to teach him how to shoot.
Of course, there’s a ruthless cattle baron, Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer), who wants to force Starrett and others off their land. All the basic elements of the classic western are in place. But Marian is an anti-gun fanatic, and she insists that guns will have no place in her son’s life.
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