"Shane" has long been considered one of the greatest westerns ever made. And, while I really, really like the film, I can't say I'd put it among the very best. Exceptional, but not in the same category as a few of the best westerns such as "The Big Country" and "High Noon"--though it is close.

First, let's talk about what's to like in the film. The single greatest asset is the wonderful cinematography. The mountains are breathtaking and it's an amazingly pretty film. You can see why it won the Best Cinematography category at the Oscars. Part of this is, of course, due to the fantastic work by the cameramen. Part of this is also due to director George Stevens' great eye and wonderful pacing throughout the film. In addition, Alan Ladd was never better. Here, he IS tough but his character has more depth--he's more than a cookie-cutter type good guy. It also helped that he had some excellent backup through a marvelous performance by Van Heflin--a vastly underrated actor despite him having receive one Best Supporting Actor statuette in his career. And, in an uncharacteristic performance, Jack Palance was quite and subtle--and wonderful as one of the villains. I think what helped his performance is that he was used sparingly--and when he was there, his quite strength also worked great.

Now, what were the shortcomings--no matter how small. Here is where I think I am going to ruffle a few feathers. While Brandon De Wilde received many kudos for his performance, I really felt it was uneven. Yes, his wide-eyed surprised look when Shane showed him how to shoot was great and he was generally pretty good. However, a few times I really, really felt his character was a bit annoying as well--such as his running about yelling "bang, bang" too often--I just wanted to see Jean Arthur backhand him! As for Arthur, she was decent--but this probably wasn't her best performance--though she was one marvelous actress throughout her career. She's not bad, mind you, but her character is the problem--there just isn't much depth to her. Neither of these problems were huge--but enough to keep me from giving the film a 10---which would indicated perfection.

Overall, a truly wonderful western--one that is in many ways reminiscent of some of Randolph Scott's later films--but with better camera-work and an even slower and more leisurely pace.

I always considered Shane a personal favourite and I still do. The pace may be languid in a sense, but there are some pieces of dialogue in the movie and how it is scored and filmed that suggest that this was deliberate. Either way, Shane in my view is still a truly wonderful and one of the best of the genre. The film looks gorgeous with some wonderfully meticulous cinematic shots, and because of the mood and how they're shot the closing scenes are still some of the most haunting I've seen in any movie. Also impressive are Victor Young's score, the thought-provoking script and well-told story. The acting is excellent bringing to life well-formed characters, Alan Ladd is cool, Jack Palance is appropriately menacing and Brandon DeWilde is very touching. In conclusion, a fine film and a personal favourite. 10/10 Bethany Cox

A lonesome stranger rides on to a homesteader's farm looking for water and right after him comes the big cattle baron with several riders issuing the latest of several warning to this particular squatter about getting off 'his' range. Something about the man's bullying attitude rubs the stranger the wrong way and he decides to stay and lend a hand.

So begins the classic western Shane which has entertained millions since its release in 1953. It gave Alan Ladd his career role and resulted in Oscar nominations for Jack Palance and Brandon DeWilde in the Best Supporting Actor category. It could have revived Alan Ladd's career, but for a fatal career decision by his agent/wife Sue Carol.

Shane was shot in 1951 completely on location in the Grand Teton mountains in Wyoming. Another reviewer pointed out that director George Stevens seem to meticulously shoot the same scene from many angles. He did just that and spent a year editing his masterpiece.

But in the mean time Sue Carol made a decision for her husband to leave Paramount and sign with Warner Brothers. Had she held out and waited for Shane's release, she might have gotten a great deal from Paramount that might have included better parts. As it was Paramount had no reason to push this film at Oscar time, so Ladd got no nomination for Best Actor which he could have with some studio backing. By the time Shane was out, Ladd was with Warner Brothers and doing some of the same routine action adventures films that he was doing at Paramount. No classic roles for that man any more.

The rancher versus homesteader is an old western plot story and there have been many films made from both points of view. Shane leaves no doubt that the homesteaders are in the right. The cattleman's point of view is eloquently argued in Elia Kazan's Sea of Grass by Spencer Tracy. That western icon John Wayne's been on both sides of the fence, in McLintock he's a cattle baron, in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance he's a small rancher and protector of the homesteader.

Even Emile Meyer as Rufe Ryker does make a valid point that his kind settled the west when it was really wild. Van Heflin as Joe Starrett argues equally eloquently that doesn't give him the right to say no one else has any rights in the territory.

Shane marked the farewell big screen performance of Jean Arthur. A talented, but terribly strange woman with a whole lot of issues, Arthur delivers a good performance as Van Heflin's missus. She felt she was miscast as a farmer's wife, in westerns she saw herself more in the frontier woman roles she did in The Plainsman and Arizona. And at that she much preferred screwball comedy to any western. They weren't making her kind of films any more as she saw it, so she left.

When Shane's done doing what fate brought him to do in the valley he has to leave. For the community to grow there must be no more guns in the valley as he well realizes. So he leaves to an unknown fate, living in the hearts and memories of the Starrett family and the rest of the small farmers, especially young Brandon DeWilde.

And in the hearts of all lovers of the western genre including this little cowpoke who saw him as a small lad on the big silver screen so many years ago.