One aspect of SHANE that I think might be appropriate for
this discussion group is the then groundbreaking realistic
portrayal of violence. Two scenes generally come to mind: The
first is the "Sody Pop" fight scene between Shane
(Alan Ladd) and Chris Calloway (Ben Johnson). After resisting
Calloway's taunts, Shane finally is forced to fight him. At
one point, Shane knocks Calloway to the floor; when Calloway
rises to his feet, we see a close-up of Johnson's face and
see blood pouring from his nose in living color. Before in
Westerns (and, I guess, basically all American movies) guys
could slug it out for several minutes and never get hurt.
Here you saw Ben Johnson's character actually injured as the
result of a violent act, the implication being that you don't
just dust yourself off and walk away -- you hurt. Even more
famous is the scene in which Jack Wilson (Jack Palance) kills
Frank Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.). As you recall, this is no
breast-clutching noble death. It's dirty, in the mud, and
Torrey's body is dragged away in a most disrespectful way.
The idea here is that violent death is a dirty business, not
at all pleasant to watch, not nearly as easy to watch as
earlier movies had made it out to be....All this seems pretty
tame compared to what's come in the years since, but SHANE
and the way George Stevens depicted violence in it had a big
effect on people like Peckinpah a few years later. I'm
wondering if it might have been a turning point in the
depiction of violence in cinema in general and in crime
writing in particular. The only pre-1953 hardboiled writing
I've read has been Edward Anderson, Horace McCoy, Hammet, and
Chandler (sheesh, there must more...some of the really early
John D. Macdonald?). Anyway, I can't remember just how
realistic the violence was. It's been a few years.
Later....Kip
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