Overview

A new offering in the nascent Reel West film history series that focuses on that quintessentially American cinematic art form, the western. Few lines of movie dialogue have had greater impact than the most famous line from John Ford's 1962 masterpiece The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: ""This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."" Although critics of the day did not realize its magnitude, with time The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has become cemented in our popular culture. This film connects to nearly every Western before or after, from Ford's own Stagecoach (1939) to Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992). Coming six years after The Searchers, Ford's other great late-career masterpiece, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance may be even more archetypal of a changing West. In this first-ever book on the subject, Chris Yogerst unpacks one of the signature films of the post-classic Western period and one of the greatest works of director John Ford and actors John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, and Woody Strode.

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9780826368386

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Reviews

""Chris Yogerst's book about John Ford's last great film comprehensively connects the film's inspiration to its elegiac execution and traces the transition from its largely misunderstood reception in 1962 to its revered status in the twenty-first century. Most importantly, he makes a convincing case for it as a seminal work of a seminal artist.""--Scott Eyman, author of Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford ""With The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Chris Yogerst delivers a groundbreaking, thoroughly researched book-length study of John Ford's last masterpiece. It is an essential read for anyone interested in Ford's films or the career of John Wayne.""--W. K. Stratton, author of The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film

Author Information

Chris Yogerst is a writer, professor, and film historian whose columns can be found in The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. His most recent book, The Warner Brothers, was named one of the best film books of 2023 by Sight and Sound magazine.

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