The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, December 7-13
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Directed by John Ford
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance could end shortly after the death of its titular character and it would still be a great film. The first ninety minutes contain all the traits of a classic Ford Western: quiet heroism, a swaggering John Wayne, and beautifully staged black and white cinematography. But this is a film concerned with truth, and uncovering the truth requires time. The final thirty minutes of Liberty Valance feature some of Ford’s most patient and contemplative filmmaking, and they remain as relevant as ever in their depiction of a fictional western town grappling with its lawless past while striving to forge a civil and humanist future. The theme of “printing the legend” is self-evident to today’s audiences but, within the context of the film, it serves as the final emotional knockout in one of the most poignant endings in American cinema. A.J. Serrano (December 10, 4:45pm at the Metrograph, hosted by Joe Carducci, author of Stone Male: Requiem for the Living Picture)