Wichita's Vera Miles in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962)

Starring Wichita's, Vera Miles

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (/ˈvæləns/) is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin, and Lee Van Cleef.

The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a 1953 short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson.

In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot:
Near the turn of the 20th century, U.S. Senator Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) arrive in Shinbone, a frontier town in an unnamed Western state, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon. When asked by the local newspaper reporter why a senator would attend the funeral of a poor rancher, Stoddard answers with a story that flashes back 25 years.

Cast:
James Stewart as Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard
John Wayne as Tom Doniphon
Vera Miles as Hallie Stoddard
Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance
Edmond O'Brien as Dutton Peabody
Andy Devine as Marshal Link Appleyard
Ken Murray as Doc Willoughby
John Carradine as Maj. Cassius Starbuckle
Jeanette Nolan as Nora Ericson
John Qualen as Peter Ericson
Willis Bouchey as Jason Tully (train conductor)
Carleton Young as Maxwell Scott
Woody Strode as Pompey
Denver Pyle as Amos Carruthers
Strother Martin as Floyd (Valance's gang)
Lee Van Cleef as Reese (Valance's gang)
Robert F. Simon as Handy Strong
O. Z. Whitehead as Herbert Carruthers
Paul Birch as Mayor Winder
Joseph Hoover as Charlie Hasbrouck
Shug Fisher as Kaintuck

Production:
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was released in April 1962, and achieved both financial and critical success.

Edith Head's costumes were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (black-and-white), one of the few Westerns ever nominated in that category.

Director Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) listed Ford as a major influence on his work, and Liberty Valance as his favorite Ford film.

The New Yorker's Richard Brody described it as "the greatest American political movie", because of its depictions of a free press, town meetings, statehood debates, and the "civilizing influence" of education in frontier America.

In contrast to prior John Ford Westerns, such as "The Searchers" (1956) and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was shot in black-and-white on Paramount's soundstages. Many stories and speculations exist to explain this decision. Ford preferred that medium over color: "In black and white, you've got to be very careful. You've got to know your job, lay your shadows in properly, get your perspective right, but in color, there it is," he said. "You might say I'm old fashioned, but black and white is real photography." Ford also reportedly argued that the climactic shoot-out between Valance and Stoddard would not have worked in color.

Director Ford ridiculed Wayne for failing to enlist during World War II, during which Ford filmed a series of widely praised combat documentaries for the Office of Strategic Services and was wounded at the Battle of Midway, and Stewart served with distinction as a bomber pilot and commanded a bomber group. "How rich did you get while Jimmy was risking his life?" he demanded. Wayne's avoidance of wartime service was a claimed major source of guilt for the actor in his later years.

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