Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

windtalker2005 I seen a plane crossing the sky line years ago. It was flying from left to right. Shane was heading into town to settle up with Joe Starrett in the finale gun fight in the saloon...

millerem99 Casting Alan Ladd in the role of the dark and brooding larger-than-life Shane was perhaps the single great misdeed of this film; depriving Shane of his sinister getup (his black habiliments a part of his shrouded mystery) and cladding him in buckskin was tragic. But there are plenty of other ouchers that detract from the genius and not-just-another-Western story crafted by Jack Schaefer.As commentator Chuck Rankin noted, "the major flaw of the motion picture lies in its inability to translate into a different medium the complex point of view and nostalgia upon which much of the novel depends for its strength."A theme of Shane may be standing up for one's beliefs in the face of bullies, but there is much more that the movie does not convey. The frontier as a testing ground for humanity, the coming of age pains of an individual but also of a nation in the face of the cattlemen/homesteader rivalry, and the role of individuals to society get lost in the greater focus of the fistfights and shootouts.The supporting crew is largely unsympathetic in comparison to its literary counterparts. "Joey" (Bob in the book) is charmless and bug-eyed as he whines "Shaiy-ne!" ad nauseum. Marion is shrill.Van Heflin is tolerable as Starrett. But it is Jack Palance as Wilson who positively steals the show, thus looming larger and more appealing in some ways than its slight-statured fair-haired hero.All in all, the movie is better than many in its genre, but only because of the elements of the novel it deigned to adapt. It could have been much, much better.

TheNabOwnzz That character referred to in the title is obviously Joey Starrett, played by Brandon de Wilde. Kids in main roles in movies is generally a bad idea and it has only been succesful so little times, yet it has been done ( To Kill a Mockingbird, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, Taxi Driver to name a couple of movies featuring excellent children actors in lead roles ). But unfortunately in Shane this was not the case.Ofcourse, the good points of such a mixed film should be mentioned first. The cinematography is obviously the greatest part in this film. The scenery in Wyoming coupled with the excellent camera angles showing beautiful plains and mountains in the distance result in a breath taking visual experience. This results in many beautiful shots, such as the one with Ryker first appearing under the beautiful scenery. The acting of Alan Ladd as Shane, Van Heflin as Joe Starrett & Jack Palance as Jack Wilson especially was excellent, and seemingly could not have been better. Character development seemingly is also fine in order, with the audience slowly getting a better view on what kind of person Shane is, because that seems to be a bit of a mystery at the start, frequently getting startled by sudden sounds while quickly reaching for his gun. The music is also an excellent addition to what could have been a great film.Unfortunately even though the film succeeds on most primary accounts on what a movie should have, one annoying and irritating or badly acted character can ruin it all, and Brandon de Wilde managed to do just that. His repeated forced phrasing of the word 'Shane' just makes you cringe and regret every time he comes on the screen. The entire movie i was hoping there would be more scenes between Shane and Wilson and less with Shane and the terribly acted kid. Every word out of his mouth just has a terrible delivery and comes across as incredibly forced. Compare his acting to the raw natural acting of the two main kid characters in To Kill a Mockingbird for example. It is just such a gigantic gap in acting quality. Also combine it with the fact that Jean Arthur as Marian Starrett also gives off a pretty weak performance and Elisha Cook Jr. ( While being a great actor ) is simply miscast as i could never take him seriously as the tough guy that isn't scared of anything in the face of danger. While it is a film that has its great moments ( Most of these are ones where Brandon de Wilde is absent ) and has beautiful scenery, it is unfortunately a display of how one character can bring a movie down, which makes my verdict a mixed one.

Leofwine_draca SHANE is an entirely visual and iconic example of the western genre that also standards as Alan Ladd's most famous role. The thing that makes this film is the direction from George Stevens, which is really something else. Stevens carefully crafts a film that looks a treat and his direction of the action sequences is second to none, making them some of the strongest of the genre. My only real complaint with this film is the incessant use of day-for-night filming; everything else is great.The story is one of those ones which has plenty of mileage in it. Alan Ladd plays a retired gunslinger who joins up with a group of settlers, including Van Heflin who is fine in support and bags a more interesting character than Ladd's. The settlers find themselves up against Emile Meyer as the cruel Ryker, and his various men including veteran genre star Ben Johnson and Jack Palance in a truly evil, star-making performance. Elisha Cook Jr. is here too, playing a tougher character than you'd expect.A lot of the material is told through the eyes of your typically annoying American kid, but thankfully he's not too grating and at least his heart is in the right place. There's plenty of suspense and drama to keep the tale moving, but it's the action which really hits home. The excellent climax is a given - and Eastwood would later reference it in UNFORGIVEN - but it's the bar-room brawl which is something else, one of the most powerful fist-fights I've seen on a film. Top stuff indeed.