The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance () is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a 1953 short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson. The supporting cast features Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef.
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
Around the turn of the 20th century, U.S. Senator Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard and his wife Hallie arrive in Shinbone, a frontier town in an unnamed western state, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon. When asked by the local newspaper editor why a senator would attend the funeral of a poor rancher, Stoddard answers with a story that flashes back 25 years.
Entering the then-unincorporated territory as a young lawyer, Ranse is beaten and robbed by infamous outlaw Liberty Valance and his gang. Tom Doniphon and his handyman, Pompey, find Ranse and take him to Shinbone, where Tom's girlfriend, Hallie, treats his wounds. Ranse learns Valance frequently terrorizes Shinbone and the surrounding country since the local marshal, Link Appleyard, is too cowardly to stop him. Tom says Valance only understands force, but Ranse is determined to bring Valance to justice through the law.
While establishing his practice, Ranse buses tables at Peter Ericson's steakhouse, where Hallie works, and befriends Dutton Peabody, the editor of the Shinbone Star newspaper. After learning Hallie is illiterate, Ranse opens a school for children and adults in the back of the newspaper's office. He also begins practicing with Peabody's old gun after Valance bullies him in the restaurant. Hallie, attracted to Ranse and concerned for his safety, tells Tom of Ranse's gun practice. Tom takes Ranse to his ranch for a shooting lesson, showing off renovations that are intended for his planned marriage to Hallie and making those intentions clear to Ranse. During the lesson, he tricks Ranse by shooting a paint can above his head and staining his clothes, telling Ranse he can expect the same kind of trickery from Valance. Ranse angrily punches Tom and leaves.
Shinbone's men meet to elect two delegates to the upcoming statehood convention at the territorial capital. Tom refuses Ranse's nomination; ultimately, Ranse and Peabody are elected. Valance, hired by the cattle barons who oppose statehood, fails to intimidate the voters into selecting him. Valance challenges Ranse to a gunfight. Tom offers to assist Ranse in leaving town, but Ranse stubbornly declines.
That evening, Valance and his gang vandalize the newspaper office and severely injure Peabody for reporting Valance's murder of a local farmer. Ranse arms himself and goes after Valance; even drunk, Valance easily wounds and disarms Ranse, then prepares to kill him. Ranse retrieves his gun and shoots, and Valance falls dead. Ranse returns to Ericson's, where Hallie treats his wounded arm; Tom enters and sees Hallie's affection for Ranse as she attends his wounds. He gets drunk and forces Appleyard to run Valance's men out of town. Tom then attempts suicide by setting fire to his house, but Pompey rescues him.
At the territorial convention, Ranse is nominated for delegate to Congress, but withdraws after a representative of the cattle barons accuses him of building a career from murdering a man. Tom arrives and explains to Ranse that it was he who killed Valance; knowing that Ranse could not beat Valance, Tom shot him with Pompey's rifle at the same time Ranse fired. Tom encourages Ranse to accept the nomination for Hallie's sake before quietly walking out of the convention.
In the present, Ranse's rising political achievements – state governor, senator, ambassador to the United Kingdom, and likely vice-presidential nominee in the upcoming election – fill the intervening years. The newspaper editor decides publishing the story would ruin Ranse's legacy, burns the reporter's notes, and leaves Ranse to conduct Tom's funeral. When Ranse asks why, the editor says "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
On the return trip to Washington, D.C., Ranse contemplates retiring to Shinbone, which pleases Hallie. Hallie admits placing a cactus rose on Tom's coffin, a plant Tom knew Hallie liked. As Ranse thanks the train conductor for the railroad's courtesies, the conductor answers, "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance!"