The Fading Values of the Frontier

The central theme of the classic Western captures a fundamental aspect of America’s self-image: the willingness of a good man to use his freedom to sacrifice himself for the public good. In High Noon, Marshal Will Kane tries to round up a local posse to protect the town from a returning group of outlaws. But when each of the town’s upstanding citizens finds some reason to demur, he confronts the villains alone. In Shane, the eponymous gunfighter, who has sworn off violence, takes up arms again when a cattle baron and his goons insist on terrorizing the peaceful homesteaders to drive them off their land. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Tom Doniphon intervenes to shoot Valance, another terrorizing stooge of a different cattle baron, who is about to kill a brave but hapless lawyer, Ranse Stoddard, who has himself challenged Valance to a duel. Read Full Article »