What an amazing movie. I'm trying to think of another movie with a male hero who has a developed, morally virtuous character.
Captain America, maybe?
Captain America, maybe?
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Watched Shane last night...
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Last: 4 yr ago by captainsubtext
A great movie, but Joey's whiny voice really grates on my nerves. (That was the kid's name, right?)
Come baaaackkk....
I feel like a LOT of movies are about testing a character's moral code, so in that sense almost every drama I can think of passes your test. For movies where the character has such rock solid moral fiber that he is completely defined by it and testing it doesn't make a convincing story line...
Captain America
Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
Aragorn and Sam in LOTR
Coach Boone in Remember the Titans
William Wallace in Braveheart
Solomon Vandy in Blood Diamond
Maximus in Gladiator
I almost put Luke Skywalker in there even though he nearly failed his test in ROTJ, but The Last Jedi kills that argument. Rocky gets there and I could make a spirited argument in his favor, but he was a petty criminal at one point, so i could also argue against him.
Obviously only including main characters.
Captain America
Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
Aragorn and Sam in LOTR
Coach Boone in Remember the Titans
William Wallace in Braveheart
Solomon Vandy in Blood Diamond
Maximus in Gladiator
I almost put Luke Skywalker in there even though he nearly failed his test in ROTJ, but The Last Jedi kills that argument. Rocky gets there and I could make a spirited argument in his favor, but he was a petty criminal at one point, so i could also argue against him.
Obviously only including main characters.
That's a good list.Ulrich said:
I feel like a LOT of movies are about testing a character's moral code, so in that sense almost every drama I can think of passes your test. For movies where the character has such rock solid moral fiber that he is completely defined by it and testing it doesn't make a convincing story line...
Captain America
Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
Aragorn and Sam in LOTR
Coach Boone in Remember the Titans
William Wallace in Braveheart
Solomon Vandy in Blood Diamond
Maximus in Gladiator
I almost put Luke Skywalker in there even though he nearly failed his test in ROTJ, but The Last Jedi kills that argument. Rocky gets there and I could make a spirited argument in his favor, but he was a petty criminal at one point, so i could also argue against him.
Obviously only including main characters.
I am so glad to see this thread. Shane is one of my favorite movies.
In 1998 or thereabouts it was re-released and I got to see it on a big screen. The Tetons in the background are breathtaking. The acting is just great.
The little waltz that Jack Palance and Elisha Cook do, Palance above him on the boardwalk, as they move down the street is an amazing scene.
There's a great scene when Palance comes into the bar at one point and a dog which had been sleeping in the foreground wakes up and crawls out of the way. The bad guy is so mean he scares away the dog!
The scene at Cook's funeral when the settler sees them burning his home and decides to stay--the other mourners volunteering to help him rebuild and he and his wife say, "You'd do that for me/us?" and Van Heflin says, "Not just for you...for all of us." The way the dialogue overlaps.
The color palette.
John Dierkes (the head rancher's tall brother), the wonderful character actor who was in The Thing and was Jim Conklin in The Red Badge of Courage and was also in John Wayne's Alamo.
The incomparable Ben Johnson.
The woman who plays Marian was 50 years old. Hard to believe.
Alan Ladd was quite short and they had to make all sorts of adjustments to give the illusion that he was taller.
I just love this film. I usually watch it whenever it's on.
In 1998 or thereabouts it was re-released and I got to see it on a big screen. The Tetons in the background are breathtaking. The acting is just great.
The little waltz that Jack Palance and Elisha Cook do, Palance above him on the boardwalk, as they move down the street is an amazing scene.
There's a great scene when Palance comes into the bar at one point and a dog which had been sleeping in the foreground wakes up and crawls out of the way. The bad guy is so mean he scares away the dog!
The scene at Cook's funeral when the settler sees them burning his home and decides to stay--the other mourners volunteering to help him rebuild and he and his wife say, "You'd do that for me/us?" and Van Heflin says, "Not just for you...for all of us." The way the dialogue overlaps.
The color palette.
John Dierkes (the head rancher's tall brother), the wonderful character actor who was in The Thing and was Jim Conklin in The Red Badge of Courage and was also in John Wayne's Alamo.
The incomparable Ben Johnson.
The woman who plays Marian was 50 years old. Hard to believe.
Alan Ladd was quite short and they had to make all sorts of adjustments to give the illusion that he was taller.
I just love this film. I usually watch it whenever it's on.
Quote:
another movie with a male hero who has a developed, morally virtuous character
Just off the top of my head:
The character played by Joel McCrea in Ride the High Country
The character played by Gary Cooper in High Noon
The character played by Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory
Gary cooper in high noon? A moral coward.
Um. Explain?
Does Rance Stoddard count?Quote:
I'm trying to think of another movie with a male hero who has a developed, morally virtuous character.
Same movie... What about Tom Doniphon?
You've never heard of the controversy of high noon?
American westerns are the embodiment of the rugged individualist. A man uses his values and innate strength to overcome evil on the frontier.
In High Noon, they tossed that out the window. There is a ticking clock until evil approaches, and Gary Cooper spends the entire film going from house to house begging someone to stand with him against the sinister gang approaching. Everyone has an excuse not to.
It's a film where all the good people are cowards and subvert the genre by rejecting the underpinning of the culture.
Take that in comparison to Eastwoods Fistful of Dollars where he takes on two gangs at the same time.
American westerns are the embodiment of the rugged individualist. A man uses his values and innate strength to overcome evil on the frontier.
In High Noon, they tossed that out the window. There is a ticking clock until evil approaches, and Gary Cooper spends the entire film going from house to house begging someone to stand with him against the sinister gang approaching. Everyone has an excuse not to.
It's a film where all the good people are cowards and subvert the genre by rejecting the underpinning of the culture.
Take that in comparison to Eastwoods Fistful of Dollars where he takes on two gangs at the same time.
I also thought of John J. Macreedy in Bad Day at Black Rock. Great film. Great characters.
I'm almost certain you and I have had this debate before.
Anyway, the whole point of the movie is that Will Kane DOES stand up to the gang all by himself instead of running away.
The target of the attack is the townspeople, not Kane. They are too cowardly to do their part to bring in law and order.
The older, retired marshal knows this all too well. He tries to talk Kane out of staying, as does the judge, because they both know that people want someone else to do their fighting and suffering for them.
The interpretation of the movie you are alluding to would certainly come as a surprise to the Solidarity union in Poland, which used a poster of Kane carrying a ballot for Solidarity as a way of showing that Poland faced its own "high noon" in the battle against Communism, and needed collectively to stand up and do the right thing no matter the cost
.
Anyway, the whole point of the movie is that Will Kane DOES stand up to the gang all by himself instead of running away.
The target of the attack is the townspeople, not Kane. They are too cowardly to do their part to bring in law and order.
The older, retired marshal knows this all too well. He tries to talk Kane out of staying, as does the judge, because they both know that people want someone else to do their fighting and suffering for them.
The interpretation of the movie you are alluding to would certainly come as a surprise to the Solidarity union in Poland, which used a poster of Kane carrying a ballot for Solidarity as a way of showing that Poland faced its own "high noon" in the battle against Communism, and needed collectively to stand up and do the right thing no matter the cost
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Cooper may be a coward for asking for help in the sense of the western genre. But he isnt amoral or somehow not virtuous for doing it.
Did you eavesdrop on my conversation with my coworkers today and travel back in time to watch this movie? I haven't talked about Shane in years and years and I just brought it up today and neither one of them had seen it.
.
"I saw Heat!"
In a twisted sort of way, Robocop is defined by and sticks to his code, whether he wants to or not.
Gotta add Superman to that list.
Reminds me of "Pale Rider", which was basically a remake of "Shane" starring Clint Eastwood.
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The Debt said:
You've never heard of the controversy of high noon?
American westerns are the embodiment of the rugged individualist. A man uses his values and innate strength to overcome evil on the frontier.
In High Noon, they tossed that out the window. There is a ticking clock until evil approaches, and Gary Cooper spends the entire film going from house to house begging someone to stand with him against the sinister gang approaching. Everyone has an excuse not to.
It's a film where all the good people are cowards and subvert the genre by rejecting the underpinning of the culture.
Take that in comparison to Eastwoods Fistful of Dollars where he takes on two gangs at the same time.
It just occurred to me that High Noon is an allegory of The Little Red Hen.
Rocky has to be on the list too.
He's the first movie character that came to mind.
He's the first movie character that came to mind.
Took an American Film Class at A&M and we watched High Noon with the understanding that the screenwriter was blacklisted during the McCarthy years. It is a powerful and personal movie.Emotional Support Cobra said:The Debt said:
You've never heard of the controversy of high noon?
American westerns are the embodiment of the rugged individualist. A man uses his values and innate strength to overcome evil on the frontier.
In High Noon, they tossed that out the window. There is a ticking clock until evil approaches, and Gary Cooper spends the entire film going from house to house begging someone to stand with him against the sinister gang approaching. Everyone has an excuse not to.
It's a film where all the good people are cowards and subvert the genre by rejecting the underpinning of the culture.
Take that in comparison to Eastwoods Fistful of Dollars where he takes on two gangs at the same time.
It just occurred to me that High Noon is an allegory of The Little Red Hen.