The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance AP

In The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, both Tom Doniphon and Liberty Valance are the main alpha male cowboys. According to Matheson, they incorporated the characteristics of the villain and the hero. This movie was a perfect example of the alpha male cowboy type and even Matheson uses many scenes from the movie as examples in her article. Rance Stoddard is also mentioned in Matheson's article, when she talks about double binds and what men have to do to survive in the West.

Tom Doniphon is the alpha male cowboy, who is like the hero in this movie. From the very beginning, we can see that he has a mysterious past to him, this whole antihero apect that Matheson talks so greatly about. He is not perfect, he can be morally questionable, but nonetheless he is the hero. He is the one who saves Stoddard and essentially, all of the townspeople from Valance's terrorizing nature. Matheson would argue, however, that Doniphon really isn't much different from the villain, Liberty Valance. He is hardboiled, ready to take the law into his own hands. As he says to Stoddard, "Out here a man settles his own problems". As Matheson mentions, Doniphon is actually not too bad because he gives up his "personal happiness by acting in good faith".

Now, Liberty Valance is a perfect example of what Matheson refers to as a sociopath. He is the alpha male cowboy who dresses like a civilized American, but who acts like a beast. This is when one can see that clothes can sometimes conceal a person's true identity. Liberty Valance isn't even regarded as a "man", because he just goes around killing and hurting people. He is the alpha male cowboy who everyone wants to lose. But in order for Valance to be put to justice, another man, in this case Doniphon, has to put himself outside the law.

Lastly, one must not forget about Rance Stoddard, who isn't an alpha male cowboy but a very important man in this movie. Since he does not have this "hardboiled" look to him, Stoddard is almost always feminized in the movie. As Matheson argues, Stoddard looks like a "comical figure" when battling Valance in the street. He is not really considered a man, because he does not know how to live by the law of the gun. He is seeing in most of the movie, wearing an apron and washing dishes, while Doniphon is a masculine rancher who is dressed like a real Western man. Both Doniphon and Stoddard are caught in double binds in this movie, but Stoddard's bind is different. He has to live with the fact that everyone thinks that he is "The man who shot Liberty Valance". Stoddard really didn't kill Valance, but he placed himself outside the law to do so, but his Eastern ways just didn't help him learn the law of the gun.

These three men are supposed to be very different from each other, but Matheson points out, that they actually have some similarities. The villain, the hero and the lawyer from the East, place themselves outside the law in order to settle their problems. Nevertheless, Valance is the alpha male cowboy who deserves to be brought to justice, and that is what the other alpha male cowboy does.