The Man who shot Liberty Valance PG

In the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, we find ourselves with three male leads, two of whom are unquestionably alpha male characters by Matheson’s definition of the term, and one who is an alpha male in a different way. Doniphon is absolutely an alpha male cowboy in every sense of the word. He is gruff, hardboiled, and so archetypically John Wayne that we even hear the word pilgrim strewn about. Likewise, Liberty Valance throws the word dude into conversation often enough that one starts to wonder if entrance into the alpha male cowboy club requires a password. Undoubtedly though, these two characters show a one track mind, determined to see through their paths of action, ignoring anything that gets in their way. Both follow the law of the gun, so used to solving their problems with violence that they physically cannot use words to make their point.

Stoddard on the other hand, can hardly be considered a man, at least not according to those criteria set for us by Matheson and the western genre. He requires words to function, placing an importance on reading and writing that Doniphon distains. At the beginning of the movie, he refuses to drink or carry a gun, two things that we consistently see as part of the identification of an alpha male cowboy. He is never alone, and is always talking about what he thinks or feels, to the point where he becomes less than a man, happily doing chores that even the women don’t think he should be doing.

In this movie, one of the most telling signs of the alpha male cowboy status amongst the three important male characters is their hats. It is from this accessory that we can tell what role they play in the movie. Not only do the alpha male cowboys wear hats at all times, they color code them according to wether they are a bad guy or a good guy, Valance wearing a black hat and Doniphon a white. Conversely, Stoddard wears no hat throughout the entire movie. Only after Valance dies ( losing his hat in the process) do we even see him with a hat in his possession, and even then he does not wear it. It is only after he has made a name for himself in politics that he wears a hat, many years down the line. In his own way, he becomes an alpha male. He is not a cowboy, but his legend portrays him as one, and it is enough to earn him the title. As the editor says at the end of the movie, “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend”