Lessons in Manhood from Westerns

Recently I watched “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” for a second time. This time I was able to get into the film more and listen to what it has to say. Essentially, as has been noted many times before, it depicts the confrontation of two forms of manhood; the ‘tough’ manhood of John Wayne against the ‘soft’ manhood of Jimmy Stewart. At first glance it seems no contest; Stewart seems almost literally puny next to Wayne’s swaggering, confident man of action. But the film doesn’t leave things there. Despite his clear disadvantages, Stewart still manages to hold his own against Wayne and to prove that despite his ‘softness’ and civilized manner, he is just as much of a man as Wayne is. This is dramatically demonstrated in a scene where Wayne supposedly tries to teach Stewart to shoot, only to end up playing a rather dirty trick on him. As Wayne laughs at the humiliated Stewart, Stewart walks right up to him and punches Wayne in the face, knocking him flat. As Stewart stalks off, Wayne rubs his chin in surprise…then smiles.
One of the reasons the film works so well is the fact that John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart were both real men in real life as well as on screen. Wayne was a real-life tough guy who had ridden horses to school and used to get drunk and start fights for fun. Stewart was a war-hero and honest family man. This has been noted before as a point of contrast between the stars of the later film era (late-sixties onward) and the stars of the earlier film era; the earlier film era had real men for its stars. Consider John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. These were people who really lived; who had done unpleasant things and endured hardships because they had to. Compare them to today’s self-righteous ex-hippies loudly proclaiming their sophistication and enlightenment while campaigning for issues that were resolved a generation or two ago, or, even worse, today’s glorified, doll-like young pop stars straining to seem like real people and not the product they are.
I noticed this also when I saw ‘The Shootist’ recently. In John Wayne’s swansong, he shares the screen with young Ron Howard. There is an indescribable difference between the two actors, one which goes beyond the obvious age difference. John Wayne seems at home in this world; he drinks easily, shoots easily, growls advice and chuckles manfully. Howard, on the other hand, is clearly the product of a different time. Don’t get me wrong, I think he gives a good performance, but it seems more like he is a boy playing make-believe than a real person. He is soft and Wayne is hard. He is a mere mortal in a land of giants (not only Wayne, but Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart and even, briefly, John Carradine).
What can Wayne (or Stewart) teach us about being a man? A good place to start is Wayne’s personal credo in ‘The Shootist’; “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people and I require the same from them.”
A man, then, does no wrong to others, but defends himself when he is wronged. In ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ there is a scene demonstrating this. Valance, a local bully, waltzes into a restaurant and begins shoving people around. Wayne, however, doesn’t interfere until Valance’s bullying affects him, then he immediately confronts Valance and drives him out (this is followed by a great, subtle moment; as Valance and his sidekicks ride off they shoot wildly through the restaurant windows. When the dust settles, we see that only Wayne and Stewart are still standing, with everyone else having sought cover). Wayne won’t instigate a confrontation, but should one come he won’t back down.
This again, however, is contrasted with Stewart, who unabashedly stands up for those around him, even when he truly has no means of helping them. Early on there is a scene where the stagecoach he is in is being robbed. After dutifully handing over everything he has, he then confronts the gun-wielding Valance when the latter assaults a female passenger, despite the fact that this nearly gets him killed. Later, Stewart angrily tells Wayne that “Nobody fights my battles!”
So far, a man does no wrong to others, but won’t suffer himself to be wronged. A man also stands up for those who cannot defend themselves, no matter the cost. A man, finally, also does these things himself and does not hide behind anyone.
Another thing that defines a man is his treatment of women. In the old days it was the mark of the hero and villain how they treated the female characters (nowadays it’s how they treat dogs, which strikes me as a good summation of how accepted morals have changed). In ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,’ as noted, one of the first things Valance does is try to rob and assault a woman, while in contrast both Wayne and particularly Stewart show a gentle respect to the female characters, as evidenced by Wayne’s winking compliments to female lead Vera Miles and Stewart’s gentle offer to teach her to read (along with his earlier attempt to protect the woman on the coach, despite the inevitable result). Likewise, in ‘Stagecoach,’ Wayne and the other men all simply take it for granted that the women ought to be given respect and such courtesy that can be given. As well, when considering actions which might be dangerous or unpleasant, they always defer to the women, as they are the ones whom the men feel obliged to make the safest and most comfortable. Furthermore, Wayne is shown several times standing up for Claire Trevor’s prostitute character when the other men look down on her.
In conjunction with this respect of women is respect of relationships. To put it bluntly, don’t cheat on your woman and don’t try to take another man’s woman. In ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,’ there is a scene where Wayne confronts Stewart about how much time he is spending with Vera Miles.
“[She]’s my girl,” Wayne growls, to which Stewart replies, with honest surprise “Well, I guess everyone just takes that for granted,”
“Everyone except her,” Wayne replies, “and maybe you.”
Implied with this is accepting when a woman has chosen someone else.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)

Late in ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,’ John Wayne realizes that Vera Miles is in love with Jimmy Stewart. In accordance with this, he steps aside, even though he had a very clear and easy way he could have kept her. Nevertheless, he secretly saves Stewart from his suicidal duel with Valance and steps aside so that they can be together, despite the fact that the pain of this literally almost kills him.
So, we have gathered so far that a man does no wrong to others, but won’t suffer himself to be wronged. He stands up for those who cannot defend themselves, no matter the cost. A man does his duty, and does not hide behind others or seek to turn his duties over to someone else. A man respects and protects women and relationships and allows a woman to make her own choice and then accepts that choice once made.
Taking into account this need to protect and to stand up for what’s right, a man ought to be strong and, even more importantly, brave. In ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,’ John Wayne is shown to be by far the stronger character, at least in terms of brute force and the force of his personality. However, the film subtly insinuates that Jimmy Stewart is actually the stronger man of the two, precisely because he doesn’t have the physicality or strong personality that Wayne does. In spite of this, as noted, Stewart still stands up for himself and for what he knows to be right, and the fact that he can do this despite having none of Wayne’s strength to back him up. He shows himself to be the better man by being willing to fight despite the almost certainty of failure. The uncertainty of his position, and the fact that he holds it anyways, makes him the braver and better man.
Another question of courage is brought up in ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen and tells the story of seven gunmen hired to defend a small Mexican village from a local bandit. In one of the best scenes of the movie (which is full of great scenes), Charles Bronson, one of the seven, sits down with some of the local children and explains what real courage is. One of the boys had moaned that their fathers were cowards, at which point Bronson grabs him and spanks him before telling him that their fathers are not cowards; that they are braver than the gunmen because they carry the responsibility for their children and wives. “This responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton,” he says, “and it bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. And no one says they have to do this. They do it because they love you and they want to.” He ends by saying that he himself has never had the kind of courage, and that makes their fathers braver men than he is.
So, to sum up a rather longer essay than I wanted to write, Westerns in general and, specifically, ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,’ present a clear, concise image of what a true man ought to be: Man does no wrong to others, but won’t suffer himself to be wronged. He stands up for those who cannot defend themselves, no matter the cost. A man does his duty, and does not hide behind others or seek to turn his duties over to someone else. A man respects and protects women and relationships and allows a woman to make her own choice and then accepts that choice once made. A man is strong and, more importantly, brave. He is willing to do the right thing even if this will result in pain or loss or even death for himself. He acknowledges that true courage is not being tough or carrying a gun, but in carrying responsibility and love. Finally, a man recognizes another man and respects him. All this is summarized in the credo:
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do this to other people and I require the same from them."