Alan Ladd in Shane (1953)

Shane lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director George Stevens and Paramount Pictures brought Shane to movie theaters in 1953. Alan Ladd stars as the mysterious gunfighter, with Jack Palance, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin and Brandon de Wilde in solid support.

Jack Schaefer’s 1949 Shane Novel

Shane is based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Jack Schaefer (1907-1991). Set in the American West of 1889, Shane is narrated by a young boy, Bob Starrett: “He rode into our valley in the summer of ‘89, a slim man, dresses in black. ‘Call me Shane,’ he said. He never told us more.”

Schaefer’s other western novels include The Canyon (1953), The Pioneers (1954), Incident on the Trail (1962) and Monte Walsh (1963). In 1985, Shane was honored by the prestigious Western Writers of America as the best western novel ever published.

George Stevens Directs Shane

A.B. Guthrie Jr. and Jack Sher wrote the screenplay for Paramount Pictures. George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant, The Diary of Ann Frank) produced and directed. Victor Young created the original music score, which features the songs “Abide With Me,” “Taps” and “I Ride an Old Paint (I’m A-Leavin’ Cheyenne).”

Alan Ladd heads the cast as Shane. Other players include Jean Arthur (Marian Starrett), Van Heflin (Joe Starrett), Brandon de Wilde (Joey), Jack Palance (Jack Wilson), Ben Johnson (Chris Calloway), Edgar Buchanan (Fred Lewis), Emile Meyer (Rufus Ryker), Elisha Cook Jr. (Frank “Stonewall” Torrey), Douglas Spencer (Axel “Swede” Shipstead), John Dierkes (Morgan Ryker), Ellen Corby (Liz Torrey), Paul McVey (Sam Grafton), John Miller (Will Atkey), Edith Evanson (Mrs. Shipstead), Leonard Strong (Ernie Wright) and Nancy Kulp (Mrs. Howells).

George Stevens makes an audio cameo appearance, shouting out, “Knock him into that pigpen!”

Shane Filmed in Wyoming and California

Budgeted at $3.1 million, Shane was filmed from July to October 1951. Much of the picture was shot just outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where George Stevens had constructed a small town and several farms. Stevens had scouted for just the right location for a little more than a year, finally settling on scenic Jackson Hole.

Other locations used included Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park and California’s Big Bear Lake and the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth.

Shane, Come Back!

Shane begins with the arrival of a stranger dressed in buckskins who’s sporting a pearl-handled revolver on his right side. Eyeing the mystery man on horseback is a young, towheaded boy peering through the antlers of a stately deer.

The stranger’s name is Shane, who has happened on the small farm of Joe Starrett and family. Joe is locked into a battle with ruthless cattle baron Morgan Ryker, who wants to add the Starrett homestead to his holdings.

Shane decides to stay on at the Starrett place, working as a hired hand. He soon becomes involved in the escalating feud, engaging in a wild brawl at the general store/saloon. Meanwhile, Ryker has brought in a professional gunfighter from Cheyenne to intimidate the local farmers. The gunslinger, Jack Wilson, quickly earns his pay, goading a sodbuster named Torrey into a fight and then killing him in the mud-soaked street.

Shane later faces off with Jack Wilson. The two professionals go for their guns, with Shane proving to be the faster draw as he blasts Wilson across a table. Shane also kills another of Ryker’s men who was brandishing a shotgun on the balcony.

“Now you run on home to your mother and tell her…tell her everything’s all right. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley,” a slightly wounded Shane tells Joey. He then mounts his horse and rides off into the distance, with little Joey shouting, “Shane, come back! Come back! Shane!…”

Shane Opens in New York City

Shane opened at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on April 23, 1953.

“With High Noon so lately among us, it scarcely seems possible that the screen should so soon again come up with another great Western film. Yet that is substantially what has happened in the case of George Stevens’s Shane…” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (4/24/53).

“Strong boxoffice possibilities accrue to this socko drama of the early west, which draws on sound plot and characters, solid directorial interpretation and fine playing to give it both class and mass appeal,” observed Variety (4/15/53).

Shane Box Office, Academy Awards, Trivia, DVD

• Shane grossed $9 million at the American box office, earning the #5 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1953.
• Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Palance, de Wilde), Best Color Cinematography (Loyal Griggs, won), Best Screenplay.
• Rodd Redwing performed Alan Ladd’s gun twirling routine as featured in Shane’s classic showdown scene.
• Due to extensive editing by George Stevens, Shane didn’t make it to the silver screen until 1953, almost two years after filming had been completed.
• The ABC-TV version of Shane with David Carradine in the title role ran for only 17 episodes in 1966.
• Auction results for original Shane movie memorabilia, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas: one sheet poster ($1,015.75), insert poster ($358.50), set of eight lobby cards ($555.68), collection of 23 b/w 8×10 location stills ($310.70), 40″x60″ poster style Z ($5,676.25).
• On DVD: Shane (Paramount, 2000).

“That was Wilson, all right, and he was fast, fast on the draw,” Shane tells Joey.

But Shane proves faster…