Shane (film)
Shane is a 1953 American Technicolor Western film starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, and Van Heflin. Released by Paramount Pictures,[4][5] the film is noted for its landscape cinematography, editing, performances, and contributions to the genre.[6] The picture was produced and directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by A. B. Guthrie Jr.,[7] based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Jack Schaefer.[8] Its Oscar-winning cinematography was by Loyal Griggs.
Shane
- A. B. Guthrie Jr.
- Jack Sher (additional dialogue)
George Stevens
- William Hornbeck
- Tom McAdoo
- April 23, 1953
118 minutes[1]
United States
English
$1.5 million[2]
$9 million (U.S. and Canada rentals) [3]
Shane was the last feature film and the only color film of Arthur's career.[9] It also features Brandon deWilde, Jack Palance, Emile Meyer, Elisha Cook Jr., Edgar Buchanan, and Ben Johnson.[6][7] It was listed as number 45 in the 2007 edition of AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list, and number three on AFI's 10 Top 10 in the Western category.
In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States' National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Influence on later works[edit]
The 1966 TV series Shane starring David Carradine was directly based on the film.
The 1980 Japanese film A Distant Cry from Spring (遙かなる山の呼び声) features a similar plot.[28]
In 1981, British singer Kim Wilde released the song "Shane" as the B-side to her single "Chequered Love". The lyrics, written by Wilde's brother Ricky and her father Marty, deal with the impressions of the movie[29]
The 1984 song by Roger Waters, "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking", includes the lyric "Do you remember Shane?" and the recording features interspersed audio from the film.
The 1985 song by Haustor, "Šejn" from their album "Bolero" is named after the film.[30]
The 1987 postapocalyptic movie, Steel Dawn, closely follows the plot of Shane, according to Walter Goodman of The New York Times.[31]
In his 1997 album Arizona Bay, Bill Hicks parodies Jack Palance's role in Shane with track 8, "Bullies of the World", likening an unspecified "we", the arms-producing countries, to Jack Wilson taunting the farmer to "pick up the gun".
In the 1998 action thriller film The Negotiator, the two leading characters have a discussion about Western genre films, Shane in particular. Arguing about the ending, Chris Sabian says Shane died, and Danny Roman says "he's slumped 'cause he's shot. Slumped don't mean dead."[32]
In the 2013 Hallmark series Signed, Sealed, Delivered, "Shane, come back", was referenced.
The 2017 superhero film Logan drew substantial thematic inspiration from Shane, and formally acknowledged the influence with a series of specific dialog references and scene clips. Shane's farewell words to Joey are recited, verbatim, in the closing scene.[33]
Copyright status in Japan[edit]
In 2006, Shane was the subject of litigation in Japan involving its copyright status in that country. Two Japanese companies began selling budget-priced copies of Shane in 2003, based on a Japanese copyright law that at the time protected cinematographic works for 50 years from the year of their release. After the Japanese legislature amended the law in 2004 to extend the duration of motion picture copyrights from 50 to 70 years, Paramount and its Japanese distributor filed suit against the two companies. A Japanese court ruled that the amendment was not retroactive, so any film released during or prior to 1953 remained in the public domain in Japan.[35]