AFI Top 100: The Godfathers of the Police Drama and the Western

 Usually I review 10 at a time for our viewing of AFI's Top 100, but I felt these two films stand alone as such unique and remarkable films that they deserve separate recognition. I enjoyed each thoroughly (Betsy still would have rather watched The Little Mermaid, as usual.) and loved reviewing them.

The French Connection - This is such a landmark movie that is almost forgotten by non film fans. But most films made before 1990 are rather forgotten. But this film is like the Citizen Kane of cop movies. It's so influential and yet so great as a movie by itself. It took the movie Bullit and turned it into a real-looking movie. It's not glossy in any way. Bullit has a beautiful car chase scene on the streets of San Francisco between two awesome cars, while French Connection has an ugly car chasing a El train through burned out Brooklyn. Bullit has the handsome Steve McQueen, who is like the least rebellious rebel cop. In French Connection, you have Gene Hackman, looking like he's been up all night and never combed his hair.
The other great thing about this is all the cliche starters; the "you're off the case" scene with the boss, the attempted killing of a cop(which pulls the cop back on the case), the good cop-bad cop routine, etc. It was fun to see all that, and think to future films that used those tropes.
This film isn't beautiful, it's a little convoluted (you'll need to pay attention to follow the actual plot), and the ending isn't so fulfilling, but still good. The famous chase scene is touted as the best scene, but my favorite scene is when Doyle is following Frog 1 in the subway. There is such a great tension to it, you're so nervous but yet no guns are drawn, there's no fast moving cars, it's just two guys trying to outsmart each other. Anyone interested in cop films or action films in general, need to see this to see where all the cop cliches come from.

Shane - "Shane!!! Shane!!! Shane!!!" I almost cried when the kid was yelling this in the end. Both times I watched the ending. In fact, I watched the ending 3 times. And just like the boy, who didn't want Shane to leave, neither did I. The boy is the collective audience, many of whom I'm sure were boys in the theater when this first showed. In fact, the boy is the eyes and ears through the whole movie. We see what he sees, we feel what he feels and from his inquisitive nature we sense who Shane really is.
Shane is a completely classic western, yet in never falls into the traps that crumble other westerns and like the best westerns it's a metaphor for both it's time and America as a whole. (For more on that metaphor, see my future review of High Noon, released a year earlier than Shane.) In fact, Shane is the same but so different than other westerns in every way. The mysterious gunslinger, the man in black, the helpless farmers. The film comes so close to B movie cliche but stays it's course. Even further, the film even strays from cliche in it's set design and setting. Nowhere do we see the famous Monument Valley backdrop or wild dessert. The film takes place in Wyoming and sticks to that setting accurately, with beautiful mountains that stain the horizon and the humble valley where the homesteaders live. And then the homesteader's farms, there's nothing beautiful or remarkable about their homes. There's no awe-inspiring vistas or prairies, it's just a basic place. Then the town itself is simple. You can tell it isn't a set. The buildings are almost ramshackle and humble, the street is muddy and kind of an obstacle. Inside the saloon and general store, it's cramped and tight and not typical of a Hollywood set. There's no wide balcony or spacious bar, the area under the stairs is almost lost. All of this helps create a real world, where things aren't always perfect. Even the final gunfight is awkward and less than a spectacle. Shane stands in front of the bar, and in the corner is Wilson. They stand diagonal from the walls and bar, as if the stand off came about organically, rather than staged. And that's what the whole film is like.
So then what about the deeper meanings of the film. The best way to figure that out is to look at the time in which the film was made. 1952, but wasn't released until 1953 due to going overbudget and extensive edits. Though this film isn't considered as one of the bigger anti-McCarthy metaphor films like High Noon or the stageplay The Crucible, it fits the mold. The homesteaders in the film are completely in their rights, they own their property, but yet have no power. All the power lies in Rieker, the large cattle rancher who wants them off so he can use the whole valley for his herd. He goes so far as to trample their fields, kill some of their livestock and then hire outside men who end up killing one of the homesteaders. This is quite a clear metaphor for the unfair practices of Joseph McCarthy and his communist witch hunts. In steps Shane, the mysterious stranger who wanders into the community, representing the freedom of America. Nothing is tying him down, and he holds no fear for Rieker or his men. Unlike the Sheriff in High Noon, Shane holds no real authority, he's pretty much an average guy. Except, he's the complete mythic American hero. He has no past, and his future is uncertain, similar to many Americans as well as America as a whole. America needed to stand up to bullies like McCarthy, men who were taking away basic freedoms. Shane proved to be the perfect hero figure, showing that it could be done. There's a reason why the Western dominated American cinema for so long, America loves heroes, especially ones that embody the American myth. And there's no better portrayal than Shane.