40 Films in Robotech: Shane (1953)
If you’re procrastinating doing chores, I highly recommend watching a settlers western like this one. Once you’re done watching, you’ll realize how good you have it and will take pride in your work…
ROBOTECH MENTION:
In Robotech episode number 34 entitled Private Time, Lisa Hayes waits for an errant Rick Hunter for a café date. While waiting, a little dog visits her. Lisa is happy to have company until a far-off kid’s voice calls for their dog “Shane” back. The call for Shane (the dog) is very similar to the last line of the movie Shane. I found the clip on YouTube. If it doesn't play the Lisa and puppy dog scene right away, scrub to 14:14 to view it...
SYNOPSIS:
In the #classicfilmreading book Memorable Supporting Actors and Actresses from the 1930s to 1950s: Book 1 – A Through I (2020), author Gary Koka writes, “Shane might be the best version of the familiar cattlemen versus settlers theme, with Alan Ladd the reluctant hero as the title character. A weary gunslinger (Alan Ladd as Shane) wants nothing more than to settle down peacefully as he rides into a small town in the Wyoming Territory after the Civil War. He meets and is hired by the leader of the settlers, Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) and his wife Marian (Jean Arthur in her last movie appearance) and their son Joey (Brandon de Wilde), who quickly idolizes Shane. Shane attempts to lead a quiet, unassuming life, but when the Ryker gang picks on him a second time, he and Joe win a barroom brawl against the Rykers and their thugs. Rufus Ryker then hires notorious gunslinger Jack Wilson (Jack Palance) to settle any problems with his gun.” (pgs. 113-114)
The New York Times listed Shane as one of the Top 10 Films of 1953. It won the Oscar for Best Color Cinematography. Jack Palance won “Top Character Performance” at the Golden Laurel Awards for his portrayal of the deadly hired gun Jack Wilson. The National Board of Review (USA) awarded Shane director George Stevens the Best Director award and listed Shane as one of the Top 10 films of 1953. In 1993, The National Film Preservation Board awarded Shane National Film Registry. The Online Film and Television Association entered Shane into the OFTA Film Hall of Fame (Motion Picture) 2018.
According to May 2025 issue of Critic's Choice Video, Paramount Pictures audio engineers invented a new way to make the sound of "gunfire seem weighty, impactful and scary" during the Shane production: they recorded real guns being shot directly into trash cans. This audio trick was used in later westerns and action films (p.70).
Shane’s success went beyond industry innovations. In another one of my #classicfilmreading books, Reel Spirituality – Theology and Film in Dialogue (2006), author Robert K. Johnston points out: “…[director George Steven’s] success is perhaps evident in the fact that hundreds of American babies were named Shane soon after the film came out.” (p. 193).
Shane is the only film on the 40 Films in Robotech list that has a Fourth of July celebration scene in it.
ROBOTECH REASON:
Little boy Joey calling out to the departing gunslinger at the end of Shane is an iconic western moment. I guess that Carl Macek and crew couldn’t resist using the “come back Shane” line of dialogue with this little scene involving lovelorn Lisa Hayes. Interestingly enough, there is a hinted-at long triangle in Shane that’s loosely similar to Rick, Lisa, and Minmei in Robotech. One of the many reasons it may have popped up in the Robotech writers’ minds.
To read my ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐ (out of a possible 5 star) rating Shane (1953) on Letterboxd, click here.
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