Shane. Was he mortally wounded when he rode off?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by keys74, Feb 22, 2023.

  1. apb

    apb Game on!

    Location:
    DC
    Well, there wasn't a sequel.
     
  2. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Forum Resident

    Location:
    North West England
    It was a short life for "Joey," killed in a traffic accident driving a camper van at the age of 30.
     
  3. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    They would write it if they were writing a death scene for The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, or Gene Autry.

    And before their last breath, they'd probably tell the kid to do his homework, clean his room, eat his vegetables, and maybe even remind him to wash behind his ears...
     
  4. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    Nah. He knows there's no place for him. This is the perfect distillation of the Western myth. Pick an actor who looks nothing like the cowboy hero of the era (not tall like Wayne, Stewart, Cooper, Scott, Fonda), dress him in white buckskin so his 'goodness' is palpable, having come down from the purifying wilderness (and possibly return - alive - to it) to right the wrongs. Note that he doesn't use his gun in anger until it's absolutely necessay and note he doffs his store-bought duds (darker clothes) and returns to his shining white buckskin for the final shootout. They even flooded the area near the farm to create an Edenic pastoral home for the yeoman farmer - the man who lives with nature but has mastered it. The cattlemen are a threat to that paradise and the progress of the West. Shane' presence disrupts the family unit and gives the kid the wrong idea about violence, but his presence and actions are necessary and after he's done what he has to do, there is no need for him to be there any more (see Tom Doniphon in Liberty Valance). Either he's dead or moves on (I prefer to think he's gone to another place that needs him, myself, but dying would make sense) - the West is growing up and moving on - note the cattlemen make an early reference to getting shot of the Indians. The film cleverly mixes the Western myth with King Arthur and Christ.

    I know Clint ripped this off for Pale Rider, but see also T2. The hero sacrifices himself for the good of mankind (until they made a another installment...)
     
    KeninDC, Ere, BobbyG and 3 others like this.
  5. Andy Smith

    Andy Smith .....Like a good pinch of snuff......

    Dude....you might be over-thinking it.....
     
  6. razerx

    razerx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sonoma California
    Caine was pierced by an arrow and lived. His Qi was more powerful than any antibiotics.
     
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  7. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    Sorry, but not in the slightest.
     
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  8. Andy Smith

    Andy Smith .....Like a good pinch of snuff......

    Long dark winters in Durham.....
     
    smilin ed likes this.
  9. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    Shane is a great novel and gets my vote for best Western of all time. The free range ranchers (old) and farmers (new) are the West or any place really that goes through the transition from a lawless frontier to a structured organized society. Shane is the mechanism of conversion from one to the other. The old has to die for the new to emerge. Shane died. He had to.
     
    Carl Swanson, Plinko and keys74 like this.
  10. JosepZ

    JosepZ Digital knight of the analog masters

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    My theory always was that Shane died, then came back as the Preacher on Pale Rider. And then the story repeated itself, with Shane's ghost getting his revenge and going back to the afterlife peacefully.
     
    Plinko likes this.
  11. I think that Shane dies. He just didn’t want to die with the kid around and wanted to do so with dignity.
     
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  12. nutsfortubes

    nutsfortubes They tried to kill us, and we won!

    Location:
    New Jersey
    He did not die, if don’t believe me watch The Glads Key. If anyone can take that kind of whopping no .30 30 from a Winchester would kill him.
    The Glass Key (1942) - IMDb
     
  13. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Eastwood also kind of borrowed that for the film 'Grand Torino', sacrificing himself at the end for the good of the boy and his family.
     
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  14. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    Nope. Years studying film. An accesible, though simplified, essay is Robert Warshow's The Westerner. Shane ticks many of the boxes. Also, remember what Stevens had witnessed in WW2 and he was no fan of gun violence - though, of course, Shane has to use a gun to get rid of it.
     
  15. DrAftershave

    DrAftershave A Wizard, A True Star

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Should've been a poll.
     
    keys74 likes this.
  16. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    No, Shane will not die! Duh! He ducked in time to avoid a serious gunshot wound to a vital organ or his head. If he didn't duck, that barroom dude would have blown his head off or shot him through his sensitive bits. Little Joey saves Shane's life, God bless him.
     
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  17. Kassonica

    Kassonica Forum Resident

    LOL
     
  18. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    He didn't stay because he just shot some dudes in a bar.
    It was never lawless in the movie, though. There is a U.S. Marshal within riding distance. All somebody had to do was ride out to the Marshal and report the bullying tactics, arson, etc. That's what Shane or one of the homesteaders should have done.
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2023
  19. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    This doesn't contribute anything to the topic but I must mention it.
    My brother-in-law was in the US army many years back at the same time as Brandon deWilde who must have been doing his national service or something.
    He mentioned that the rest of the army guys regularly teased Brandon by calling out "Shane, come back!" over and over.
    He remembers feeling sorry for the young man.
     
    lazydawg58 likes this.
  20. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    If we're being realistic at all, alone in the 18th Century west Shane's not going to survive a bullet lodged in or through him.

    On the other hand, a bullet-wounded man is unlikely to mount a horse on his own, either, so maybe it was just a glancing blow.
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2023
    lazydawg58 likes this.
  21. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    I have probably seen Shane at least 50x.
    I alway liked to have thought he lived and lived out his life alone.
     
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  22. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Graze wounds cause bleeding just like serious wounds. No evidence in the movie that a bullet hurt Shane to any extend more than a graze wound or beyond flesh wound.
     
    Boom Operator likes this.
  23. Lownotes

    Lownotes Senior Member

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Obviously. You see him around anywhere?
     
  24. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    Within riding distance, doesn't help much, especially if the most powerful man in the region is the one doing the bullying.
     
    Boom Operator likes this.
  25. MrCJF

    MrCJF Best served with coffee and cake.

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I don't see anyone else standing here
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2023

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