The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Movie: Directed by John Ford. Inciting Event: The idealistic young lawyer Rance is waylaid by the psychotic outlaw Liberty Valance. Rance defends a female passenger on the stage, demanding of Valance, “What kind of man are you?” It is the question that launches the entire conflict—and which is mirrored.
John Ford used the camera elements of camera work as well as costumes and make-up to accurately portray his vision of the film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, incorporates several different varieties of camera work. One element of camera work used was the variety of shot types.
That's more than the code of a newspaperman in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; it's practically the operating credo of director John Ford, the most honored of American filmmakers. In this late film from a long career, Ford looks at the civilizing of an Old West town, Shinbone, through the sad memories of settlers looking back.