It is probably me but has a bout of fisticuffs ever been more realsitically staged in a western? There have been longer fights, but this one really felt real.
And what did ohers think about the ending? Is that the only area in which the film fails?
My wife and I both thought the same as you did about the fight.
I liked the ending. Though there were times when, even as fetching as Doris Davenport was, I felt like screaming something like, "Don't do it, Coop! Ride into the sunset with your freedom! They all turn into monsters after you marry them!"
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
I liked the ending. How does it fail? The great thing about it was it showed Gary Cooper's character really did have a strong conscience and empathy towards his fellow human being, even though it was Judge Bean who had caused many people to die. Something in him said, "I will honor the good in this guy, he's going to die, and that's punishment enough. Let him die happy even if he was a monster." I also thought maybe Cooper's character wanted to see Miss Langtry as well. Thinking about it, I loved the ending!
shareSproketer is right. The ending balances all the off-center dynamics of how Cole had to kill a man he had affection for. Don't you think Wyler and his producers thought about all this? Stories need to include the crazy but make sense, otherwise it's a free-fall. The film is masterfull and the man was right: This Is How You Do It.
shareI thought the ending was stupid (the part about the couple looking out of the window). It was obviously at least 15 years later, according the the calendar (I believe the bulk of the movie took place shortly after the Civil War). In any case, their house is completely built, crops planted, and they are quite prosperous. Homesteaders would have come long before that. I expected to see kids run up to them, which would have been a more realistic scene than getting excited about a wagon train of more homesteaders.
shareIt was obviously at least 15 years later, according the the calendar (I believe the bulk of the movie took place shortly after the Civil War).
In the scene where Matthews prays by her Father's graveside, after Harden walks away there is a clear view of the gravestone. It states the date of death being 1882. So The Westerner's ending takes place two years after Roy Bean's death.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
I would rank the fight scene in 'Shane' very realistic as Hollywood movies go.
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