<P> The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (/ ˈvæləns /) is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford starring James Stewart and John Wayne . The black - and - white film was released by Paramount Pictures . The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson . The supporting cast features Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin, and Lee Van Cleef . </P> <P> In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant ." </P> <P> Senator Ranse Stoddard and his wife Hallie arrive in Shinbone, a frontier town in an unnamed western state, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon . As they pay their respects, reporters ask Stoddard why a United States Senator would make the long journey from Washington to attend the funeral of a local rancher . </P> <P> The story flashes back 25 years; Stoddard is a young, idealistic attorney . His stagecoach is robbed by Liberty Valance and his gang . When Stoddard tries to take Valance to task, Stoddard is brutally whipped and left for dead . Doniphon finds him and takes him into the town of Shinbone; Hallie and other townspeople tend to his injuries, and explain that Valance victimizes Shinbone residents with impunity . Marshal Link Appleyard lacks the courage and gunfighting skills to challenge him . Doniphon (who is courting Hallie) is the only man willing to stand up to him . </P>

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