Movie Shane Essay Examples

The movie Shane seemed to be a typical western movie and it was different than any other movie. At the beginning, I felt the story of the movie is very obvious and boring. In fact, it was a very clear and typical story line but this movie had something different than the other western movies. While I was watching this movie I had to focus on the supporting actors instead of the main actors. Alan Ladd (Shane) was a very typical western hero in the movie. He was brave, fair, handsome, calm, confident and strong man; however the supporting actors were very different when compared to any other western movie. This difference upgraded the quality of the movie and magnified the skills of the actors. Ben Johnson (Chris Callaway) was the one of the most fantastic supporting actors in the movie.
The objective of the Chris Callaway character in the movie was to create dramatic tension and change the atmosphere of the movie. The first conflict in the movie starts with Chris Callaway in 23:00-25:15. Chris Callaway and Shane encounter a Man vs. Man conflict and exchange blows on each other. The calm voice of Callaway raised tension up to the next level. Ben Johnson’s performance of provocation to Shane was indeed great. It seemed that Ben Johnson himself had lot of trouble to act in this complicated scene. His facial reaction, emotions, and the acting of provocation were very unusual compared to other actors. The calm voice and slow motion was better than any other action to excite the audience. Also, pouring the whisky on Shane’s face in the end was unexpected and shocking. And then I realized the whole movement of slow motion and quite calm voice was the setup for the last moment. It was certainly a great performance and very dramatized. The Man vs. Man conflict continued even on to the next scene. Callaway’s incitement leading to Shane’s anger is the best scene in the movie.
The bar fighting scene in the 37:11-44:16 was very exciting and draws tension to the highest level. The most interesting part was the begging scene of fighting between Callaway and Shane. This was the best scene of one on one fight in the movie. It was very realistic and exciting as both of them fought as if they were boxing. The fighting showed the boxing style that we could usually see in the 19th century. It was certainly not similar to the fights that we see in the present days. The defense position in both of them was way below than typical boxing form. It was more like “put the guard down and come at me”. I consider this fight as the real form of boxing as looked like a natural fight. Since there was no use of legs in the fight, it was more like striking each other rather than fighting.
I strongly believe that the most important role in acting is the ability to deliver the feeling and emotions to the audience, and that way Ben Johnson was perfect in his role. The best part in the movie was obviously the bar fighting scene 37:11-44:16. The facial reactions and the emotions displayed by Ben Johnson surely make him the best contender for the best delivered scenes. Initially Callaway seemed like he was very confident and he fearlessly went on to provoke Shane; however after being hit multiple times by Shane he realized that he would lose to him. So, his face was full of fear and his facial expressions were scary for a few moments. Few seconds later Johnson showed true acting in this scene. Although, Callaway was losing and getting beaten up by Shane, he smiled like a true villain. It was very unusual and scary but great enough to make the audiences feel real.
Looking at Ben Johnson he seems like a good person. So it was a little hard for him to act as a bad guy in the movie, but it gave him an easy opportunity to act as an antagonist. At the beginning I felt he would be a final antagonist till the end of the movie, but his objective in the movie was not only to raise the tension but also to bring in a twist to the story by being an important role on the screen. During the whole movie, Ben Johnson has been portrayed as a bad guy and he acts as an antagonist but as the end of the movie appears, it is surprising to see Ben helping Shane. I am unaware as to why he betrayed his own people and started helping Shane, but I did not feel weird because of his situations. This change in him surely made me choose him as reluctant hero. At the outset he was hesitating to change the sides but he turned out to save the villagers by informing Shane about some important data.
It was very interesting to look at the relationship between Shane and Callaway. Callaway seemed to be ignoring Shane initially and he believed that Shane is just a piece of cake and no match for him, but after the fight it seemed like he admired and respected Shane. I believe the relationship between two actors would be very funny. First of all Johnson was a huge man as he was way taller and bigger than Alan Ladd. Johnson would not be happy to act by losing to a smaller and shorter guy. Alan Ladd is not as tall as he appears to be on the screen. I believe that sharing the screen space created the awkward and weird moments between two actors but at the same time they respected each other for being a supporting actor and main actor.
I would believe the biggest challenge for Ben Johnson was to act as a reluctant hero. It is because he could neither be on the good or the bad side. If he had chosen to remain between good and bad it then it would be a challenge for him to act. His change of heart is the turning point in the movie. I admired the transformation in Chris because of Shane and felt that he showed a lot of maturity at the end, and the audience could feel that he has taken up the correct responsibilities after his change of mind. His actions flow in the right direction in consistently changing sequences and I felt he deserved sympathy at the end. It is interesting to see the scenes of Shane and Chris together as they have some bonding in common and seeing them together creates lot of excitement to watch them.