Shane

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: April 23, 1953

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

85	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Roger Ebert

Shane wears a white hat and Palance wears a black hat, but the buried psychology of this movie is a mottled, uneasy, fascinating gray. Read full review

100

Bosley Crowther

Shane contains something more than beauty and the grandeur of the mountains and plains, drenched by the brilliant Western sunshine and the violent, torrential, black-browed rains. It contains a tremendous comprehension of the bitterness and passion of the feuds that existed between the new homesteaders and the cattlemen on the open range. Read full review

100

John Petrakis

Shane is one of those movies that I revisit at least once a year, just to remind myself how stirring a Western can be when the mix of myth and method is just right. [21 June 2002, p.C8]

100

EmpireWilliam Thomas

Tries just a tad too hard to be a classic, with Ladd's Roy Rogers woodenness not quite getting the depths of author Jack Schaefer's fallen hero, but the support - Jean Arthur as the yearning farmer's wife, Ben Johnson as the conscience-struck bully - are excellent, and some scenes lodge forever in your memory. Read full review

100

John Hartl

George Stevens' mythic 1953 Western finally gets a video transfer that captures the crisp, bright beauty of its Oscar-winning cinematography. [17 Aug 2000, p.D3]

100

Desmond Ryan

Among lovers of the genre, Shane is surely among the top five westerns ever made. [14 Jun 2003, p.D01]

100

The IndependentGraeme Ross

Beloved adaptation of Jack Schaefer’s wonderful novel, with Alan Ladd perfect as the buckskinned gunfighter trying to hang up his six shooter but finding that “There’s no living with a killing”. [10 Dec 2022]

100

The Observer (UK)Philip French

Shane is a beautiful, deceptively simple movie that takes on different meanings for each generation. [08 Oct 2000, p.10]

100

The TelegraphStaff (Not Credited)

Few Westerns examine the depths of human feeling, but this film by George Stevens is one of them, and it has since become a cinematic landmark. [13 Feb 2020, p.29]

Ted Mahar

Ladd's career had been declining and kept declining after Shane, but his minimalist, passive style was perfect for this character, a violent man who has grown thoughtful too late in life. This is his best work. [28 Apr 2000]

William Brogdon

George Stevens handles the story and players in a manner that gives his production and direction a tremendous integrity. The casting is exceptionally good and the male stars have never been seen to better advantage. Read full review

Michael Blowen

Shane symbolized America during a time when the country was struggling to evolve from a nation of rugged individualism into a country of community and cooperation. [20 Aug 2000]

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Although the film is often brutal, there is such a positive sense of morality displayed here that Shane should be seen by the whole family. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The filmmaker who counted A Place in the Sun, Giant, and The Greatest Story Ever Told among his epic works made this rather intimate Western in which character dominates the landscape. [18 Aug 2000, p.9W]

Staff (Not Credited)

The slow pace and persistent solemnity reduce tension, prefiguring the portentous nature of Stevens' later work. That said, the cast is splendid, and both the emotional tensions between Ladd and Arthur, and the final confrontation with Palance, are well handled. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Here, as too often in his career, Stevens is aiming to have the last word on a genre: everything aims for “classic” status, and everything falters in a mire of artsiness and obtrusive technique. Read full review

Pauline Kael

This George Stevens film is over-planned and uninspired: Westerns are better when they're not so self-importantly self-conscious.