Manly Movie Moment: Gunfight Scene from Shane

If you’re a fan of Westerns, you’ll know that Shane has a place as one of the greatest Western films of all time. The movie centers on homesteaders in Wyoming who are battling a ruthless cattle baron, Rufus Ryker, who wants to force them off their land. Eventually, Ryker hires a sadistic gunslinger, Jack Wilson (played by Jack Palance, the ultimate bad guy) to intimidate and kill the homesteaders bold enough to fight back.

Enter Shane. Shane is a former gunslinger and drifter who ends up working for the Staretts, one of the families in the valley. While he wants to mind his own business, he is eventually forced to confront Jack Wilson in order to prevent more innocent lives from being lost. The confrontation culminates in one of the manliest scenes in cinematic history.

Why it’s manly: Shane is humble and restrained. He doesn’t want to fight, but he’ll do what’s necessary to protect the innocent homesteaders in the valley, including the family he works for and has grown to care about.

Great lines: “Joey, there’s no living with, with a killing. There’s no going back from it. Right or wrong, it’s a brand, a brand that sticks. There’s no going back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her, tell her everything’s alright, and there aren’t any more guns in the valley.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDDOd8kGBXo&w=640&h=480]