MovieChat Forums > Shane (1953) Discussion > Underrated on IMBb

Underrated on IMBb

posted 16 years ago by chandler-47
20 replies | jump to latest

Interesting, "Shane" is rated by most serious critics much higher than on this board. "Shane" is for example rated by AFI (American Film Institute) TOP 100 any time. Here it is not even close to be TOP 250. Though this also goes for other movies - that I might rank higher - like Friedkin's "The French Connection" -, but those movies are at least close to be in the 250. Sometimes I think that the mediocre ranking of "Shane" is caused by amateurs who think that this is a family movie like "Free Willy" or something else. This is of course not the case.

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[–] manage-932-700755 11 years ago

7.7 overall is pretty high. I gave it a 10. I haven't checked it, but my impression is that westerns don't rate as high as films of other genre.

Everyone has their own opinion. That's show business.

[–] rixrex 11 years ago

Those people just don't get it. They can't see beyond some gratuitous violence and pointless blather in the modern films that they think are so great.

Films like Shane were done with meticulous care and a lot of thought about what the film was to represent and how these things were to be stated. It was a combination of artistic endeavor and commercial venture at the same time and that's like no other media before. Directors like George Stevens weren't just putting up something to grab a few million dollars and then forget about it.

Now it's pretty much all commercially oriented and meant to appeal to the most basic senses so that people will go mindlessly into the theater and plop down their $$ just to see another variation of what they happened to see last week or last month.

Shane is one of the few films that I can actually sit and watch over and over again, and see something new each time, and still enjoy every scene and bit of dialog, or just marvel at the way the whole ensemble comes together. It always and without fail, makes me tear up when Joey calls for Shane to come back, and yet I know Shane is riding away to his "last roundup", so to speak. Stevens and Alan Ladd were so good at creating a character that one could really care about, so that you want to know more about how he came to be who he was, and what he goes on to do afterwards.

There's at least two more films that could have been made about Shane, his life before and after the few days we see him, but we only have this one, and it's one of the greats, top ten in my opinion, and number one of all westerns I would say as well.

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The Eyes of the City are Mine! Mother Pressman / Anguish (1987)

[–] mjb442olds 9 years ago

rixrex "Shane is one of the few films that I can actually sit and watch over and over again..."

A few years ago I purchased the film, one time after I viewed it I re-watched it. It was that great and I was totally taken in by it. That it is rated so low is probably what others have said, the younger generation looking for a faster paced film with more action.

Good post rixrex

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[–] KhurramAtta 10 years ago

I absolutely agree! This is one of the best movies out there and it's only rated 7.7
It deserves to be in Top 250. People are quite stupid these days that they'll prefer fast and furious and superhero movies over this timeless masterpiece.

Top 250 Foreign Movies
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls076565151/