...as a 5'4" tough guy. I'm not saying there aren't any, but, he was all skinny to boot. I'm just not buying him in "Shane", at least not in the Bar room brawl scene, it was ludicrous.
I've....seen things you people wouldn't believe; Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
His elevator shoes added 3-4 inches, but scenes from the back emphasize his narrow shoulders. Still unless you're looking for his small size, it doesn't come off too badly. His deep voice helps also.
Some people have suggested that Montomery Clift would have been a better choice as Shane. I don't agree. Although Clift was considerably taller at 5'9 or 5'10", Clift was even skinnier, and he seemed always bent over a little. Clift would have come across as a haunted soul, rather than a conflicted, tough cowboy.
I'm sure the camaramen tried to hide Ladd's small stature, but there were times they weren't successful.
But look, sometimes little guys really are tough, e.g., Audie Murphy.
Read the original story by Jack Schaefer. Shane is described as being not very tall, slim, lean and wiry. His fighting style is described in detail. Speed and skill allow Schaefer's original Shane to triumph in bar fights over much bigger and stronger opponents.
Ladd, physically, is therefore similar to how Schaefer imagined the character, except that the original Shane was dark haired and tanned brown.
Don't underestimate the late Alan Ladd. He had a real-life lean fighting build and was very quick and agile with his punches and blocks, according to accounts given by a number of actors, stuntmen and fight choreogaphers who worked with him. He was a very experienced scrapper, practising constantly with boxing trainers and sparring partners. Even in the final film of his career (The Carpetbaggers) was able to deliver one hell of a convincing beating to the younger and bigger George Peppard.
Being courageous in wartime gun battles doesn't make you good in a fistfight against someone 8" taller and 30 pounds heavier. Remember Woody Allen's words of wisdom, "The bigger they are, the worse the beating they're gonna give you."
shareI just read the original novel. Randolph Scott would have been perfect as Shane. But I have no problem with Ladd, and I couldn't care less how tall he was, or wasn't.
shareShane was not 5'4"; Ladd was photographed to make him look taller. Marian was not 50 years old, Jean Arthur was. Wilson was experienced with horses, Jack Palance was not.
Absurdity: A Statement or belief inconsistent with my opinion.
Regardless of height, Ladd made a good and athletic looking tough guy in a number of movies. Films are of course illusions, and it's all about how convincing you can be and whether audiences will buy into it. They certainly bought into Ladd, hence his being cast successfully in this type of role throughout the 40s and 50s.
Audiences bought it back then, so why do people have such a problem with suspending disbelief today? Have people really become so judgemental and heightist that just can't accept the idea of a shorter tough guy? That would rule out Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G Robinson and Bruce Lee from stardom!
"Shane was not 5'4"" . . . How tall was Shane exactly, professor? I've read the book several times and somehow missed the part where we learn his exact height down to the last inch. Must have been in the chapter where they give Marian's age.
"Wilson was experienced with horses. . . " Again, missed the part of the novel where we learn of Wilson's experience with horses. I assume at some point in his lfetime, he rode a horse' but as a matter of fact, in the novel Wilson arrives in town on a stagecoach.
My point was that actors should not be confused with the parts they play. It also didn't matter whether or not Alan Ladd was fast with a gun or could twirl his revolver slickly into his holster. Shane could do all that.
Absurdity: A Statement or belief inconsistent with my opinion.
Having rewatched the film over the weekend, I found myself so caught up in the story that I never thought about Alan Ladd's lack of height. The same way I never think about Cagney's height.
shareI daresay the Frankenstein monster was much, much taller than Alan Ladd. Would he have made a better Shane? He's taller! Taller is better!
WTF is the obsession with height? How do longer shinbones make someone more virile, more interesting - better? Poor Alan Ladd has been raked over the coals for not measuring up for decades now, but nonetheless - he's Alan Ladd, duh! 5' 4" or not.
"I daresay the Frankenstein monster was much, much taller than Alan Ladd. Would he have made a better Shane?"
Yes, he would! "Mmmmghhh . . . Rykers bad! Joey's hiney . . . GOOOD!"
If you are 5'-4" you HAVE to be a tough guy.
shareI got two words for you..... Joe Pesci
I'm a modest man, but then I have much to be modest about.
No one who didn't know Ladd was 5'4 would possibly think Shane was overly short or skinny. Ladd looks to be of normal height in all his films, whether through elevator shoes or camera angles.
As for being skinny... ALL leading men then were skinny. Gary Cooper was 6'3, 165 pounds. Jimmy Stewart was even skinnier. Henry Fonda was similarly thin.
I didn't think Ladd was "skinny." In the shirtless scene he appears to have a wiry kind of muscularity--which is a kind of physique I associate with Western gunfighters, historical and fictional.
shareThis criticism is ludicrous. Ladd was 5'6" and how exactly are 5'6" guys supposed to act? Height doesn't define personality nor ability.
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Think about what you learned today. One: Don't screw with me. Two: Invite me... to your crap!
Cowboys were generally small guys, because carrying around a big man was hard on a horse. Think about it.
share...as a 5'4" tough guy, etc.
Ladd was 5'6", a height which, during previous generations and in the era being depicted in the movie, was considered more average than it was "short."
Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!
He may be short but has a manly voice!
shareMany Hollywood leading men are shorter than the average man. As to "toughness" -- what about Cagney, E.G. Robinson, Mickey Rooney, Bruce Lee . . . ?
shareHe may be short but has a manly voice!I agree! Too funny reading about how short he was and what they had to do to make him appear taller. I remember being shocked years ago when I learned how short Tom Cruise was an had to stand on a box with all his scenes with Kelly McGillis in Top Gun. LOL
OP is a low-down Yankee liar.
If you are Skinny and 5'4" you'd have to know how to handle a gun back then so for that reason the casting was not ludicrous.
share