What happens to Shane? (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Yes, but that last shot flatly "contradicts" the preceding shot and makes no sense. I watched the DVD last night but I'll delay replying in detail until I've watched the BRD. I will revert.

You need to take the whole film in context instead of just the final moment. For instance, when Ryker and his men are watching the funeral in the graveyard from the front of the saloon or even when they observed the funeral attendees leaving the graveyard to save the burning homestead. Ryker states that Starrett is keeping them together. They wouldn't be able to observe those events if the graveyard was hours away.

 

[Edwin-S]

It has been a looong time since I saw this film. Doesn't he show up on the ranch, tries to give up gunfighting, but can't live with what is happening, so he reverts to his former profession and takes on the bad guys? All I remember from the end is that he rides away. I don't remember him ever slumping over like he has died. If I am remembering the film correctly then I am going with the third option. He is the type of guy who is always looking to give up killing, but his beliefs that a man needs to stand up for what is right always end up causing him to revert to form until it finally catches up with him and he meets his match.

 

[davidHartzog]

Shane dies at the end. That is the only fitting ending.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Shane rides off into the mountains, badly wounded and dying he is captured by aliens who heal his wounds, he is transported to their world where he lives a life of sin with countless gorgeous women, these women have been taken from our planet for years, nowadays they just make reality shows like The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills but back then was different, over a century later he returns as the head of Twentieth Century Fox studio's and as a favour to the aliens who healed him sanctions the making of Ridley Scott's Alien.

Yes, this post is so silly i almost erased it and it's not even silly Sunday yet.

 

[JohnMor]

Shane rides off into the mountains, badly wounded and dying he is captured by aliens who heal his wounds, he is transported to their world where he lives a life of sin with countless gorgeous women, these women have been taken from our planet for years, nowadays they just make reality shows like The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills but back then was different, over a century later he returns as the head of Twentieth Century Fox studio's and as a favour to the aliens who healed him sanctions the making of Ridley Scott's Alien.

Yes, this post is so silly i almost erased it and it's not even silly Sunday yet.

Malcolm, you are closer to the truth than you know. I can't say any more. They are watching us, you know.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Malcolm, you are closer to the truth than you know. I can't say any more. They are watching us, you know.

Alan Ladd Jr looked like the spitting image of his dad too, it could have been his clone.

 

[Dick]

After watching it last night and recently hearing the premise that maybe he dies, I will say his riding motion looked a bit awkward at the very end.

How could you tell...? The image is so friggin' dark at that point. (Great transfer, though!)

 

[smithbrad]

How could you tell...? The image is so friggin' dark at that point. (Great transfer, though!)

Obviously I could or I wouldn't have mentioned it. I've never thought he died and I still don't, but having read about it before this viewing made me pay special attention to him riding away at the end. I saw something a bit awkward is all I can say and that made me wonder if that was what some others may have been referencing. I'm not sure, but possibly lighting conditions and/or screen size made the difference in what you saw vs. me. Also, were you thinking about this at the time of your viewing or reflecting on it now based on what was written here after viewing? I only ask because I doubt I would have noticed anything myself if I wasn't looking for something at that very moment.

 

[Ruz-El]

I just finished watching this one for the first time and loved it!

I'm of the opinion that he's dead on the horse. He's not moving with the horse the way a concious rider does, and I'm sure his arms are going limp prior to the final shot from behind. He was shot numerous times, Shane say "He was fast", which is an indication that he was shot by Palance before getting hit the final time from the balcony.

I don't know how he could be anything but dead. It was a sacrificial act that fits with the psychology of the film. He enters into the farm from the wild, gets a taste of what a decent life could be. When the other gun slinger shows up, he see's that damage it does, and can't see a "Clean" man suffer the same fate so he sacrifices himself to atone for his past, and to protect the future he can never be a part of. "Tell your ma that there are no more guns in town", they're ALL dead.

 

[Walsh61]

Well since we're offering opinions here I'll throw my hat in the ring. The moral of the film is summed up in what Shane tells Jean Arthur when he's teaching Joey how to shoot -

"A gun is a tool. No better or no worse than any other tool. An axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it - remember that."

The scene of him riding through the cemetery at the end shows that he was justified in what he did. An inoccent man was in that cemetery because of Rufus Ryker and his hired killer Jack Wilson. They were planning on murdering Joe Starrett as a way of getting the other homesteaders to give up and move out.

Shane was a good man who did what needed to be done. There was no law in the territory to protect these people. However he had to move on at the end, because he knew by staying other gunfighters would come around looking for him to prove they were faster than he was.

As Shane is riding away we know from what Joey says to him he was only hit once and that was by Rufus Ryker. "He'd a never hit you if you had seen him. He'd a never even cleared his holster..." Morgan Ryker tried to hit him with a rifle.

Shane lived and perhaps went on to use his gunfighting skills for something good rather than robbing and murdering.

 

[Ray H]

I watched this film for the first time earlier today. I voted option 3.

 

[Charles Smith]

As did I.

And I hadn't read this thread before watching it. Soon (probably tomorrow), I'll be watching again to listen to the commentary, and will pay very close attention to those final shots.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The final poll numbers are in and not surprising most thought he lived after he left town. Thanks to all that participated in this poll. No matter what you thought the outcome for Shane was, you have to admit that the BD is one of the best looking releases in 2013. For that, Paramount and Warner should be proud of this BD release.

I just wish they released the 1:66 ratio with the 1.37 one too.