Ranking with Stagecoach as one of the greatest of its genre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the modern-day western to beat all westerns.

John Ford, whose very name is synonymous with westerns, directed the ideal cast.

Jimmy Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid the fair village of Shinbone of its number one nuisance and bad man: Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin).

And as if all that werent enough, the biggest star that ever aimed a six-shooter plays the Man of the title: John Wayne.

Super sincere Stewart and rugged rancher Wayne also share the same love interest (Vera Miles).

One gets the gunman, but the other gets the gal.