双虎屠龙

文明与野蛮一直是约翰福特的西部片中讲诉的命题。

影片通过斯图尔特的回忆讲述起这段不为人知的往事。

斯图尔特代表的律师是文明的象征，他带着他的法律文书来到西部的小镇，给人们传播民主自由的意识，教小镇居民们读书认字。

约翰韦恩饰演的西部牛仔是野蛮的象征，高大威猛，是我们喜闻乐见的英雄，他由最开始对斯图尔特的不认可，到对斯图尔特的欣赏与帮助，体现了文明于野蛮之间的冲突融合过程。

影片的反派是促进斯图尔特和韦恩友谊的因素，也是文明与野蛮交融的因素，反派的存在，让斯图尔特这个律师拿起的枪，开始网野蛮转变。

但是韦恩出手了，他暗中的一枪打死了反派，拯救了象征着文明的律师，他保留了文明，并促进了野蛮向文明的转变。

韦恩事了拂身去，深藏功与名，如果不是斯图尔特的讲述，小镇上的年轻人不会知道韦恩的英雄事迹，但正如斯科特先生说的“这里是西部，当传奇成为事实时，传奇自然会流传”。韦恩活在西部人民的心中。

小镇上修起了铁路，“像个花园一样”，斯图尔特把文明的种子留在了西部，西部大开发的成功，也意味着西部的传奇留在了过去。

这是1962年的电影，是约翰福特对西部片的告别，也是对西部历史的告别。

在时光里去回味这段西部往事吧！

In my opinion, this film presents the conflict between modern civilization which emphasizes literacy and rules of law, and the Western traditional culture which is ruled by law of force.

The story takes place in the town of Shinbone where the people live here follows an unwritten rule: the man who carries the gun gets the power. One of the main male characters, Ransom Stoddard as an attorney at law with proper education, is the best representation of modern civilization in this film. He came to this Western state with a satchel full of law books but without a gun and got robbed and bullied by Liberty Valance, the villain representing savage cruelty, at the first night he arrived. Tom Doniphon, a rich and respected farmer in this town who is as good at shooting as Liberty Valance, suggested Ransom acquiring a gun to protect himself while this proposition was rejected by Ransom at first, because he believed crime shall be terminated by legal sanction instead of violence. There leads to a debate: whether a man need to carry a gun to protect himself or his belief.

At the very beginning, Ransom seemed misfit to this community. He believed in the power of law and attempted to find out solutions to every problem through his books. However, soon he found that most of residents here were not able to read and write at all. Therefore, he organized lessons for local people including both children and adults to teach them read, and more importantly, understand constitution and human rights. Shinbone was moving toward from an unnamed territory to a vote on statehood at that time, and residents were encouraged by Ransom to actively participation into the election. Ransom and the newspaper editor were elected as the representatives, but the rule of force did not give way to the rule of law until Liberty Valance was killed in a shootdown. It’s ironic that though Ransom firmly believe the power of law, the rule of law cannot be enforced in his willingness without violence.

I think what signals that the rule of force is replaced by rule of law in this film is, rather than the death of Liberty Valance, the time when Tom Doniphon shot Liberty but still give his credit to Ransom. He killed the villain in the illegal way, and he did not earn any reputation for it. The honor went to the man who spreads knowledge and stands for law. It also suggests that the personal heroism is outdated in the Western movies.