Alan Ladd did not kill in cold-blood in "Shane". He faced up to the gunman who had been hired to terrorise the homesteaders, and killed him in self-defence.
Also, he was not an anti-hero, as such. He was a gunman who wanted out, and was prepared to risk his life for the innocent folks who just wanted to farm their land....and he was painted in mythically heroic light.
Gregory Peck in the earlier "The Gunfighter" was an anti-hero, I suppose, as was Doc Holliday in any of the films that featured him. And how about The James Brothers in the thirties, with Henry Fonda and Tyrone Power ?
But none of them killed anybody in anything but self-defence....they was all basically decent peoples who had taken wrong turns, and would never shoot nobody in the back....
Lady, I don't have the time....
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