MovieChat Forums > Shane (1953) Discussion > Jean Arthur is Seriously Miscast!

Jean Arthur is Seriously Miscast!

posted 5 years ago by twilliamson (126)
15 replies | jump to latest

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a big Arthur fan. I loved her 1930s comedies. But I can't for the life of me understand why she would be chosen for this role. She was eight years older than Van Heflin, and 13 years older than Alan Ladd, and she looks it. It strains credulity that Ladd would have fallen in love with her.

Heflin states in the movie that he has been married for 10 years, and Joey appears to be nine. So that would mean Arthur got married around 40 years old, which is not at all believable for the timeframe, when most women got married in their late teens. Arthur is easily old enough to be Joey's grandmother. Or I guess we are supposed to believe the character is in her 30s, but even with soft focus closeups, this is just not believable.

I find this distracting throughout the movie, especially since all the other characters are so well cast. I could see Susan Hayward in this role, she could be attractive enough to appeal to Ladd while still being not dolled up. Or maybe Maureen O'Hara.

[–] BillySlater (4282) 5 years ago

I agree she was too old. On the other hand, Palance as the hired gunslinger is probably the best casting choice for a Western villain ever.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Frontier women aged rapidly. Of course she'd look older than her years!

As to why Arthur took the role, well, if she was under contract to a studio she didn't have any say in her roles. And if she could pick and choose, well, she was officially 53, and then and now actresses of that age couldn't afford to be picky. There weren't many roles available to women over forty and still aren't, taking a weak role in a big film that was likely to be a big hit was probably the best opportunity available to her at the time.

[–] smashadams (34) 5 years ago

IMDb trivia says:

"Jean Arthur, then aged 50, came out of semi-retirement to play Marian Starrett, largely as a favor to her friend, director George Stevens. She would retire completely from the film business after this picture."

[–] marktayloruk (2590) 3 years ago

She looked no more than 40 to me.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Which isn't that implausible. There weren't a lot of white women out on the Frontier, so if, say, an old-maid schoolteacher had come out to Wyoming to teach, and when she was around 30 she met a younger man with a bit of land out by the Tetons... well he wasn't going to tell himself that he could do better! Hell, a slim blonde old-maid schoolteacher could have had her pick of the bachelors, widowers, grass widowers out there, even if she wasn't young or pretty.

Honestly, I don't see the two of them as a problem. In an area where the choice of spouses is limited, you're going to see odder couples than those two.

[–] huwdj (4571) 5 years ago

I don't think that's fair. I suspect we're just so used to seeing much younger women with a lead man that when you get one the same age (or perhaps a little older) it looks wrong. Anyway, I like Jean Arthur in this film.

[–] TheArgentinian (7251) 3 years ago

I like her too. OP is being ageist. Her hair style did her no favor, though.

[–] Wuchak (8855) 5 years ago

Nah, all three looked around the same age, give or take a few years: https://binged.it/2PfWm5x. Add to this the scarcity of women in the Old West (and the lack of movies/TV/Internet) and a woman who's a-little-older-yet-still-fair becomes quite attractive.

The love that develops between Shane & Marian is somewhat subtle, but it's a potent sub-theme of the movie: Marian is naturally attracted to the formidable drifter, but she's too wise to do something morally foolish. So she sticks faithfully to her (lesser) man and keeps the flames of her attraction to Shane down to loving admiration & respect, but it's obviously not easy at times. Hubbby Joe (Van Heflin) picked up on their mutual electricity, and acknowledges this to Eve in a low-key way, but accepted reality and refused to become rivalrous with Shane because he was convinced of his nobility.

Speaking of which, the film ends on a mysterious note (***SPOILER ALERT***) as Shane is clearly wounded when he rides off alone, disappearing into the night. Why doesn't he at least get his wound checked at the Starrett's ranch before leaving? My guess is his mutual attraction with Marian. To him, it would be better to take his chances on making it to the next town than risk hurting the beautiful Starrett family because Shane loves them so much (imagine him bedridden for weeks at the ranch while Marian takes care of him; that would be a one-way ticket to ruining that marriage & family). This reveals a highlight of the movie: It has heart.

So there's zero "strain of credulity" as far as I'm concerned. In fact, until the OP voiced this complaint, I wasn't even aware that Jean Arthur was significantly older than Ladd (and Van Heflin).

[–] rudeboymurray (3291) 5 years ago

I agree with this - I don't think Arthur looks older than Heflin or Ladd in the film - in fact, she looks absolutely fine for a women in her fifties at the time. As already noted, frontier wives would have had difficult, harsh lives and we wouldn't expect to see a glamorous young woman in this position.

As to Wuchak's comment, I think you nailed it - Shane would not allow himself to destroy this family's lives. He rode off to die - 'There's no living with a killing,' or something similar, he says before he leaves, from what I recall. And if Shane hadn't ridden off in this way, we would never have known one of the most moving and iconic movie endings ever!

[–] Wuchak (8855) 5 years ago

He probably tried to make it to the closest town or, at least, someone he knew with doctoral skills.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

I saw the film again recently, and IMHO when he left the ranch he was feeling overwhelmingly guilty for several reasons, and thought that riding off to die was the right thing to do.

That intent probably wavered as pain and reality sank in, but while I'm pretty sure he didn't go back, he probably went on hoping to find a doctor. Maybe he never got that far, maybe he got better and tried to find a way to go on, maybe found that the local sawbones couldn't save him. Because really - there weren't a lot that Frontier doctors would do for serious injuries.

[–] BillySlater (4282) 2 years ago

"She looks fine for a woman in her 50s" but she´s not supposed to be in her 50s with a 8-10 yo son.

[–] FilmBuff (7436) 2 years ago

She doesn't look 50. She looks like a woman with a 10-year-old son. Alan Ladd looks older than her, even if in real life he wasn't.

[–] BillySlater (4282) 2 years ago

I disagree. She looked late 40s minimum, too old to have a young son especially in those days. Alan Ladd looked old too for a 40yo but he didnt look older than her.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

One more point: out on the frontier, there was a serious woman shortage. Men greatly outnumbered women, so they would have had different options than women in more populated areas.

If there was a schoolmatrm of 30 or 40 in that rural Wyoming setting,, and she was no more beautiful than Jean Arthur, she'd never have found a husband back east. But out there, she could have had her pick of the local swains! She could even have snagged the local robber baron if she'd wanted him!