Would Tom have gotten Hallie if?

lubin-freddy

"logic of the Western Myth, in that 'civilization' eventually will replace the freedom of the frontier."

That is no myth. That is the progress which happened and which Frederick Jackson Turner commented upon in 1893.

While there are simularities between TMWSLV and Shane, I think the differences are far more significant.

Shane is a mysterious outsider who is not trusted. Tom is a popular member of the community and would have been easily elected as a territorial representative. Shane had no financial stake. He was a hired hand. Tom was a rancher. The woman in Shane was married and had a family. Shane could not have had her without allowing Joe to be killed. Tom could have married Hallie. Shane intervened by knocking Joe out and went in his place to face Wilson. Tom advised Ranse to run and vanished. Shane kept Joe from death. Tom arrived on the scene only after Liberty had already fired three shots. Ranse survived only because Liberty chose not to kill him. Tom's invervention would have otherwise been too late.

Shane killed Wilson in a fair fight. Tom shot Valance from ambush.

All this boils down to making Tom the anti-Shane. Shane was the outsider who heroically sacrificed himself for a community he was not a part of and for a future he would not share. Tom pointedly refused to put himself out for the community, leaving it up to the outsider--Ranse--to actually fight for a future that belonged to Tom as much or more than it did to Ranse.

No matter what happened in the shootout between Liberty and Ranse, Tom had already lost. Hallie would have held Ranse's death against him. If Ranse lucked out, Ranse, and not Tom, would have emerged the hero to Hallie.

*Link is a key character. He was not suited for town marshal and did not want or like the job. Why did he hold it? It seems because he was the only man in town trusted by both the Mexicans and the Anglos. Tom was a rancher, like the men who hired Valence. He seems to have been in the same position as Link. He could have been the bridge bringing the ranchers and the farmers together. He didn't even try.

**The author of Shane, Jack Schaefer, once wrote that Shane was a metaphor for all the soldiers in WWII who died for a better future they would never share.
In the novel there is a scene the morning after the gunfight in which Joe wants to quit, and Marian tells him that the two of them owe it to Shane to build the better future he fought for.

That's just completely wrong. Aside from there being a plethora of hints throughout the film (e.g., Hallie taking the ride out to Tom's old ranch, putting the desert rose on the casket, the look on her face in the final scene), Ford explicitly stated that Tom was Hallie's love and that he wanted to make it clear to the audience that she had never gotten over him.

I think he was waiting until he got the extra room in his house finished so he could give her a better environment to live in, prove to her he's worth it, flatter her with it, etc. Just wanted to be prepared and look favorable to Hallie and her parents. Then Ranse came along and he got jealous and felt Ranse was ruining things...both for his plans with Hallie and for his way of life.

Liberalism is a mental illness, and it's the only one that's contagious.

Well, Tom was also a slacker. He had the skill and the support of community, but still he didn't do anything about Liberty. He didn't want to be in charge and take the responsibility. Why would a woman choose a man like that? Ranse had the backbone to face Liberty even when he knew, that he didn't have a chance against him in a gunfight. In the end, it is quite irrelevant who actually did the shooting, when Ranse was the one who got it done. He was the better man: The man who gets things done.

Just to agree with the earlier post, Tom killing Valance is symbolically the same as Shane killing Wilson. Both do it knowing it means banishment. Thematically, the two movies are very similar.

I also interpret the movie as Tom being the unsung hero. Most of the movie is a flashback told from Ranse's point of view. This flashback is framed by the straightforward present tense in which we see that Hallie still loves Tom. Her relationship with her husband seems a little distant and cool. Ranse clearly shows much more interest in his career than he does in Hallie.

In the flashback Tom is the one who clearly loves Hallie and is willing to sacrifice everything for her. Ranse's great love is the law, not Hallie. Ranse does not pursue Hallie, but he is willing to risk everything in the pursuit of law and order. Ranse's gamble pays off big time as he gets to live out his dream and he wins the girl. But Ranse is only able to do this through Tom's sacrificing himself for Hallie. Tom gambles that the pilgrim will fold like a house of cards. Tom loses his bet and ends up killing not only Liberty but also all his hopes and dreams.

Hallie is the key to the story. If there is no love interest here then Tom will end up being the usual John Wayne superhero and Ranse will end up being a martyr for law and order. Hallie makes the story much more interesting and much more melancholy. That is because the best man ends up sacrificing himself for love while the lesser man goes on to fame and fortune.

I see Ranse as an opportunist with a great amount of courage and a huge amount of luck. I think Ranse tells Hallie the truth about the shootout but not right away. As Ranse grows more successful he and Hallie drift apart and Hallie longs to go home. Home is where her heart is. Home is where Tom is.