I remembered loving this film as a teenager, when it was released, and recently saw it again for the first time since. While not as great as I had remembered it, it is still a very underrated comedy, with nice performances from Bridges, Griffith, Arkin, and a young and beautiful Blythe Danner.
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
... "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
With all due respect, 'toothy lawyer', I can't dissect your tag -"When the legend becomes fact ..."- and emerge with anything that's even tautological. At the end of the day, it's just plain nonsensical.
[Your being a DC lawyer doesn't at all let you off the hook, even if you feel you're slumming here.]
With all due respect, it's one of the most famous quotes in movie history.
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
... "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
I did the due diligence before posting, lawd, so I know the quote's provenance, but you didn't actually answer my question: what does it mean?
You may -but I'm only guessing here- wanted to have conveyed the following sentiment (one that's actually comprehensible), coined by Mark Twain and later plagiarised by Winston Churchill:
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
It's similar to Twain's quote. Did you see "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"? If so, you'll understand the relevance of the line. It's said by a newspaper editor who, when faced with the actual truth behind a legend that has grown up about the killing of the title villain, opts not to publish the true story, since the legend has, in the minds of the populace, become "fact."
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
... "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
I think that guy had a point, the quote makes little sense. I'm not knocking you, I'm just surprised its so famous. When the legend becomes truth? But the legend didn't become truth if I understood your post correctly. Since the truth didn't correspond with the public's idea of the legend the reporter thought it best to keep printing the legend. Therefore the legend never became the truth, both were seperate entities. Its is similar to Twains though, both remarking on the idea that people prefer comforting lies to sobering truths.
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