The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

It is evident that there is, in fact, two alpha male characters in this movie. Stoddard and Doniphon play the heroes, and Valance plays the role of the villan. Matheson claims that Valance and Doniphon are very similar in nature. When comparing these two to a traditonal cowboy, they both fall shy in some aspects. Valance has almost all the qualities of a cowboy with the exception of his cruel and indecent personality. Doniphon is tough, rugged, and even works out in the wild terrain, but he is not bound to the land like other cowboys are. Most cowboys never consider settling down because they are off righting wrongs and living off the land. Doniphon, on the other hand, not only wants to settle down and marry, he goes as far as to building an extension on his house to accompany her. He is planning to get married and take that step towards civilization and away from the rugged land. In this western it seems that the bad guy could be the most prominent cowboy.