Until I bought the 5-movie boxed set that includes "Liberty" I'm ashamed to say, I had never seen it. I have a really close buddy who is a huge John Wayne fan, who still has never seen it, so he's coming over in the near future to rectify that...
Anyhow, until a year or so ago, when I got the boxed set, I'd never seen it. Up until that time Rio Bravo had been my favorite John Wayne western, but after I saw Liberty, I've changed that opinion!!!!!!!
I think everyone LOVES the Duke because of his "standard" role of a good guy. Usually rough and/or stern, and sometimes gritty, I admit, but the Duke was always clearly a good guy. The two exceptions that leap to mind are his role in the Searchers and this one in Liberty. Granted, neither role was a villian, but they were decidedly dark, and I never have been able to get myself to like the Searchers. (I think it's the combination of dark role for the Duke, and the "artistic" shooting of the film. - It may win critical acclaim, but it's just not my style of western...) But when I watched Liberty, WOW!!
The Duke was showing he wasn't just a "one-role" actor who reprised the same role in movie after movie. Although some of his critics claim that's true, clearly, these other roles show that's wrong. Obviously, the Duke knew the kind of role that most of his fans wanted him to play, and that may have fit well with is personality, but it was equally obvious he was a very capable actor, when you see him fulfill roles that are different with such aplomb.
Anyway, I liked just about every angle of Liberty. The acting by all the roles, including (especially?) the supporting cast was excellent, with the possible exception of Lee VanCleef being a little over-the-top, which still worked, though, considering the main part of the movie was a "reminiscence" by Senator Ransom Stoddard to a newspaper man. (Hence we can tell ourselves that the characature-like aspects of VanCleef's role was added to the story by Stoddard as he was telling it to the newspaper man.)
The prop department, as well, pulled out all the stops. I really liked the cheap, small-frame top-break revolver that they dug up to give to Ranse to go up against Liberty. For us firearms-guys, that just underlined the juxtaposition of Ranse trying to go up against a villian. Also, can't deny the fun/neat aspect of the "shooting lesson" that Duke gave Jimmy Stewart that involved that revolver.
Filled with outstanding performances throughout and an interesting and catchy plot/story-line, as well as great sets and props, it is definitely my new favorite John Wayne movie.
