Scenes We Love: Shenandoah
Filed under: Classics, Drama, War, Scenes We Love
I spent my youth underestimating James Stewart, and I blame Saturday Night Live. It's not that I ever doubted he was a good actor, but the imitations of his stuttering shyness were a lot more prevalent, especially since Stewart liked emphasizing that impression. (Remember his famous line about when he proposed marriage to Gloria McLean? "I, I, I pitched the big question to her last night and to my surprise she, she, she said yes!")
But there's a thousand reasons why Stewart is considered one of the greatest actors of all time, and while many of them begin with Alfred Hitchcock, there's quite a few that don't. One of them is in Shenandoah where Stewart plays one hell of a badass Southern farmer -- and "badass" and "Jimmy Stewart" aren't two things I ever thought went together. But his cigar-chomping Charlie Anderson could rival Josey Wales for hardness, and The Patriot's Benjamin Martin (a film that owes a gigantic debt to this Civil War tearjerker) for familial devotion ... and then possibly beat them both.
I can't seem to find the scene I really wanted, where (Spoiler Alert!) Anderson bitterly berates the young soldier who just shot his son, but this one is just as good. The whole movie is wonderful, and you should check it out sometime. Bring the Kleenex, though.
Watch the scene after the jump
But there's a thousand reasons why Stewart is considered one of the greatest actors of all time, and while many of them begin with Alfred Hitchcock, there's quite a few that don't. One of them is in Shenandoah where Stewart plays one hell of a badass Southern farmer -- and "badass" and "Jimmy Stewart" aren't two things I ever thought went together. But his cigar-chomping Charlie Anderson could rival Josey Wales for hardness, and The Patriot's Benjamin Martin (a film that owes a gigantic debt to this Civil War tearjerker) for familial devotion ... and then possibly beat them both.
I can't seem to find the scene I really wanted, where (Spoiler Alert!) Anderson bitterly berates the young soldier who just shot his son, but this one is just as good. The whole movie is wonderful, and you should check it out sometime. Bring the Kleenex, though.
Watch the scene after the jump
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-19-2009 @ 5:19PM
villageidjut said...
I love Shenandoah.Nothing better than hearing Jimmy Stewart say tit.
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7-20-2009 @ 12:24PM
Julie said...
Great film! Jimmy Stewart has some really great speeches in this film. The prison train is excellent as well as his marital advice for his new son-in-law. And who can forget "the boy"?
Reply
7-20-2009 @ 1:43PM
Paula said...
Elisabeth, you need to watch more Jimmy Stewart films because Jimmy Stewart and "badass" really DO belong together -- especially when it comes to Jimmy and westerns. But not just westerns. He never played an out and out villain like Henry Fonda did in One Upon a Time in the West, but many of his post-war roles are flawed, morally ambiguous characters with dark histories. Stewart knew he needed to change his image once he got back from World War II -- just as the world itself had changed -- and although it took a few years to figure out exactly what had to be done, in Winchester 73 the new, tougher, older persona was on full display. The movie was a massive hit.
Go thou and watch:
Winchester 73 (look at the insane expression on his face while throttling someone in a bar fight)
Bend of the River
The Naked Spur
The Far Country
The Man From Laramie
Two Rode Together
Man Who Knew Too Much (watch him drug wife Doris Day!)
Vertigo (bizarrely sexually obsessive over Kim Novak -- OK it's Kim Novak so the sexual obsession probably is understandable -- but watch as he bends her ruthlessly to his will while he himself is mentally disintegrating)
Anatomy of a Murder (badass lawyer)
The Flight of the Phoenix (super-crusty pilot)
Fool's Parade (alas not out on DVD but shows up sometimes on TCM) -- Jimmy as an ex-convict with a false eyeball
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