Shane (1953)

FILM4, 4.35PM ★★★★

 Few Westerns examine the depths of human feeling, but this film by George Stevens is one of them, and it has since become a cinematic landmark. Shane (Alan Ladd) is a cowboy who finds himself idolised for the way that he handles himself in the face of a landowner’s heavies. The climax is a face-off between Shane and the smiling, whispering, Oscarnominated Jack Palance (the original “man in black”).