DG "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

One of the alpha males in the movie is Liberty Valance himself. As the villain of the movie, Valance is feared by all the people of Shinbone, except the by the other two main characters, Tom Doniphon and Rance Stoddard. This criminal personality makes Valance an alpha male. According to Matheson, Liberty's psychopathic nature makes him such a dominant figure in the movie. When talking specifically about this character and Lomax from The War Wagon in her piece, she writes, "They are manipulative, callous, remorseless, parasitic, pathological liars with poor behavioral controls. Ironically, their disordered personalities, which disable them socially, enable them professionally" (892). Although Valance is socially inept and down right insane, these are the same qualities that make him an alpha male. This behavior inflicts fear into the other men of the town. For example, when Liberty and his henchmen enter the restaurant, he simply tells a group of men that were already sitting down waiting to eat that their table is now his and the men, with no fight or question, get their things together and leave the table for him. In a way, Valance is given the utmost respect by everyone in the town because of his insanity. This, in turn, makes him an alpha male.
Doniphon, ironically, has many of the same qualities as Valance. In the movie, he treats people poorly, has poor behavioral attitudes and drinks and smokes heavily, and lives by the law of the gun. Yet, he is also an alpha male. Matheson concludes this by saying, "There really is no difference between Doniphon and Liberty Valance. Both men settle their problems in the same fashion" (896). This, in part, is what makes Doniphon an alpha male. But, the main reason why he is an alpha male is that he is the only man who stands up to Valance effectively and consistently. Doniphon, by the townspeople, is considered a tougher man than Liberty, and this recognition accounts for his male dominance. In the movie, Liberty never tests Doniphon and actually fears him. A parallel against an alpha male always makes that man an alpha male as well.
Rance Stoddard is the complete opposite of both of these men. In the movie, Stoddard is an honest man with morals and good character. He is a man on a mission to stop Liberty Valance's oppression against the town of Shinbone. Matheson assesses him in this way in that he is really the only man in the movie with ethical values. She writes, "Stoddard, however, understands something that the residents of Shinbone do not: there is something amiss; the corruption so evident in Valance has pervaded everyone in Shinbone" (896). Stoddard acts as an en-lightener to the townspeople that Valance must be stopped. He acts upon his call to action as well by standing up to Liberty, ultimately in the most courageous way through a showdown. This makes everyone look up to Stoddard and Stoddard is even able to inflict courage into themselves. For example, in the movie, Dutton Peabody, the publisher of the Shinbone Star, although very drunk, stands up to Valance and his henchmen. The townspeople put Stoddard on a moral and courageous pedestal, which also turns him into an alpha male. While Doniphon and Valance are dominant in the "Western Way", Stoddard's goodness and almost angelic reputation, in a reverse way, makes him dominant.