Ford is not interested in reality but in subjective viewpoint, not fact but romance and legend. But when Valance goes for a momento from a widows late husband. But it's hard to avoid the feeling that, in retrospect, she loves Doniphon, too. In its tone, structure and visual style, the film is very different from other John Ford Westerns. Though the audience tends to identify with Doniphon's individualism and to feel instinctively a desire to preserve the simplicity of the old West, the social change brought about by the railroad and the need for staehood slowly make the Doniphons and Valances obsolete. The other could easily bring order, but doesnt because hes so busy taking care of number one and his crowning heroic moment is shooting down a distracted man in the city streets. He explains: "The Western is intrinsically the most political movie genre, because, like Plato's 'Republic,' it is concerned with the founding of cities, and because it depicts the various abstract functions of government as direct, physical actions." Doniphon is not a person of any importance around town, just a sorry old man on the fringes, who passed away unnoticed. I was praying that it wouldn't be revealed later that Tom (John Wayne) assisted him. Valance toys with Stoddard, shooting his arm and laughing at him. Pompey had thrown Tom a rifle and at the exact moment of Valance's fourth and potentially-fatal shot, Doniphon killed Valance from a side angle, without anyone knowing at the moment of the blast. From my perspective, its not even close here as to who the hero is. Does this make sense? He films mostly on sets, but we're not particularly aware. Wayne was furious for allowing himself to get roped in to play such a passive character, which he found very difficult to play, and Fords behavior didnt help. Andy Devine .. Linc Appleyard An old black cowboy named Pompey (Woody Strode) takes Hallie on a buckboard ride into the countryside where they regard the burned-out remains of Doniphon's cottage. As a note of trivia, a Burt Bacharach-Hal David song by the same name was recorded for the film by Gene Pitney, but wasnt used in the soundtrack. Now with his conscious clear, Stoddard returns to the convention, accepts the nomination, and is elected to the Washington delegation.