Category: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

“The great thing about the movies … is you’re giving people little … tiny pieces of time … that they never forget.”
– James Stewart

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So ends my tribute to James Stewart / Western Hero
one of my Top Ten Favorite Western Stars.
I could go on and on about him because …
James made about 18 Westerns.
Several are considered Western Classics.

You decide:

“I’d like people to remember me as someone who was good at his job
and seemed to mean what he said.”
– James Stewart

Done Jimmy.

Movie Posters in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
also seem to be different than what I would have expected.

On every poster James Stewart’s name is Billed above John Wayne’s.
You would at least expect them to be side by side? No?
Even then, Stewart’s name appears first.
And though some might argue that they appear equal in
size, color and text, Stewart’s name is still before Wayne’s.
Again, I wouldn’t expect to see this unless
it was approved by Wayne himself.

It’s possible there’s something going on here
that I don’t know about … ? Contractual agreement?
*shrug?* But there it is.

I wonder though that if The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
came out today the Poster might look like this instead:

But … you know what? Though Jimmy was unquestionably worthy
I wonder if he could have cared at all?

In any case: “This is the West, sir.
When the legend becomes fact print the legend.”

In Movies, Billing is a big deal.
Billing refers to Order, Place, Size, and Color of your name
as it appears on The Marquee, Posters, Advertising, Film Trailer,
and on Screen, etc. – if at all.
In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
I noticed some interesting Billing anomalies.

Between 1949–1957 and 1959–1974
John Wayne
was in the Top Ten Money Making Stars 25 times!!!

That’s a record number.
This includes 1962 when The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was made.
So you’d expect that Wayne would be Top Billed on everything, right?
Wrong.
But for some reason (unknown to me), he wasn’t.
Let’s start with the Official Trailer Preview.

James Stewart is Billed first!?
Wayne is Billed Second!:

Both Bills are the same size and configuration …
BUT Wayne’s Bill is still an obvious Second.

I doubt this could have occurred without Wayne’s approval.
Wayne had great respect and friendship with Stewart.
This was later reflected again when Stewart was handpicked by Wayne
for a nice role in Wayne’s final Film: The Shootist (1976).

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And it’s notable that both Stars were Billed
ahead of the actual Movie Title Banner itself:


This reflects Stewart’s and Wayne’s Star Power of course –
They were the Draw.

However …
… on the actual Film Screen … things are different:
Wayne is Billed first – as we would have expected.

Stewart is second …

… and both are still Billed before the Film Banner:

Another interesting Billing oddity of that Lee Marvin isn’t Billed at all !!
in most any of the Movie’s advertising –
even though he plays the Title character, Liberty Valance.

Lee had not yet emerged as a Top Star.

That was soon to change.

Next:
We’re going to check the
Billing on the Movie’s Posters.