If you've never seen it, Shane is a revelation, a marvellous distillation of all that is fine about Hollywood cinema. A great director (George Stevens) takes on a familiar genre (the western) and imbues it with a vision that is both personal and universal. Sweeping you up via Loyal Griggs's Technicolor photography and Bill Hornbeck and Tom McAdoo's magnificent editing, it tells the story of a man, a woman and, especially, a boy, whose lives are changed by the stranger dressed in buckskin who rides on to their farm. Alan Ladd gives the performance of a lifetime in the title role; not an obvious choice, he is superb, and the rest of the cast are also impeccable, notably Jean Arthur as the married woman whose relationship with Shane is subtly understated. Victor Young's score is exceptional, his majestic main theme lingering long after the movie is over. This is one of the finest American motion pictures, brilliantly constructed and beautifully filmed, and a constant source of pleasure.

A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.