Liberty Valance

The character of Liberty Valance was played by a young Lee Marvin, before his hair turned white. The character is the local villain, bully type beloved by some westerns but Marvin played him in a menacing and slightly unhinged way. Cleverly this made the viewer uneasy as to what he was not only capable of doing but what he would do.

Added to this there are a few idiosyncrasies to the costume such as the gun belt being worn backwards so that the holster is on the right but facing the wrong way. Thus bullets at the front and buckle at the back with a naughty knife positioned at the back. Thus Marvin at times rolls the gun around his fingers so that nothing quite seems completly in control along with the character.

The film was in black and white and although a lot of colour stills were done of the film few of Liberty Valance however there are a few colourised portraits on which the colour scheme is based on.  Of particular note is the white shirt with small pink flowers.