64 Years Later, the Greatest Western's Final Line Still Officially Defines the Genre

There's something poetic about the fact that the famous "final line" of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceisn't technically the last words uttered in the 1962 revisionist Western by John Ford. A train scene follows the fateful line, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." But the film's collective consciousness trains us to believe this profoundly insightful line took viewers straight to the end credits. Considering that this remarkable, genre-defining movie cemented the modern themes of the Western that have carried through into the 21st century, we're willing to abide by the myth and celebrate "print the legend" as one of the most powerful and impactful closing lines in cinematic history, and one that taps into the heart of American history, culture, and the nation's glorification of false heroes. It's hard to argue that it's not a climactic piece of dialogue, at the very least.