Wolverine’s last venture into film ‘Logan’ has become a highly anticipated one. The film has set aside the traditional superhero storyline format and has instead decided to adapt its source material, Old Man Logan to its storyline. The movie has been said to be a futuristic western in lieu of prior Wolverine settings. But has it also found inspiration from other places stranger than the comics?
IGN reports that the classical western Shane may have been a huge inspiration for the film. Shane, the 1953 western film was directed by George Stevens and starred Alan Ladd as a wandering gunslinger Shane who protects a group of ranchers from a corrupt and dangerous baron who is out to take their land and property. Shane finds a great admirer in Joey, the son of one of the ranchers who idolizes him.
The movie site had reported that Logan’s film studio, Fox had handed out books of Logan stills during a recent film showcase along with a page of dialogue exchange from Shane. Logan seems to have many similarities with the vintage feature, especially when it comes to the protagonists of both stories are wanderers who can’t seem to be rooted in the same place for long. Add a child into the mix, then we get a somewhat modern western in Logan.
This may be the reason why the film has handed out a short excerpt from the film. Like Shane, Logan is a broken man who has become jaded by his long life. The line, “A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mold. I tried it and it didn’t work for me” seems to ring especially true for Wolverine who has seen and experienced enough violence to last a lifetime of woes for any other character.
Logan will be Hugh Jackman‘s last tenure as Wolverine, so it only seems fitting that the inspiration for the film also feature the hero of the film riding off after saving the day, and Joey calls out to him, “Shane! Come back!”
