The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a 1953 short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson.

Senator Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard and his wife Hallie arrive in Shinbone, a frontier town in an unnamed Western state, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon.

When asked by the local newspaper reporter why a senator would attend the funeral of a poor rancher, Stoddard answers with a story that flashes back 25 years.

Entering the then-unincorporated territory as a young lawyer, Ranse is beaten and robbed by infamous outlaw Liberty Valance and his gang.

Ranse learns Valance frequently terrorizes Shinbone and the surrounding country since the local marshal, Link Appleyard, is too cowardly to stop him.

While establishing his practice, Ranse buses tables at Peter Ericson's steakhouse, where Hallie works, and befriends Dutton Peabody, the editor of the Shinbone Star newspaper.

At the territorial convention, Ranse is nominated for delegate to Congress, but withdraws after a representative of the cattle barons accuses him of building a career from murdering a man.

In the present, Ranse's rising political achievements – state governor, senator, ambassador to the United Kingdom, and likely vice-presidential nominee in the upcoming election – fill the intervening years.

[8] Wayne and Stewart, two of Hollywood's biggest stars working together for the first time, were considerably older (54 and 53, respectively) than the characters they were playing.

He also ridiculed Wayne for failing to enlist during World War II, during which Ford filmed a series of widely praised combat documentaries for the Office of Strategic Services and was wounded at the Battle of Midway,[12] and Stewart served with distinction as a bomber pilot and commanded a bomber group.

While filming an exterior shot on a horse-drawn cart, Wayne almost lost control of the horses and knocked Strode away when he attempted to help.

[18][19] The film's music score was composed by Cyril J. Mockridge, but in scenes involving Hallie's relationships with Doniphon and Stoddard, Ford reprised Alfred Newman's "Ann Rutledge Theme", from Young Mr. Lincoln.

"[21] Portions of the song "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" are played in scenes by bar musicians and a marching band.

Mockridge's main theme that opens the picture can also be heard, in a somewhat different form, in a trailer for River of No Return with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe released in 1953.

"[26] The Monthly Film Bulletin agreed, lamenting that the "final anticlimactic 20 minutes ... all but destroy the value of the disarming simplicity and natural warmth which are Ford's everlasting stock-in-trade."

Despite this, the review maintained that the film "has more than enough gusto to see it through," and that Ford had "lost none of his talent for catching the real heart, humor, and violent flavor of the Old West in spite of the notable rustiness of his technique.

"[27] A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Ford, who has struck more gold in the West than any other film-maker, also has mined a rich vein here," but opined that the film "bogs down" once Stoddard becomes famous, en route to "an obvious, overlong, and garrulous anticlimax.

"[28] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called the film "a leisurely yarn boasting fine performances," but was bothered by "the incredulous fact that the lively townsfolk of Shinbone didn't polish off Valence [sic] for themselves.

On TV, he would have been dispatched by the second commercial, and the villainy would have passed to some shadowy employer, some ruthless rancher who didn't want statehood.

"[30] Harrison's Reports gave the film a grade of "Very Good",[31] but Brendan Gill of The New Yorker was negative and called it "a parody of Mr. Ford's best work.

[34] Roger Ebert wrote that each of the 10 Ford/Wayne westerns is "... complete and self-contained in a way that approaches perfection", and singled out Liberty Valance as "the most pensive and thoughtful" of the group.

"[38] The New Yorker's Richard Brody described it as "the greatest American political movie",[39][40] because of its depictions of a free press, town meetings, statehood debates, and the "civilizing influence" of education in frontier America.

According to scholar Victor Bruno, the film uses the symbolism of the wilderness and the garden to represent the roles of the cowboy Doniphon and the civilized Stoddard.

Bruno points out that after allowing Stoddard to receive the credit for Valance's death, Doniphon "sets fire to his own house, bringing about a process akin to ekpyrosis that razes his existence to the ground.

"[41] However, contrary to most opinions about the film, Bruno believes that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is Ford's indictment of America's increasingly "antimythological" character.