A classic Western from Ford that should have been 30 minutes shorter

All things considered, I prefer to song. There's a lot to like, though, in John Ford's 1962 Western drama, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (based on a short story by a woman author I'd never heard of - who knew?), most notably the strong lead performance by 3 megastars: James Stewart as the principled lawyer who comes to town and refuses (at first) to resort to violence to settle disputes; John Wayne as the strongest guy in town, who has a grudging respect for the lawyer though their rivals in love; and Lee Marvin as the eponymous Liberty and the essence of an incorrigible bad dude outlaw. Any time that the drama centers on these 3 men and their rivalries and their ethos the movie is good, even great: some classic confrontations, shootouts, bar-room (or dining room) brawls, and a huge climactic night-time encounter in the town crossroads. But there are far too many long, languorous passages that attempt provide almost a comic background for the action - the goofy and feckless town marshal (Andy Devine), the goings-on in the kitchen of the town eatery, stuttering and alcoholic characters - and an ending that drags on for a good, or bad actually, 30 minutes after the big showdown wrapping up some loose plot points (the long section on the fight between farmers an cattlemen over statehood just weighs down the drama). As always with Ford, the exterior shots are beautiful - especially in this throwback b/w production - though the many scenes shot on sets today look stagey. And what about the famous song? It's not even the closing-credits theme song; must have been released after or independent of the movie, especially in that its narrative of events doesn't quite match that of the film.