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Westerner (1940)
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by Hbo Home Video
Sales Rank: 7375
Price: $14.98
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Having created an instant classic the previous year with their superlative production of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, producer Samuel Goldwyn, director William Wyler, and cinematographer Gregg Toland reunited for this classic Western from 1940, which earned Walter Brennan his record-setting third Academy Award. Gary Cooper reportedly hesitated to take his role, knowing that Brennan would likely steal the show with his splendid portrayal of "hanging" lawman Judge Roy Bean, but Wyler persisted and Cooper signed on as the drifter who faces Judge Bean under the false accusation of stealing a horse. Cooper smooth-talks his way out of his hanging by claiming to be a close friend of stage star Lily Langtry, with whom the judge is unabashedly smitten, but tensions rise when Cooper comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders that Brennan is trying to drive away. This leads, of course, to a classic showdown in true Western tradition, and under Wyler's able direction <i>The Westerner</i> takes its place among the finest examples of the genre. And while Brennan does indeed steal the show, Cooper needn't have worried--he's every bit the hero in a battle with one of the silver screen's most memorable villains. <i>--Jeff Shannon</i>
Viewer Reviews
It's good to have titled this film "The Westerner", because neither of the two main stars are cowboys. They aren't gunslingers, or bounty hunters, or farmers, or ranchers...they just lived in the west during a time when all that romantic stuff was going on. Now that doesn't mean neither of them could handle a gun, when necessary. Nor that they wouldn't shoot a man dead, if they thought that was the thing to do.
Walter Brennan spent most of his career playing sidekicks or secondary roles in movies that "could" have been made with somebody else in his role. And maybe the part would have suffered - maybe not - but as long as the lead roles were well cast, the movie probably would have been as successful.
But in this film Walter Brennan is in a primary role. He plays Judge Roy Bean and he is at turns a wonderful whimsical drinking buddy and the next a ruthless, heartless taker of lives. He is as sweet and naive as a young girl one minute and in a flash you see the fangs of a rattler emerge with a glimpse of cunning wiles and lethal results.
And all that is in addition to seeing the great, larger than life Gary Cooper in one of his most endearing and thrilling roles. And all, mostly, in crisp black and white photography.
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Westerner (1940)
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